For Dr. David Eibling, being named Pittsburgh VA\u2019s 2023 Outstanding Physician of the Year is the second greatest honor of his 50-year career.<\/p>\n
The first?<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be nominated by my peers is an honor second only to being able to take care of Veterans and active-duty military,\u201d said Eibling, 74, retired Air Force colonel with 33 years\u2019 service at Pittsburgh VA.<\/p>\n
Eibling was selected for the annual honor from a field of 12 Pittsburgh VA<\/a> physicians who received a monthly Chief of Staff Clinical Excellence Award during fiscal year 2022.<\/p>\n Pictured above, Eibling accepts the award from Deputy Chief of Staff Dr. Brooke Decker and Chief of Staff Dr. Ali Sonel.<\/p>\n An otolaryngologist<\/a>, Eibling for the past 30 years has focused on treating Veterans with head and neck cancer. His peers noted Eibling brings \u201castute clinical wisdom\u201d and compassion to the bedside.<\/p>\n \u201cI have witnessed time and again his willingness to go the extra mile to get the best care for his patients,\u201d said Dr. John Ludden. \u201cHis kind, empathetic approach reminds us of the humanity in medicine and serves as an exemplary role model for everyone he mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n Eibling got his start in medicine while on active duty as a medical student in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He went to medical school on an Air Force scholarship followed by a residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, serving at West Haven VA during his rotation.<\/p>\n Eibling traveled the world caring for service members as an Air Force physician. He served at an Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, with temporary duty assignments seeing patients at bases in Turkey, Italy and Norway. Stateside, he was stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California and twice at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas as a resident in 1973, then as department chief from 1987-90.<\/p>\n Retiring in 1990, Eibling joined Pittsburgh VA. \u201cI felt comfortable with Veterans and found that I enjoyed caring for them. I think for the most part they\u2019ve enjoyed having me take care of them. It\u2019s a long-term friendship that maybe transcends the usual doctor-patient relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Eibling has chosen to no longer perform elective surgeries, but he continues to see patients. He keeps a full schedule weekly, offering appointments in-person and virtually\u2014by phone or VA Video Connect. When not with patients, he teaches and mentors students and residents. It\u2019s his work with his students he hopes will define his mark on medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not going to live long enough to make all the changes I want to make. If I am going to have an impact on the world, I am going to impact it through my trainees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Eibling said his residents have gone on to serve across the nation as remarkable leaders, researchers, innovators and teachers. He is proud of them and thankful for the opportunity to have \u201cmaybe had a little influence on them.\u201d<\/p>\n Eibling\u2019s other passion is patient safety, which has been a long-term focus of his teaching. He serves as chair of VA Pittsburgh\u2019s Second Victim Committee, which provides peer support to any staff member who witnessed or feels responsible for an adverse or traumatic work-related event.<\/p>\n It helps the person in need and gives a sense of \u201cwhat I\u2019m doing matters\u201d to the individual who provides the care. \u201cThe single most important thing that matters is taking care of one another. And that can be patients or fellow workers or family members or friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Eibling is an avid bicyclist. He commuted by bike to work in California and Germany and continues that tradition in Pittsburgh. His 7-mile roundtrip ride from Squirrel Hill to the University Drive campus in Oakland takes him through the city\u2019s \u201cmost wonderful bike trails and bike lanes.\u201d<\/p>\n Rain, snow or shine, Eibling pedals a bicycle to work, even outfitting one bike with studded snow tires for winter. The rides, he says jokingly, keep him in shape because he\u2019s \u201ctoo lazy\u201d to work out in a gym.<\/p>\n Eibling said he has stuck with VA for over three decades because of his fellow Veterans. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in the same boat with them because I\u2019ve been there. I haven\u2019t experienced the horrible things many of them have, but I\u2019ve been in the same boat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His co-workers\u2019 passion for caring for Veterans\u2014\u201cfrom people in the clinic, people in the operating room, people in ancillary services\u201d\u2014is another major draw to working for VA.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m continually impressed by the dedication of the people I work with to provide the best care to Veterans and with each other. They are all passionate about doing the right thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Are you a physician or health care worker considering a career change? We are hiring! To browse our openings, visit VA Pittsburgh Jobs and Careers<\/a> or USAJOBS VAPHS Openings<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Dr. David Eibling, being named Pittsburgh VA\u2019s 2023 Outstanding Physician of the Year is the second greatest honor of his 50-year career. The first? \u201cTo be nominated by my peers is an honor second only to being able to take care of Veterans and active-duty military,\u201d said Eibling, 74, retired Air Force colonel with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,481],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-outstanding-physician-of-the-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16861,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855\/revisions\/16861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cHe reminds us of the humanity in medicine.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Hopes work with students will define his mark on medicine<\/h2>\n
Rides bike because \u201ctoo lazy\u201d for gym work out<\/h2>\n
![<\/a>Dr. David Eibling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nEibling said his residents have gone on to serve across the nation as remarkable leaders, researchers, innovators and teachers. He is proud of them and thankful for the opportunity to have \u201cmaybe had a little influence on them.\u201d<\/p>\nEibling\u2019s other passion is patient safety, which has been a long-term focus of his teaching. He serves as chair of VA Pittsburgh\u2019s Second Victim Committee, which provides peer support to any staff member who witnessed or feels responsible for an adverse or traumatic work-related event.<\/p>\nIt helps the person in need and gives a sense of \u201cwhat I\u2019m doing matters\u201d to the individual who provides the care. \u201cThe single most important thing that matters is taking care of one another. And that can be patients or fellow workers or family members or friends.\u201d<\/p>\nEibling is an avid bicyclist. He commuted by bike to work in California and Germany and continues that tradition in Pittsburgh. His 7-mile roundtrip ride from Squirrel Hill to the University Drive campus in Oakland takes him through the city\u2019s \u201cmost wonderful bike trails and bike lanes.\u201d<\/p>\nRides bike because \u201ctoo lazy\u201d for gym work out<\/h2>\nRain, snow or shine, Eibling pedals a bicycle to work, even outfitting one bike with studded snow tires for winter. The rides, he says jokingly, keep him in shape because he\u2019s \u201ctoo lazy\u201d to work out in a gym.<\/p>\nEibling said he has stuck with VA for over three decades because of his fellow Veterans. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in the same boat with them because I\u2019ve been there. I haven\u2019t experienced the horrible things many of them have, but I\u2019ve been in the same boat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nHis co-workers\u2019 passion for caring for Veterans\u2014\u201cfrom people in the clinic, people in the operating room, people in ancillary services\u201d\u2014is another major draw to working for VA.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m continually impressed by the dedication of the people I work with to provide the best care to Veterans and with each other. They are all passionate about doing the right thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\nAre you a physician or health care worker considering a career change? We are hiring! To browse our openings, visit VA Pittsburgh Jobs and Careers<\/a> or USAJOBS VAPHS Openings<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Dr. David Eibling, being named Pittsburgh VA\u2019s 2023 Outstanding Physician of the Year is the second greatest honor of his 50-year career. The first? \u201cTo be nominated by my peers is an honor second only to being able to take care of Veterans and active-duty military,\u201d said Eibling, 74, retired Air Force colonel with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,481],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-outstanding-physician-of-the-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16861,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16855\/revisions\/16861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Dr.-David-Eibling-and-cool-flag-tie_r1-1-2.jpg\"){kind=link}