What is your Orthopaedic subspecialty?
Orthopaedic Trauma and Reconstruction
Why did you go into that subspecialty?
I’ve always been drawn toward the unexpected. To be able to help patients at their most vulnerable, and take the skills I've developed throughout both my education and career, is rewarding to me. In trauma, you need to be able to think on your feet consistently. You can't do the same interventions on patients all the time, so you're constantly engaging with the skills and knowledge you've accumulated during your career. It's always very different even when you might see the same injuries, and I like that.
What is the best part of your clinical practice?
For me, it’s seeing a patient who was at first bloodied and hurt when they arrived in the emergency department and taking them all the way back to their job, or doing what they loved. You can see the transformation.
Every patient arrives in the emergency department the same way, but it’s how you’re a part of shaping their experience to bring them back that makes it worthwhile. You don’t know who the person is when they roll in on a stretcher. They all look the same, but it’s your job to bring them back to their previous lives. I’m always telling residents that that’s what makes working in this field so unique.
What makes Yale a unique place for patients to come to get treatment?
Patients consistently tell me that they always feel that Yale doctors are confident in what they do and always pushing the limit in how they can help you. We’re on that cutting edge of our fields and research, so that offers an advantage.
What’s some advice you give to medical students or residents?
I tell them not to worry about the business side of healthcare as much as helping patients to get better. Get up in the morning, embrace the challenges, and you’re going to wake up happy. That’s the true goal of Yale physicians: to come into work and to make people better than they were at the start.
Tell me something you enjoy doing when you’re not in the clinics or surgery.
I enjoy off road trail 4x4 driving, traveling with my family, and taking my kids to dance competitions all over the Northeast.