The following is from Dr. Joseph Leader, who founded the practice.
In the spring of 1967 I returned to Massachusetts from Amarillo, Texas, where I was Chief of Pediatrics in the Air Force. My wife and I had two children, and I was looking to open a practice in the area. After researching the surrounding towns I found that Woburn had no pediatricians at all — in fact there were only three family doctors in the area at the time.
I was lucky enough to find office space in an old historical farmhouse on Pleasant Street in Woburn, and there, on August 15, 1967, I began Woburn Pediatrics.
Literally for the next three years, I was on call. I had two exam rooms. It was routine to meet moms and dads with their sick children at the office at two and three in the morning. Not many families had health insurance the way they do today, so at that time I charged $8.00 an office visit. If at any time, day or night, there was an emergency that required hospital care, I would meet you there. There was no such thing as an “ER doctor” back then — I was the ER doctor. These were, to say the least, some of the most exciting times of my career.
In July of 1970 Dr. Robertson joined me, and we expanded our small office into a bigger small office. Parents still reminisce about Dr. Robertson riding up on his bicycle to meet them at the office. By the time Dr. d’Entremont joined us in 1976 we were ready for a real expansion, and moved to Kilby Street in Woburn, where we stayed for sixteen years. In 1989 we moved to our current location on Alfred Street, by which point Dr. Connolly and Dr. Vogler had joined us.
Since then we have been joined by various other physicians, and over the years by a number of experienced pediatric nurse practitioners, with whom we work in teams so that we can serve you well across a large number of hours. In 1998 we opened our office in North Andover.
I would like to welcome you to both Woburn Pediatrics and North Andover Pediatrics. We look forward to making this a comfortable and exciting experience.