Portraits of a profession: Works of art by John Saito, MD

A North Carolina pediatric pulmonologist finds art imitates medicine.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Dec. 2, 2002.

The Doctor is Out
A look at physician lives outside the exam room. In the office, time is a precious commodity for today's busy physicians. Away from work, many doctors find unique activities and hobbies to help them unwind and to enrich their lives.

John Saito, MD, sees art when an obstetrician brings a new life into the world through an emergency cesarean section in the pre-dawn hours.

He finds it when a neonatologist places a steady hand on the head of a sick newborn and rests a stethoscope on the baby's chest. He witnesses it when a physician holds up a tiny premature baby in the palms of his hands.

They may seem like ordinary doctor-patient encounters, but to Dr. Saito, they are portraits of his profession, masterful moments that this pediatric pulmonary fellow in North Carolina converts from real life to canvas.

When he puts away his white coat, Dr. Saito reaches for his paintbrush and captures the art of caring.

"My work is a visual diary of my experiences in the word of medicine," Dr. Saito writes on a Web site devoted to his art (http://www.artinmedicine.com/). "Each painting is a snapshot of not only what I see, but also what I feel and how it reflects my sense of amazement and wonder about the unique human experience of healing."

Dr. Saito realizes the science of medicine may seem an unlikely partner to marry with the artistic expression of painting. But it's a union that comes naturally for this doctor, who has dabbled in art since he started drawing as a boy in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

"Being my creative self, I thought why not synthesize the two. There are so many things in medicine that are inspiring," said Dr. Saito, 30, a fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [...]