His dream was to become a doctor on the first starship. While waiting for aerospace to catch up with his ambition, Bradley Winston, M.D. trailblazed on his own, delivering quality care for three decades in gastroenterology and hepatology at Kaiser Permanente.
He continues to do so as a MAVEN Project volunteer, where he consults with frontline clinic providers on behalf of their patients and leads continuing medical education sessions. His topics have included managing hepatitis C and developing comprehensive programs for liver care.
“Every time I engage with clinic providers through MAVEN Project, I’m reminded why I got into medicine,” Dr. Winston shared. “I’m in awe of the extraordinary work these providers do with limited resources and how they take so much responsibility for patient care. I love being a part of this organization that’s helping to care for those who can’t take care of themselves. It’s the essence of why I became a doctor.”
Inspired by his father, a founder of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Winston served as Kaiser Permanente’s mid-Atlantic chief of the Department of Gastroenterology/Hepatology for 28 years. Among many other achievements at Kaiser, he served on the liver transplant committee, helped develop national guidelines for screening colon cancer, and directed clinical research. In light of his many accomplishments, Dr. Winston was also named an American Gastroenterological Association Fellow in 2022.
Whether or not Dr. Winston ever takes his expertise to space, he is still generously providing it here on earth—even beyond MAVEN Project. He developed a comprehensive liver care program at SOME (So Others Might Eat), a not-for-profit free clinic for the homeless and impoverished in Washington, D.C. He has also taught at the VA hospital and regularly reviews scholarly articles prior to publication, and has recently returned to practice part-time at the Inova health care system in Virginia.
