Longtime Pediatric Infectious Disease Expert Retires, Reflects

As of Dec. 31, Blaise Congeni, M.D., retired from guiding physicians as the director of pediatric infectious disease at Akron Children’s Hospital (ACH). But Dr. Congeni will continue to lead students as a professor of pediatrics and medical microbiology at NEOMED.

A recent Akron Beacon Journal feature on Dr. Congeni’s 43-year career at ACH highlights the pediatrician’s focus on the human element of medicine.  

“For 30 years, Blaise Congeni would host a monthly meeting that was different from daily hospital rounds where younger doctors in training report on patients to their attending physicians. At Cake Rounds, where Blaise would bring a coffee cake made monthly by [his] wife, he would have the young physicians self-reflect and get to know each other,” writes Betty Lin-Fisher.

The story continues, “’He should have written a book. I would hear the Cake Rounds stories. They were so moving and brought people to tears sometimes,’” said Dr. Joseph Congeni.” Blaise’s younger brother, Joseph Congeni, M.D. (’84), is a professor of pediatrics at NEOMED and the director of the Akron Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine division.

Read about Blaise Congeni, M.D., in the Akron Beacon Journal.