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Several pictures of doctors who are featured on the Local Legends web site

MEET LOCAL LEGEND: Carol Ann Feinstein Plotsky, M.D.

Picture of Carol Ann Feinstein Plotsky

Carol Ann Feinstein Plotsky, M.D.

“When I decided to give up law and go to medical school I had to justify it to myself. If I was going to be taking a place in a medical school class, I wanted to link my new career to my former career. I felt that helping children was the best way to do this.”

NOMINATING CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

Chris Van Hollen

“DEVOTED PEDIATRICIAN AND MEDICAL STAFF LEADER”

BIOGRAPHY

Carol Ann Feinstein Plotsky was a 29-year-old lawyer serving as an Assistant Attorney General with the Department of Social Services in Hartford, CT, when she decided to switch careers and become a doctor–an ambition she had nurtured since childhood. To qualify, she took pre-med courses before and after work, and at the age of 32 entered medical school.

She decided early on to specialize in pediatrics, wanting to link her new career in medicine to her former life as a lawyer helping defend the safety and rights of children. As past president of the medical and affiliated staff at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, Maryland, and a practicing pediatrician, Plotsky has devoted herself to serving the patients most in need in her community, and to fostering excellence in her hospital's medical staff.

Her leadership roles at Shady Grove also have included being Vice Chair for the Department of Pediatrics, chairing both the Physician Health Committee and the Performance Improvement Committee, and serving on the Board of Directors.

She began her medical career with a residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, MD, and joined the Shady Grove medical staff in 1990.

She practices as a pediatrician, and also follows children who have had cord blood cell transplants at Duke University for cancer or genetic diseases. One of her patients there, an infant boy named Hunter, had to remain in practically total isolation for a prolonged period.

"To protect Hunter from exposure to others, Dr. Plotsky came to our house at least once a week for nine months to evaluate and treat him," wrote his grateful mother. "She even came in the middle of the night on occasion for his fevers and other ailments to steer us through the complicated process of transplant recovery. Her caring, professional dedication and knowledge kept us going through the darkest time of our lives."

Nominated as a Local Legend by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8), Carol Ann Plotsky has been a leader of the Montgomery County Medical Society. She has volunteered countless hours to the community while serving the Primary Care Coalition, Community Clinics, and Mobile Med, and has spearheaded the Medical Society's anti-smoking program in public schools.

MILESTONES

1975-1982

Appointed Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, State of Connecticut, Hartford

1990-Present

Appointed to Medical Staff, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Rockville, MD

2000-2001

Appointed Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Rockville, MD

2004-2005

Appointed President, Medical and Affiliated Staff, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, and Chair, Performance Improvement Committee, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital

BORN

1949

MEDICAL SCHOOL

George Washington University, School of Medicine, Washington, DC

SPECIALTY

Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

LOCATION

Maryland