A Lifetime of Caring, A Legacy of Teaching
For more than four decades, Dr. Peter Greenspan served in a variety of roles within pediatric care – as a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital, and in leadership positions within the field. Yet alongside his long career in medicine was another calling that began even earlier: teaching.
Before Dr. Greenspan ever put on a white coat, he stood at the front of a classroom. After earning a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he spent several years teaching elementary school and that early experience shaped his outlook in profound ways. In addition to a commitment to children, his experience instilled in him a deep belief that knowledge is meant to be shared.
“My father was a surgeon, so I always had exposure to medicine,” Dr. Greenspan said. Still, his path wasn’t entirely mapped out from the beginning. As his career unfolded, he found himself drawn toward what seemed interesting and meaningful, which ultimately led him to pediatrics.
That curiosity grew into a career spanning more than 40 years caring for children and families. Along the way, he naturally stepped into leadership and mentoring roles, guiding students, residents, and colleagues throughout his career.
Years before retirement was on the horizon, Dr. Greenspan first learned about MAVEN Project through a colleague. Although his schedule was too full to volunteer at the time, the idea stayed with him, so much so that he kept the brochure in his desk drawer, waiting for the day he could get involved.
“When I thought about retiring, I really didn’t feel like I wanted to drop out of medicine completely,” he said. “For most doctors, medicine is a big part of our identity. Giving that up doesn’t feel good. MAVEN is a way of sharing my experience and knowledge.”
Dr. Greenspan joined MAVEN in 2022 even before retiring from full-time practice and gradually deepened his involvement over the years. He now responds to consults and supports 7 clinicians across the country through mentorship.
“These are under-resourced places,” he said. “In many of them there are no pediatricians. I think MAVEN contributes heavily to the quality-of-care families receive. Having someone to talk through cases with results in these patients getting better care.”
Dr. Greenspan focuses heavily on the relationships at the heart of mentorship – both the connections he builds with mentees and the relationships they build with their patients and teams.
“I’m sure many other mentors believe this: my approach is that the agenda isn’t mine to choose,” he said. “I’m here to do what’s helpful.”
While Dr. Greenspan’s mentees benefit greatly from his decades of experience, he gains a deeper understanding of the realities of practicing medicine in resource-limited settings.
“Getting a feel for working in these settings has been an education for me,” he said. “But the principles of medicine are still the same. My approach is always: what can I do to make providers’ lives easier and help them make progress with their patients?”
Even in retirement Dr. Greenspan’s curiosity about medicine hasn’t slowed. MAVEN allows him to remain connected to the field he loves while helping the next generation of providers grow.
“In medicine there’s always something new to learn. MAVEN encourages lifelong learning.”
From the perspective of his mentees, that impact is deeply felt. One provider shared, “The ease of conversation and the expertise Peter brought from both a leadership and clinical perspective made every session incredibly valuable.” Another said, “Dr. Greenspan has truly helped me feel more confident caring for children.”
By continuing the thread of teaching that began even before his medical career, Dr. Greenspan is helping ensure that providers across the country and the patients they serve benefit from the experience of a lifetime.
For his extraordinary dedication to mentoring safety-net clinicians, MAVEN Project is proud to recognize Dr. Peter Greenspan with the Laurie Green MD Mentor Award. The honor reflects not only his decades of experience in pediatric medicine, but also the way he invests deeply in the clinicians he mentors, helping them grow in confidence, strengthen patient care, and navigate the challenges of practicing in underserved communities.
