It is with overwhelming sadness that we must announce the unexpected passing of Alex Djuricich. Alex was arguably one of the best known and most beloved members of our entire organization. Alex touched us all in Med-Peds. He inspired us, mentored us, pushed us to grow and to learn, and always kept us up with the changing times. And perhaps most importantly, he always made us laugh. Alex had the biggest, and most genuine laugh in the room at our national meetings. And he was always the best/worst karaoke singer who ever dropped a mike. He made us proud to be doctors, and he made us all extra proud that he was one of us. He was a Med-Peds physician who had achieved so much in so many professional areas, and he was always driven to do better. He was an inspiration to us all. We would like to remember all that Alex has meant to us in Med-Peds and that his memory will continue to inspire us to do great things within medicine and always to watch out and care for and laugh with each other the way he did for us.
Alex was the Program Director for MedPeds, at IUSM, for 10 years from 2006 through 2016. Before that, he was an APD from 2002-2006. He was an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Pediatrics Indiana University School of Medicine. In January of 2016, he served as Education Editor for the NEJM Group, which oversees the New England Journal of Medicine and other educational products. In this role, he quickly earned the full trust and respect of the editorial board of the NEJM. He had recently relocated to Indiana for personal reasons and was scheduled to return to IU School of Medicine in July as a primary care provider at the IU Health Epler Parke office.
Alex was also recently named a recipient of the ACGME’s 2016 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award. Alex was always an invaluable resource for us in the MPPDA. Always an active member, he served as MPPDA President in 2010-11, and he was always a trusted adviser. Alex also authored an inspirational and information medical education blog “Mired in MedEd” at http://alexdjuricich.blogspot.com/
We all will miss Alex more than words can express. We invite you to share your memories of Alex below. We will have more information on a memorial fund for Alex’s family in the near future as well as dropbox folder where you will be able to share pictures you may have of Alex with his family members.
I am devastated. Alex is an inspirational person, doctor, father, role model. And Karaoke singer! I am so sorry and sad for all who have had the pleasure of knowing him. My heart goes out to his family.
Alex was a wonderful husband and dad! He will be truly missed. He would always come down to the ER and check on Nikki and bring us food and the girls!
I had the pleasure of working with Dr. DJ at North Arlington Health Center for several years. I was assigned to be his nurse on his clinic day’s. I feel very honored to have worked with someone as brilliant as DJ. He loved to teach, tell jokes, laugh (loudly) and he was always right. We always knew when he was in clinic and he made clinic days exciting and fun. He always had ” What did you learn today” sessions at the end of clinic. There are so many memories for me about DJ……North Arlington Health center Will never be the same without him…. I know a lot of lives wete touched by him in many different ways. I’m so sorry for our loss and most importantly his family’s loss they had the best of DJ…. many many prayers for his family… My heart goes out to you. He loved you very much.and talked about his wife kids and mother all the time. He called himself a mommas boy……. DJ you are missed very much…
I don’t know what more can be said about Alex that folks don’t already know and feel. He was a force of nature. As someone who trained in med-peds back in the day when it was still getting it’s legs and wings as a specialty and growing within many institutions I feel blessed to have chosen the med meds path and been in that era of “second wave” residents who chose the path. Alex clearly championed the med meds path and showed us all the potential it had. He clearly loved both adults and kids and was a big kid in spirit. He was an inspirational physician and seemed to be able to inspire people to follow just because he would go out there and “just do it”. He was adaptable, creative, and filled with positive energy and positive regard for everyone. He brought many smiles. People are being gentle when they state his karaoke talents because really he would do them with lots of accessories (feather boas, coconut bras, inflatable guitars, tinsel wigs, and on) he brought a smile just being in the room. He was the supporter and the uplifter of us all. Now it is time to uplift each other and, of course, to offer our love and prayers to his family and kids who everyone will tell you was his everything.