Alumni Spotlights are Q&A's with former Brandeis student-athletes, across a myriad of disciplines, as they reflect on their Brandeis experience and how it has shaped their lives today. Read more spotlight features here. 

Name: Peter B Richman, MD MBA
Job Title: Professor and Research Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
Organization: CHRISTUS Health/Texas A&M Health Science Center (Corpus Christi campus)

Peter Richman '89 is a member of the Brandeis Hall of Fame as part of the 1989 UAA Men's Tennis Championship team that went to the NCAA tournament.

He is currently a Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Texas A&M University system where he participates in the clinical training of 32 physician residents and directs a clinical research program.  He has had over 100 original research abstracts presented at global meetings with many of those resulting in full-length peer-reviewed publications. Peter was a co-author on two landmark papers, the first of which presented data that ultimately changed the recommendations for the manner in which CPR is performed (Journal of the American Medical Association 2008).  Prior to joining Texas A&M, he was an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine for the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

In addition to his clinical interests, Peter enjoys working with medically related business start-ups.  He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State.  Peter co-founded the internet firm MDChoice.com/ChoiceMedia.com that was acquired by major venture capital firms. He has also been a strategic advisor to several successful medical device start-up technology companies, and for several years ran a small investment advisory practice with a focus on physician clients.

Peter is married to the love of his life, Karen, an estate planning attorney, and together they share in the raising of 5 children.  They live in Scottsdale, Arizona in a community with many tennis courts.

Describe your overall experience as a student-athlete. What does it mean to you now/what did it mean to you while you were an undergraduate?

Playing tennis for Brandeis University was one of the great experiences of my lifetime.  I was lucky to be part of a recruiting class that included would be legends and future All-Americans Noel Occomy and Ian Murray.  During the  early years, my thoughts were largely focused on individual achievement including moving up the starting ladder, attaining individual wins against Division I teams (e.g. Boston College, Cornell) and making "All-New England" in singles and doubles my freshman year. With time as the bonds between teammates grew, we set a goal for ourselves that seemed impossible upon our arrival--to become the first team in any division from the New England region to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament. While we were fortunate to have some great recruiting classes following us in terms of ability, what I remember most by senior year was a certain intangible hunger and belief in each other that really made it possible to live out our dream. We had a reputation with our opponents for cheering for our teammates louder and more sincerely than any other.   During my senior year (1989) and in dramatic fashion, we won the UAA tournament and received a bid to the NCAA tournament. When we reconvened for the first time in nearly 30 years to be inducted as a team into the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame, those bonds were felt just as strongly as they were back then. Playing sports creates friendships unlike any other. The wins come and go,  the joints and tendons slowly give way over time, but the love for one another and our Coach Tom Foley is eternal.

How did your time as a student and student-athlete at Brandeis prepare you for your career and life after college?

Brandeis is incredibly well respected by graduate schools and employers.  Throughout my career, my academic success at Brandeis has opened doors including admission to a highly competitive medical school and a top twenty MBA program. More importantly, the demands of balancing premedical studies, a non-science major, practice, and match travel provided me with the opportunity to prepare for the broad set of responsibilities that go with adulthood e.g. work, family life, hobbies. During my time at Brandeis, I found that teachers were willing to go out of their way to accommodate my tennis schedule so that I could be successful off and on the court. To this day,  I am still friends with many of the professors that I had back when I was a student.  The small classes at Brandeis afford relationships with professors that few other schools can match and, thus, the learning experience is better and far more fun.

Do you have any advice for current or future Brandeis Student-Athletes?

While you may still play your sport after college, it is likely that the four years playing for your university will be the last highly competitive opportunity you have to do so.  Spend your off-season focused on fitness and maximizing your skills.  This is especially true during the summer as I personally made a profound leap in ability between freshman and sophomore years by dedicating myself to practice and running sprints up an awful hill over and over again every night for three months.

What personal or professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of since you graduated?

This year I won the CHRISTUS Health/Texas A&M Health Science Center Residency in Emergency Medicine "Faculty of the Year Award--for dedication to education" as voted by my thirty resident physicians.  I think back to the way my father (Professor of Pediatrics and Brandeis Class of 1962) and my teachers at Brandeis served as beloved mentors to others, and I have tried hard to emulate their contributions to my life and education in the service of teaching young doctors.