Taking a humanistic view of medicine

Timothy Counihan, MD, Chairman of Surgery at Berkshire Medical Center and director of the Surgical Residency program, arrived at Berkshire Health Systems in January 2007. His impressive credentials include dual board certifications in general surgery and colon and rectal surgery, yet he takes a deeply humanistic view of medicine. "The cutting and sewing is relatively easy," he explains. "But the decision making and communicating with patients ... they're just as essential."

Coming most recently from Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, he has easily adjusted to life at BMC and the community in general. "The community size and overall health system are smaller and that works to the advantage of patients and doctors. Everybody is accessible. I find there is more collaboration and it is easier to improve process." Today Dr. Counihan directs the General Surgical Residency Program at Berkshire Medical Center and chairs the Department of Surgery.

An award-winning surgeon and educator (he was twice named Outstanding Medical Educator at UMass Medical School and won the Bednarz Award for excellence in surgery in 2002), Dr. Counihan has for seventeen years served in the United States Army Reserves. His military commitments have taken him to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and he holds the rank of lieutenant colonel as commander of a Forward Surgical Team. "FSTs are highly mobile units that can deliver surgical care earlier and closer to the point of injury," he explains. "They are one reason today's mortality rate is incredibly low. It's dropped from forty-five percent in World War I to less than nine percent in the current conflict."

Boston-born and raised on the South Shore, Dr. Counihan earned his medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. While completing his surgical residency, he worked at the Lahey Clinic before gaining a second board certification in colon and rectal surgery at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Counihan has easily adjusted to life in Berkshire County. "My wife grew up in Dalton, and we've been vacationing here for a decade. It's got everything that we value as a family - a great place to be a surgeon, and a wonderful environment where we can hike, canoe and do all of the things we love."