After 43 years as a valued leader, mentor and clinician at Johns Hopkins Medicine, renowned pediatric intensivist and anesthesiologist Ivor Berkowitz has hung up his white coat and retired. Berkowitz was renowned for his work in pediatric critical care medicine and anesthesiology, and in bioethics. 

“My career at Hopkins has been filled with awe, with friendship, with gratitude and with lifelong memories of patients and their families,” Berkowitz said during a May 29 celebration honoring his career. 

Family, friends and many colleagues throughout his four-decade career spoke about his influence and legacy, noting that he has inspired leaders in pediatric critical care medicine and anesthesiology, and clinicians across the globe.

Sapna Kudchadkar, anesthesiologist-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, hailed Berkowitz as “a model for leading with compassion and kindness, excellence and integrity in every single moment.”

Danny Muehlschlegel, director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, praised his “unparalleled dedication to teaching,” adding: “Ivor has embodied mentorship at its highest level, helping others rise, excel and become the very best version of themselves.” 

Beyond the relationship with his peers, Berkowitz was known for his compassionate approach to patient care — a trait not lost on those who worked closely with him over the years.

“He is a master clinician who epitomizes the physician who learns more from his bedside exam than all the monitors and lab work,” said long-time colleague of Berkowitz, pediatric anesthesiologist and intensivist Hal Shaffner. 

“One of the hardest things we do is go into a room and have to be there for the patient and their families at the hardest moment they’re having,” said pediatric cardiac intensivist Jennifer Schuette. “Ivor did that in a way that is so hard to replicate. He taught me that the words are important, but so is the silence, just being there for the family and allowing them to be where they are.”

Berkowitz’s medical journey began in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he received his bachelor of science and bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. 

“I had an old-times British-style medical school education, with clinicians who taught me the basics of clinical medicine, emphasizing the importance of history taking, of physical examination and differential diagnosis,” said Berkowitz. “Those skills have endured in me and have been the lifelong backbone for my clinical work. I remain filled with gratitude for those teachers many decades ago in South Africa.”

He then came to the United States, where he found his direction while completing his residency in pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical School and then in anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University. After fellowships in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center and in pediatric critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he joined Johns Hopkins Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine when the department was still fairly new.

“What a thrilling time it was to work here in those early years,” he reflected.

Berkowitz’s leadership roles at Johns Hopkins include tenures as director of the Pediatric Transport Program, director of the Pediatric ECMO Program and clinical director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

His research included work highlighting the anesthetic implications of skeletal dysplasia, sedation in the pediatric intensive care unit, and a range of bioethical issues in children with critical illnesses, particularly related to brain death and disorders of consciousness. He has given talks on many topics in pediatric critical care medicine throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and the Far East, and has written several publications in his field of expertise.

Berkowitz said he’ll spend his newfound time with friends and family. He plans to volunteer, travel to places he’s never been, and even learn a new musical instrument. But the memories of an astounding career and the bonds formed along the way will endure.

“I’m really overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for the wonderful life I’ve lived,” he said. “I want to thank you all for 43 years of wonderful memories. I’ll miss you all.”

See a photo gallery of the celebration event.