Dr. Robby from ‘The Pitt’ is the TV hero we need right now

Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch is the doctor you want standing over you in an emergent situation – calm-mannered, determined, with soulful eyes and a good looking beard. He may be a fictional character on a scripted television show, but the hype around this physician serving on the frontlines in a Pittsburgh emergency room on “The Pitt” is very real to some real-life providers.

Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch is the doctor you want standing over you in an emergent situation – calm-mannered, determined, with soulful eyes and a good looking beard. He may be a fictional character on a scripted television show, but the hype around this golden-hearted physician serving on the frontlines in a Pittsburgh emergency room on Max’s “The Pitt” is very real. “I’ll say from a fan girl, I think he exudes this quiet, calm sincerity,” Dr. Janet Semple-Hess, an emergency department doctor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, told CNN of the character played by actor Noah Wyle. “Not only is he knowledgeable, but he cares and he wears that care on his face. You can see the care and what’s going on in his mind. We all have those days where we have those faces, too.” Semple-Hess will retire after 33 years of service at the end of April. The weight of stepping back was made even more emotional when the cast of “The Pitt,” including Wyle, recently visited CHLA during their Make March Matter campaign, which raises money for the hospital. In a social media video that went viral, Semple-Hess can be seen in tears meeting the actor. “I would watch (“ER”) when I was a young attending and full of a lot of energy and hope for the world and the desire to do good,” she said. “And now, after 33 years, this is kind of the end for me. It’s not the end for Noah Wyle by any means!” When she first watched Wyle on TV in his breakout role on “ER,” where he played Dr. John Carter for 15 seasons, she was a first-year attending. As she saw Wyle’s Carter grow from an intern into an expert physician, she too grew in her career. Watching Wyle as Robby, she said, has felt like something of a bookend to her career. She described the cast’s visit as uplifting, because “all those things kind of just bring a feeling of we’re being seen.” “Looking at the careers of emergency medicine physicians and how much they give and how much the ER nurses give, you can tell that the whole cast of ‘The Pitt’ give all that they’ve got every day,” she said.