Your Neighbor: Dr. Robert Shamsey

Neighborhood: Sapphire Shores
NEIGHBOR FOR: 38 years

Dr. Robert Shamsey has been practicing medicine for more than 40 years, but when asked if he is ready to retire, the 68-year-old pediatrician’s answer is a resounding “no.”

Shamsey, who practices at Pediatric Associates of Sarasota, has made 12 international medical mission trips to countries such as Haiti and Armenia, and plans to make a trip this fall to the Dominican Republic.
Shamsey’s interest in medicine began when he was in high school.

“I had an interest in helping people who were not doing well physically,” Shamsey says. “I was drawn to medicine early on.”

The first member of his family to practice medicine, Shamsey earned his undergraduate degree from Colgate University and attended medical school at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He completed his residency at Boston City Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

After medical school, Shamsey joined the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and moved to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., with his wife, Christina. He served from 1973 to 1975 as a lieutenant commander during the Vietnam War.

Shamsey and his family moved in 1975 to Sapphire Shores for the warm weather. His children still live in Sarasota.

“It is great for us because we have our kids and grandchildren in town,” says Shamsey. “When you get to my stage in life, that is a real blessing,”
 

IN HIS OWN WORDS
“(Our neighborhood) is very quiet, kind of tucked away from the main road, and a lot of people don’t know it’s there. It is very pretty, and the neighbors are very nice.”