Edward “Vince” Faustino, MD, MHS, is a pediatric intensivist, which means he takes care of critically ill children, most of whom improve dramatically in a matter of days or weeks.
“I treat children from a few days old up until their 20s. They tend to be very sick. A lot of them come into the hospital, and we need to support their organ function through breathing tubes, the heart-lung machine and other specialized ways,” Dr. Faustino says. “We manage them until they recover from whatever is causing the acute illness. Soon, they are up and about. They visit us a month later, and they are running around—I hardly recognize them. Kids bounce back quickly, which is great.”
Growing up in the Philippines, where his mother was a pediatrician, Dr. Faustino says he always knew he, too, wanted to be a pediatrician, and that he was drawn to the hospital setting.
Pediatric intensive care made sense to him because he gets to care for the “whole child,” while constantly being challenged with new cases. “There’s always something new to learn, which is exciting,” he says.
Dr. Faustino’s research explores the prevention of venous thromboembolism, a common, potentially lethal disorder that can affect hospitalized patients and cause long-term complications. He is also an associate professor of pediatric critical care at Yale School of Medicine.
