When Christina DiNicola, MD, FAAP started practicing in Gifford’s Pediatrics department this spring, she returned to work next to the mentor she had “job shadowed” before heading off to Stanford University in the fall of 1994. Today that mentor, Dr. Lou DiNicola, is not only her colleague but her father-in-law.
“I always knew I wanted to practice medicine, but that long-ago summer with Lou confirmed that I wanted to work in Pediatrics,” she said. “Last fall, I was about to sign into a partnership that would mean committing to living in Philadelphia when the Gifford position opened up, but we knew this was the right move for our family. I felt like I was coming home!”
DiNicola has worked in a range of communities (including suburban New Jersey, inner city Philadelphia, rural Appalachia, and on a Navajo reservation in Arizona), and with several national organizations including the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Families USA. She was director of the Integrative Pediatrics program at the Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, and founder and medical coordinator of the Reach Out and Read Program at South Philadelphia Pediatrics.
After that summer internship in Randolph, she attended Stanford University and graduated with a BA in human biology (concentration in Children, Family & Public Policy). She received a certificate of completion in the Children & Society Curriculum from the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and earned her medical doctorate degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Her residency training in pediatrics was at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and she is board certified in pediatrics.
DiNicola says she brings a personalized, yet evidence-based approach to her practice, and stresses building healthy habits early on to prevent disease and mental health issues later in life. She especially enjoys helping families understand the direct connection between mental and physical wellbeing, and to use self-relaxation techniques like deep breathing, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, or other mind/body techniques that can help with anxiety, depression, or sleep issues. She prefers using a team oriented approach in partnership with families to create the best health outcomes for her patients.
When the DiNicola family’s moving van arrived in Randolph on April 1, 2015, the “meant-to-be” nature of her new position was highlighted by the fact that the chance encounter that connected her to Gifford and her subsequent career in Pediatrics had occurred on April 1st exactly 21 years ago.
Christina DiNicola was visiting a friend when she met Damian DiNicola on April Fool’s Day in the Randolph High School parking lot in 1994. She returned home to New Jersey with a prom date, and the two have been together ever since.
Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, Vt., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, and Rochester and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department; inpatient and rehabilitation units; many surgical services; accredited cancer program; a day care; two adult day programs; and a 30-bed nursing home, the Menig Extended Care Facility, which was named by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best 39 nursing homes in the country in 2012. The Birthing Center, established in 1977, was the first in Vermont to offer an alternative to the traditional hospital-based deliveries, and continues to be a leader in midwifery and family-centered care. The cancer program is accredited by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. The hospital’s mission is to improve individuals’ and community health by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care in Gifford’s service area.