Education was important in the Mott family when Antonio R. “Tony” Mott, MD, was growing up. Both his parents were award-winning educators.
“There were rules, and there were expectations, but what they wanted is for us to do our very best. If it wasn’t an A, that’s fine, as long as you did your very best,” said Mott, associate professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine and medical director of Inpatient Cardiology Services at Texas Children’s Hospital.
By all indications, the Mott children lived up to their parents’ wishes. Mott’s brother is a dentist; his sister is an attorney with the Department of the Interior; and he is a pediatric cardiologist and educator. In fact, he’s carried on the family tradition of winning awards for teaching – seven to be exact.
“It’s interesting to go into medicine and still find that teaching matters,” Mott said.
He relishes teaching second-year pediatric residents during their cardiology rotation. He and other attending physicians teach in lectures and at patient bedsides.
“When the residents start at the beginning of the rotation, they’re so scared. We can have some sick, sick patients, and when I leave for the day, the patients are cared for by the residents. That’s why teaching is so important,” he said.
Residents at Baylor and Texas Children’s reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of Houston.
“I like dealing with the trainees. I like seeing them grow and make decisions and understand this beautiful field that I love, cardiology,” Mott said. “When they’re good, we know the future of cardiology is going to be fine.”
Continuous education is important for nurses, too, Mott believes. Nurses have the same lectures as residents and participate in rounds.
“Nurses and residents are like two trains, both going north on different tracks. Nurses touch patients more than we doctors do. We want communications to be without barriers because we’re taking care of the same patients. We’re one team,” he said.
His demonstrated respect for and partnership with nurses led to winning a Friend of Nursing award at Texas Children’s in 2014.
Mott’s interest in pediatrics began to take shape when he helped to care for his brother’s colicky baby. At the time, Mott was in high school in his hometown of Tifton, Ga., a small town near the Florida state line. He earned a bachelor of science degree in biology at Valdosta State University and graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 1989.
While in medical school, he shadowed William Strong, MD, then chief of pediatric cardiology. During rounds, Strong took the students to patient rooms and asked if they could hear each child’s heart murmur through the stethoscope.
“On the fifth patient, I said no,” Mott recalled. “He let the other students – who all said they heard a murmur – leave and then asked me, ‘Are you sure you can’t hear it?’ I said, ‘I’m very sure.’ Dr. Strong said, ‘There wasn’t a murmur.’”
That experience captured Mott’s interest in cardiology.
Mott completed a residency in general pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, then clinical fellowships in pediatric cardiology at Baylor-Texas Children’s and pediatric critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1998, he joined the faculty in the Baylor Department of Pediatrics and became assistant director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Texas Children’s.
He credits two mentors for guiding him during the transition from fellow to an attending physician at Texas Children’s – Timothy Bricker, MD, then chief of pediatric cardiology, and Timothy Feltes, MD, who later became chief of cardiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“They pushed me, along with all the other fellows. They taught us how to talk to parents and to other pediatric providers. In my practice, I still use bits and pieces of what they did,” Mott said.
“I learned from them the importance of talking to parents. When the parents have a lot of questions, I’ll say, ‘I have to finish rounds, and then I’ll come in and talk with you.’ That’s one thing parents don’t forget. They don’t feel they are being rushed, and I make sure I clear up communication.”
Mott greatly respected his mentors’ manner, as well as their knowledge.
“These guys were really decent people,” he said. “Tim Bricker was quiet, but when he needed to pipe up, people listened. I like the fact that, even though he was the section chief, he didn’t feel that he had to own the room. People felt comfortable. If we were discussing a patient, he always made sure the environment was safe. I felt that he had an incredible impact on the cardiology section.”
In 2009, Mott was recruited to the position of medical director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Four years later, Texas Children’s offered him the position of medical director of Inpatient Cardiology Services.
The move to the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower in 2018 was a positive change, but the larger space still took some adjustment.
“It’s a beautiful place, and our practice has to be just as beautiful,” Mott said. “The bottom line is that parents would rather be at home. It is still a hospital, and their child is still sick. We have to make sure we do what we need to do.”
Mott enjoys all aspects of his job and believes that he is in an ideal place to do it.
“Texas Children’s is an awesome place to work, and I have some awesome colleagues. We work hard, and we find mutual respect for each other,” he said.
He is especially pleased with the opportunities available to minorities at Baylor and Texas Children’s in a city known for its racial and ethnic diversity.
“I’m proud to say that the program looks like Houston,” Mott said. “I’ve never worked on a staff with this many African-American physicians and residents. They’re right where they want to be.”
For Mott, good teaching is a vital part of good medicine. In addition to imparting essential medical knowledge, good teaching models interactions with and respect for patients, students, peers and coworkers alike.
Antonio R. “Tony” Mott, MD, won the following awards at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital:
Dan G. McNamara Teaching Award
2000 and 2015
Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric Award of Excellence in Teaching
2001
Outstanding Teaching Attending presented by Baylor Pediatric Residency
2003, 2006, 2015 and 2019
Friend of Nursing
2014