At the center of Philip Fidler’s burn care philosophy is a simple plan: Give every patient an opportunity to have some fun.

“I want them to get back to doing leisure activities,” he said. “Sure, getting back on their feet is great. Getting the opportunity to work is wonderful. However, when they can do something they really enjoy, that brings them happiness. It’s been said happiness is food for the soul, but it is also food for healing.”

A New York native, born in the Bronx, Dr. Fidler has dedicated a large part of his life to helping others. Between high school and college, he served as a volunteer farmer, trash collector, and teacher for a year in Israel. He found his medical direction during his residency following medical school at the University of Kansas of School of Medicine. He treated patients at the State University of New York Downstate campus in Brooklyn’s Kings County hospital—one of the country’s busiest urban trauma centers.

“I learned one of the most important lessons of medicine there: Patients are what matter, and treating them takes creativity, patience and courage—all things that you can never be prepared for without hands-on experience,” he said.

Dr. Fidler also completed fellowships in surgical critical care at Yale University School of Medicine, and burn surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Shriners Hospital for children, at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is board certified in both surgery and surgical critical care.

His tenure in the world of burn care began when he joined Yale New Haven Health System’s Bridgeport campus as Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and Instructor in the department of Plastic Surgery. He practiced Trauma, Emergency Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, and soon became director of Connecticut’s only burn unit. Under his leadership, the burn care program’s patient volume nearly doubled, and the service was lauded for excellence in education. In 2008, Dr. Fidler joined the MedStar Washington Hospital Burn Center in Washington, D.C., and served as director and associate professor of surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

In 2015, he joined the staff of Burn & Reconstructive Centers of Colorado, and help fulfill the need for a combined adult and pediatric burn center in the mountain and plains regions of the US.

Dr. Fidler has been a member of the Government Affairs committee of the American Burn Association and is currently on the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Committee and has served as a reviewer for the Journal of Burn Care and Research for years. As past president of the North American Burn Society, Dr. Fidler encouraged burn survivors and providers to work with adaptive sports counselors to improve their psychosocial well-being and better enjoy the outdoors.

In 2016, Dr. Fidler was named a Gusi Peace Prize Laureate for excellence in medicine and burn patient advocacy and was honored at a ceremony the Philippines.

Healing people runs in Dr. Fred Mullins’s family. He is connected to a long history of caring for the Augusta area, so it wasn’t a surprise when he graduated from the Medical College of Georgia as a Physician Assistant. He joined the staff of the burn center in Augusta, working under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph M. Still—the namesake and founder of the nation’s largest burn center.

Dr. Mullins then returned to the Medical College of Georgia and obtained his Medical Degree in 1996. He completed his General Surgery residency at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in 2001, and returned to the private practice of Joseph M. Still Burn Centers, Inc., as a burn surgeon.

“Being a burn surgeon is truly a calling,” Dr. Mullins said. “While it can be emotionally and physically exhausting at times, I believe it is one of the most rewarding specialties.”

He describes the times he gets to interact with patients away from the burn center—like at survivor reunions—as some of the most special occasions.

“Seeing them getting back to as much of their pre-burn life as possible is great,” he said. “I enjoy seeing them smile, and there’s something extra special about knowing you and your team helped them get there.”

Dr. Mullins’s expertise includes the full spectrum of burn care, from field treatment, to surgery, to long-term care and rehabilitation.

“We have always believed that following a patient from their initial injury all the way through their long-term rehabilitation is best for all involved,” he said. “It allows us to build relationships and we get to really know the patients. That allows us, for example, to know if they are just having a bad day in their recovery process or if something more severe is wrong.”

That circle of care starts with a referral phone call. Often, it is Dr. Mullins taking those calls for the burn center.

“We accept every patient, every time,” he said. “We try to make the process as seamless as possible, and make sure the care of the patient is always at the top of our priority list.”

Dr. Mullins became the Medical Director of the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in July of 2004, when Dr. Still had to retire from active practice due to health problems.  He now serves as President of Joseph M. Still Burn Centers, Inc., which has four clinics in the Southeast: the original in Augusta, full-service burn units in Jackson, MS, and Austell, GA, and outpatient clinics in Valdosta, GA, and Charleston, SC.

He is also the President of Burn and Reconstruction Centers of America; Burn and Reconstruction Centers of Florida, which operates facilities in Miami, FL, and Bradenton, FL; Burn and Reconstruction Centers of Colorado, which operates facilities in Englewood, CO, and Aurora, CO; and Burn and Reconstruction Centers of Texas, which operates a facility in Plano, TX.