Like every surgeon, I started my residency training in General Surgery. Then I specialized in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and finally sub-specialized with a Fellowship in Heart and Lung Transplantation and Adult Cardiac Surgery at Duke University Medical Center. At the time I went through training, we didn’t have a lot of good options to help patients with advanced heart failure. I was working with very sick patients, many of whom died.
Back then, many of my colleagues questioned why I would choose this as my focus. They were right that the treatments weren’t great at the time. But over the past 25 years or so, I have not only witnessed but also been part of incredible innovations.
Today, we have some excellent solutions and we’ve made a huge impact. It’s incredible both to look back at our progress and to look ahead and imagine how much more we can achieve.
H. Todd Massey, MD Surgical Director, Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Recommended Citation
(2017)
"Surgeon Speaks,"
Jefferson Surgical Solutions: Vol. 12:
Iss.
2, Article 2.
Available at:
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jss/vol12/iss2/2