Dr. Avie Grunspan was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His desire to pursue medicine was always apparent to his family and friends, as his journey to reach his goal manifested through a culmination of travel, learning a new language, and discovering a new path in the art of healing. “I always knew medicine was what I wanted to pursue,” he says.
At the Nix Hospital in Downtown San Antonio, where Dr. Grunspan practices internal medicine, he notes the advantages of working in a metropolis. “There is such a diverse mix of people,” he says. In fact, most of his patients are a mix from the downtown area and all over the city. “We do cater to a large portion of the business community downtown.” Professionals, businessmen/women, and locals take time during their lunch hours to visit and frequent Dr. Grunspan for the very best in medical attention.
Dr. Grunspan is noted for his sincerity and open line of communication with every patient who walks through his door. “Communication is the most important component in medicine,” he expresses.
He attended undergraduate school at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, where he received a B.A. in Biology. At the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Dr. Grunspan completed medical school, where he hoped to broaden his experience while learning a new language. His medical training took place at Mt. Sinai Hospital Services in New York City. He spent the next seventeen years practicing in upstate New York, where he joined a group practice of primary doctors of internal medicine. During his distinguished stay, he took an opportunity as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester Medical School.
From New York To SA
While Dr. Grunspan admits it was an initial culture shock for he and his family to transition to the Alamo City, he says San Antonio was always the place he wanted to make home for himself, his wife and their two children. “When you live in upstate New York, and you shovel an average of three feet of snow every winter, it gets tiring after a while,” he admits. San Antonio appeared to offer more opportunities for his children who, at the time, were finishing high school. “We’d traveled here several times and it was a nice place to raise a family.”
However, moving thousands of miles away did come with its own set of challenges. “Looking for a practice here wasn’t easy,” he explains. “If you open your own practice, without knowing anyone and being new to the city, it’s more difficult. But if you come into an existing practice, it’s a lot easier to blend in, you begin building bridges and knowing the medical community better. I found that transition a lot smoother.”
Both he and his wife came to San Antonio with one great advantage: the ability to speak Spanish. His wife, April, spent years living in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Avid travelers, they enjoy taking trips to Mexico and Central America. Dr. Grunspan admits one of their favorite pastimes is bird watching. Perhaps that’s just another one of the appeals of San Antonio. “There are lots of places to go bird watching in Texas year-round,” he shares.
The Art Of Healing
Dr. Grunspan, for almost two decades, has dedicated his time and attention to Internal Medicine. “In New York City, our program was one of the original, primary care programs of internal medicine in the country. Here, we work on outpatient therapy as a focus,” he says.
What is the reward for Dr. Grunspan? It’s simply patients revisiting his office to let him know they feel better. “The thing I enjoy most about internal medicine is that you really have to know the entire individual,” he reveals. “You have to know their background, their social influences, psychological make-up and how all those influence their webbing. It’s critical in order to be successful in treating your patient.” Over the years, Dr. Grunspan has received many letters and gifts of thanks from his patients, some of which, his patients made by hand. One, in particular, hanging on the wall of his office, is a letter from a patient from China. The inscription, detailed by hand in calligraphy, was written by the patient as a way to extend deep gratitude to Dr. Grunspan. “My patients are my rewards everyday,” he says. “I become a part of their whole being, and as a result I can deliver them better care.”
Dr. Grunspan belongs to a number of organizations, including, The American College of Physicians and The American Association of Sleep Medicine, to which he has become very involved in the past three years. Dr. Grunspan hopes to expand his practice to one extension of internal medicine, called Sleep Medicine. He will receive his certification this year and hopes to educate more people about the benefits of sleep. “Sleep is essential to the health of our overall being,” he states.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Grunspan has learned the challenges and the many rewards of practicing medicine. However, throughout his experiences; medicine, similar to life, evolves, almost on its own. Patients are his passion, and his colleagues in medicine have become friends and great support to one another. “I enjoy working with a multispecialty group because I love the work I do here working with wonderful people and making a difference in many lives. Plus, I even have time to pursue my own interests.” Perhaps, next for Dr. Grunspan, might be in the classroom again, imparting knowledge to a new generation of practitioners. Whatever his future endeavors, he says, San Antonio is where he plans to stay. It’s apparent to see, the warm weather and warm hearts of the people who surround him are just a reflection of the man and the doctor he is.