Meet Gabby Giffords' Doctor

Gerard Francisco, MD, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '94

His training at NJMS, UMDNJ-University Hospital (UH), and Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation prepared Gerard Francisco, MD, for almost anything but especially helping U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords recover from her gunshot wound. When Francisco learned that he’d be leading the team responsible for Representative Giffords’ physical therapy at TIRR Memorial Hospital in Houston, TX, he was surprised but not overwhelmed. “I’ve had high-profile patients before,” he says. At TIRR, one of the premier brain injury treatment centers in the country, Francisco is the chief medical officer of the Brain Injury and Stroke Program as well as Chair and Clinical Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Medical School.

Francisco graduated from medical school in the Philippines and at first, he thought he wanted a career in hematology and oncology. He soon discovered that he was more interested in physical medicine and rehabilitation and under Joel DeLisa, MD’s mentorship at UMDNJ, he flourished in the NJMS Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and at UH. “Here was a Level 1 trauma center. The doctors treating traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries were doing an excellent job and were just as committed to education and research as they were to caring for patients. In a sense, we were taking the disabled and making them abled.” When dealing with the press, he walks a fine line now trying to provide appropriate information without violating privacy rules.” But Francisco reports that Giffords is doing very well and he’s proud of the work he and his colleagues have done. He completed the two year residency at UMDNJ-NJMS in 1994 — where he was chief resident that last year — went off to Texas, and returned to New Jersey to become Director of the Brain Injury Program at Kessler before being lured back south to TIRR Memorial Hospital. “Every day I am grateful for the training I received at UMDNJ. Dr. DeLisa was a great mentor and he’s become a good personal friend.”