An inside interview with LocateADoc.com
Describe the most rewarding experience that you have had working with a patient?
My most rewarding experience has been participating in the international charity ogainization, Interplast. Interplast provides free reconstructive surgery to children with congenital deformities such as cleft-lip and palate as well as reconstruction for severe burn scars. I have had the opportunity to operate on underpriveledged children in Honduras, Mexico, and Ecuador. Treating these children and seeing the gratitude of teir families has been the most rewarding experience of my life.
What is your charity organization of choice and why?
The orgainzation is Interplast, for the above mentioned reason.
What does living in the San Jose community mean to you?
I have lived in the Bay Area since 1981, when I came to Stanford University to complete my internship and residency in plastic surgery. Initally, I had intended to return to my home stae of Ohio. However, I was so impressed with the South Bay's woderful diversity of cultures, the people's vibrancy, and their love of innovation and technology;
that, I had no other choice but to make San Jose my home.
What is your favorite quote or saying?
The passage in the Decleration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evedent, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that amoung these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights, Governmnets are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the conscent of the governed,"
What makes your specialties the right fields of medicine for you?
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery demands not only a great understanding of general medicine, but also the technical skills of a great surgeon along with a a keen artistic eye. It is this blend of skills and talents which attracted me to plastic surgery, initially, and keeps me challenged to this day.
Finish this sentence: If I weren't a doctor I would be___.
If I weren't a doctor I would be happy, however, I do not know of a field of indeavor, which would have kept my interest or demanded of me my best.
When (your age) did you first realize you wanted to become a surgeon? And did you experience anything in particular to motivate you to achieve this prestigious goal?
My is a physician, and I had exposure to the medical profession at an early age. I knew by the age of 14 that I wanted to become a physician. By the age of 16 I knew that I would want to specialize in a surgical subspecialty.
Can you tell us in your own words what you consider a perfect outcome of a surgical procedure?
Yes. In Cometic Surgery it is when the patient is perfectly happy and all of her or his expectations were met.
What is your favorite procedure to perform and why?
I can't say that I have a favorite procedure. It is the spectrum of procedures I perform, and the variety of patients that I encounter, that makes my work so interesting.
What procedure would you like to do more of and why?
I especially like performing breat augmentations and abdominoplasties. Although, I perform many of them now, these patients tend to see the most dramatic reesults and are often the happiest.
In a perfect world, when would you like to retire, where would you go and what would you do?
I would spend more time working with organizations like Interplast, which I mentioned above.
