The New Hampshire Pediatric Society recently named Dr. Bill Boyle '59, Dartmouth Medical School's professor of pediatrics, Pediatrician of the Year.
Boyle has been at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center's Children's Hospital at Dartmouth since 1970, according to NHPS. CHaD is the only children's hospital in New Hampshire.
NHPS is the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group represents about 180 physicians state-wide and lobbies at the state level. The chapter has presented the pediatrician award annually since 1993.
In 1997, Boyle began the Community Pediatrics Program at DHMC, which teaches doctors about community care and the need for child advocacy. Boyle's technique, influenced by his subspecialities in long-term and chronic illnesses, emphasizes looking beyond just the physical illness that afflicts children. The method encourages considering and treating the many difficulties that come with sickness, be they emotional, psychological or sociological, according to DHMC.
Boyle finished Tufts Medical School in 1963. He interned at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital until 1964 and was then a pediatric resident at Children's Hospital in Boston. After doing military service, Boyle returned to Children's Hospital, where he served as a fellow from 1969-1970, when he came to Hanover.
In addition to serving as the Hanover school system physician and Hanover's health officer, Boyle has also helped to begin and maintain child care clinics in Lyme, Canaan, Enfield and Orford. He also helped organize the legislation that brought New Hampshire its first child passenger seat belt law.
Last year, Boyle was voted NHPS' Public Citizen of the Year. He was the chairman of the AAP Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention from 1991-1995.
