Scott Webb (Host): Today we're gonna going to meet Dr. Edmund Kassis. He's the Medical Director, Thoracic Surgery at Genesis, and he's going to share what fueled his passion for medicine and surgery, and how he uses the da Vinci robot to help patients and save lives.

 This is Sounds of Good Health with Genesis, brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. I'm Scott Webb. Doctor, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to learn more about you and what you do and how you do it, approach to care, and so on. So, why did you decide to become a doctor?

Edmund Kassis, MD: I decided to be a physician. It dates back to when I was in high school. You know, I've had several family members of mine that had lung cancer and died of lung cancer, and I saw a number of physician patient interactions as a high school student, and, and I felt like that could do some things differently, maybe a little bit better than the way some of those physicians in the past were doing some things.

And so that's sort of where the initial spark came from, was really those early experiences as a high school student watching some family members suffer through lung cancer.

Host: Yeah, that makes sense. It does seem to be, uh, sort of a common thread when I talk to doctors and just sort of get to know them, is that there's a family history of either doctors in their family, nurses in their family, or a family history of illnesses and things that really brings them to medicine.

So tell us a little bit more about your journey to get where you are today.

Edmund Kassis, MD: Yeah, certainly, it's a, a long journey to go from college student to cardiothoracic surgeon. So after, high school, I went to college at the University of Pittsburgh, and then I stayed on at the University of Pittsburgh and went to medical school there, and I finished medical school in 1999.

After that I went to do my general surgery residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. And in between my time at Johns Hopkins, I did a three year surgical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. I completed my training in 2007 in general surgery, and then went on to do my thoracic surgery training at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. And that was from 2007 to 2009. And after that's when I became a Board Certified Thoracic Surgeon and went on to practice on my own.

Host: Yeah. And you mentioned that you'd had some family members with issues and illnesses and that kind of brought you to this. And I always want to know about doctors, you know, when you make that decision to specialize. So when you decide to go into a thoracic surgery, be a cardiothoracic surgeon, when did you know that it was the right choice? How did you know you made the right choice?

Edmund Kassis, MD: Well, I decided that I wanted to do thoracic surgery and take care of patients who have cancers in their chest when I was a medical student. And it, it all sort of crystallized for me when I was, working in my third year of medical school. And I was observing a thoracic surgeon do a very complex and very challenging lung cancer operation. And at that moment is when it all sort of came together for me, where I thought about what was inspiring me to become a doctor in the first place. Coupled with the fact that I just saw this very technically difficult, elegant operation in managing a patient with a difficult lung cancer. And that really was sort of the genesis of me thinking about a future career as a thoracic surgeon and more specifically a thoracic surgical oncologist.

Host: Yeah. And I'm sure watching that surgery then versus how you're doing surgery now, maybe this is a good opportunity to talk about not only your professional goals, but what's happening in science and medicine technology, whether that's robotic assisted procedures or anything else involved in the surgical work that you do.

Edmund Kassis, MD: There's no question that from the time I started my surgical residency until today, that technology really has advanced a, a great deal, particularly as it relates to thoracic surgery and thoracic surgical oncology. You know, for me, the technology that really helps facilitate high level quality surgery in a way that minimizes the impact on the patient is the use of the surgical robot.

I use the da Vinci system by Intuitive Surgical for, I would say, well, more than half of the operations that I do. So the majority of lung cancer surgeries I do, I will use the robot. I do my esophageal cancer operations using the robot, and oftentimes patients who have tumors in their chest that, that are in what we call the mediastinum, which is in that kind of center compartment of the chest that sits between the two lungs; I will often use the robot and the robot really, like I said, it just facilitates very elegant surgery in a way that minimizes the impact on the patient in terms of pain and recovery.

Host: Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. When you think about the Genesis community, doctor as we wrap up here, what do you want them to most know about you and the work that you're doing there?

Edmund Kassis, MD: I think the patients are incredible. They're very grateful, hardworking group of people and I've really enjoyed interacting with them. And that's the same for the staff here as well.

We're doing some types of procedures that they really haven't done at Genesis before. And the enthusiasm and dedication to the team to really bring these technologies and these new surgeries to Genesis and to sort of help me advance the thoracic program here has really been inspiring for me and it's just been a pleasure working here so far.

Host: Yeah, that's perfect. I love these, uh, sort of get to know the doctor features that we do. It's always fun and interesting to hear about the journey you go from thinking maybe I want to be a doctor to when you and I jumped on today, you just walked out of surgery. So, really cool. Thanks for your time. You stay well.

Edmund Kassis, MD: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Host: And for more information, go to genesishcs.org/services-search/heart-vascular.

 And thanks for listening to Sounds of Good Health with Genesis, brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. If you found this podcast to be helpful, please be sure to tell a friend and subscribe, rate and review this podcast. And check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well.