Doctor pursues medical and literary loves

A Massachusetts psychiatrist spends his days editing a magazine that documents life.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. July 21, 2003.

Must be nice to have Bruce Springsteen as a friend.

DoubleTake magazine was struggling for its life, heavy in debt and fighting to print its next issue.

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Founding editor Robert Coles, MD, didn't turn to the bank for aid. He dialed "The Boss." Springsteen, a pal of Dr. Coles, agreed to help and gave two benefit concerts in February in Somerville, Mass., where DoubleTake is based. The shows raised about $1 million, resuscitating Dr. Coles' literary love.

"Thanks to 'The Boss' and his two nights of concerts and playing and singing his heart out, we paid all our debts. He basically saved us," Dr. Coles said, adding that the funds will cover at least two more issues.

Dr. Coles, 73, isn't as well-known as his rock star friend. But his well of talent runs equally deep.

The doctor is a Pulitzer Prize winner and author of more than 70 books. He has been honored by two U.S. presidents. He taught at Harvard Medical School and has researched the lives of children here and abroad. He is also a practicing child psychiatrist.

Bruce Springsteen raised $1 million to pay off the magazine's debt.

Even with accolades from presidents, the unassuming man who often appears in photos with disheveled hair would rather focus on his passion than the praise heaped on him.

"He is someone who cares about what he's doing, but he doesn't care about the recognition for what he's doing," said Danny Coles, MD, a Boston pediatrician and one of Dr. Coles' three sons.

Dr. Robert Coles devotes much of his time to editing DoubleTake, the nonprofit quarterly magazine he founded in 1995 as a vehicle to share stories of the human experience through fact and fiction. It is a showcase for both the written word and photography, featuring essays, poetry, nonfiction and captivating photos that tell stories on their own.

"It's part of a documentary tradition that draws on the humanities to help people think about the world," he said. "The emphasis of the magazine is on individual people and how they live. As a doctor, that's what I've been concerned with all of my life."

A physician and a writer

Dr. Coles was an English major at Harvard College when he sent an essay to writer and physician William Carlos Williams, MD, a graduate of the medical school of another Ivy League institution. Dr. Williams wrote back, "Not bad for a Harvard student," and invited him to visit. Dr. Coles accepted and went on rounds with Dr. Williams. That helped shape his career path.

"I thought, 'If I can do anything resembling what he does, I want to do it,' " Dr. Coles said.

2 U.S. presidents have honored Dr. Coles for his work with underprivileged children.

In 1950, Dr. Coles went to medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and became a child psychiatrist. Through his writing, he explored how children lived through crisis situations such as school desegregation and poverty.

In 1973, he won a Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for his Children of Crisis, Vols. II and III. His writing and work with underprivileged children later earned him the Medal of Freedom from President Clinton and the National Humanities Award from President Bush last year.

The prolific writer also penned books on poetry and biographies on authors such as Walker Percy. He was a research psychiatrist for the Harvard University Health Services; professor of psychiatry and humanities at Harvard Medical School; and James Agee Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University.

Percy's nephew, Will Percy, introduced Dr. Coles and Springsteen in 1998. The two share a passion for the writing of Walker Percy and others and have chatted over the years, with Springsteen calling Dr. Coles "The Doc."

Dr. Coles said DoubleTake would likely have gone under without Springsteen, a man he said is "very well-read" with a "big, generous heart." Dr. Coles' next book is Bruce Springsteen's America. "It's a documentary book on ordinary people's connection with his music," he said.

Even though he shies away from recognition for himself, Dr. Coles doesn't mind getting a nice word from physicians about his magazine.

"When I get notes from doctors on their prescription pads, I say to the people I work with, 'This is the best medicine.' "