In memoriam: Dr. Adam Birek (1947-2022)

David Merzel MD and Myron Yaster MD

I am reposting this obituary which was co-written by Dr. David Merzel (not Dr. David Hertzberg). For those of you celebrating Yom Kippur, my wishes for an easy fast and a “G’mar Chatema Tova”, may you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life. Myron Yaster MD

Dr. Adam Birek, 75, of Fresno, California, a true renaissance man, a clinician’s clinician, a Society for Pediatric Anesthesia member, whose presence, ability to command a room, unquenchable thirst for knowledge, kind spirit, and unconditional love and support passed away after a long illness on September 24, 2022.

Adam was an ethnic Hungarian, born in Târgu Mureș Romania on April 10, 1947. He attended medical school at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mureș. In the mid-1970s, Adam fled Romania and completed his medical residency at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. He was amongst the first pediatric anesthesiologists to research and implement medical information technology in the operating room.

Adam moved to Fresno in 1980, beginning a decades-long career in medicine, where he specialized in pediatric anesthesia, pediatric critical care medicine, and anesthesia for pediatric open-heart surgery at Valley Children's Hospital. Dr. Birek, "Adam" was known as a highly skilled, kind, caring physician, teacher, mentor and friend. He was the intellectual center of the group, and together with his colleagues provided cutting edge academic level care in a free standing regional pediatric referral hospital that was not a primary affiliate of a major academic department.

In 1994, Adam, along with the late Dr. Kenneth Jue, a pediatric cardiologist, founded PediHeart, an innovative electronic mailing list that brought together pediatric cardiologists from across the globe. PediHeartNet (as it is known today) now has over 2300 members who use the platform to enhance their clinical practice and improve patient care every day.

"There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." He loved that Leonard Cohen song because he saw good in everyone and every situation. Adam could make any difficult situation better.  "Those who love each other, tease each other" was his expression of love towards his wife. "Not all bad things come to harm you" was his mantra to face life's obstacles.

If you would like to share your thoughts or memories please send to Myron (myasterster@gmail.com) and I will post in the PAAD. His family has requested that donations in his memory be made to valleychildrens.org/foundation/donate or hias.org

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