Caitlin Whyte (Host): One on One with Regional One Health is your inside look at how we're building healthier tomorrows for our patients and our community. Join us as we get to know some of the individuals who help provide life-saving, life-changing care for our community.

Today, we're getting acquainted with Dr. Sira Duson, a vascular surgeon here at Regional One Health. Well, we are so happy to have you with us on the show today. To start us off, can you tell us a little bit about your background and why you decided to pursue a career in medicine, particularly in Vascular Surgery?

Dr. Sira Duson: How far back from?

Host: As far back as you want to go.

Dr. Sira Duson: Let's see. I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I've been in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia metro area for most of my life. And I did my residency in General Surgery there as well. And so, at that point, you don't really know what type of surgery you want to go into. And a lot of times, you fall into the surgery that you relate to those surgeons a lot and what they're doing. So, I found Vascular Surgery. I really liked my mentors that I worked with, they were very like, just down to earth, really cared about the patients. And this is the type of surgery basically your patients are for their lifetime. And so even though we're surgeons, you follow vascular patients essentially until they pass or they move, because it's very systemic. Everything we do, we treat, all their other medical problems are related to their vascular disease, so their high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking. So, we have to manage all that as well, in conjunction with their medical doctors, the heart doctors, the kidney doctors, and all of those things. If those are not okay, because atherosclerosis or blockages are systemic, they affect the whole body, then your outcomes with our surgery are not going to be okay as well.

And also, our surgeries require surveillance. It's not like getting your gallbladder out or a hernia fixed, and then you are good to go. You have your blood vessels forever. So after we do surgery or any other intervention stenting angioplasty, we need to also monitor to make sure that whatever we've open to provide blood flow stays open. And so, I liked that continuity of care.

Also, Vascular is very technically demanding and precise. If our procedure has 10 steps or 30 steps, the procedure we're doing, if you mess up one, your whole surgery, the whole thing will likely not work. And so, I found I liked how you have to be essentially, you know, one of the technically best to do Vascular. And you are also the surgeons that if other surgeons get into trouble, they call you because you're very comfortable around blood vessels and bleeding to fix it.

So, for all those reasons, the personality of the doctors, how just down to earth, the continuity of care, you really get to know patients and their family, and also how technically challenging it is and how challenging our patients are because they have a lot of other medical problems. For you to get vascular disease, you typically will have a lot of medical problems. For all those reasons, that's why I ended up here.

Host: Wonderful. Well, you started in the D.C. area, so then what brought you to Memphis and Regional One Health? And what do you offer patients at Regional One Health?

Dr. Sira Duson: Dr. Mitchell, she's a legend in our specialty. And so, I had heard great things about her from my mentors and the people that I'm close to in our national society. So, she was here, so I came here. I'd never been here before. You know, she lived up to her reputation when I met her and continues to as I've been here about a year now.

And then, also, I was taken around by a real estate agent to see Memphis. And, you know, similar to Baltimore, it has a bad reputation. But once when you actually live there, because I lived in Baltimore for about like 10 years, it's actually really great. And so, Memphis is very similar. I call it like the Baltimore of the South where in Baltimore everything's kind of around the Henry Harbor here it's the Mississippi. And just as there are parts that may unsavory, they're also great parts. So, I found the same thing with Memphis and really, really liked the city as well.

Host: Oh, I love that connection. Thank you for sharing. Well, you touched on this a bit already, but what is most rewarding for you in providing care to patients?

Dr. Sira Duson: What's not? That's actually my favorite part. So in training, you're focused on the, again, technical aspect, getting good at what you do. And then when you become an attending, like I said, if you don't like patients, you don't go into Vascular. But like that is the most rewarding part.

And I also like the immediate gratification that this person came to you having severe pain, couldn't walk or had a stroke, and then now like almost immediately, leg pain's gone. And so, I love that for the patients, that I can provide immediate relief versus, you know, sometimes medical things like, "Okay, I put you on a blood pressure medication," but that doesn't change the patient's day-to-day life how they feel. But in something like this, it does. And so, that for me is my favorite part, is just that someone was in pain before they saw you and now they're not in pain anymore. So, that's been most rewarding.

Host: And on that note, how do you approach patients and their families to provide that support and compassion that they need?

Dr. Sira Duson: Communication, always in communication and just explaining the pros and cons of everything. Giving patients time, even in emergent situations or more emergent urgent situations that we deal with here. You know, at the trauma center, we still try to give patients some time just to think about their options, weigh the options, talk about the pros and cons, and then give them the data behind, you know, the different surgeries and outcomes and then apply that to each patient as an individual, apply that to each patient and their families and their needs. And then, kind of like work it together. So, there's no like, "Hey, I'm the doctor. This is what you need." It's very collaborative in vascular surgery, because it's not black and white. It's very gray with what we do. And so, we try to involve the patients and their family in every single step.

Host: That communication and transparency is so important. I know as just a patient in general myself. I really appreciate that. So, it's great to hear from a doctor as well. And to wrap us up today, how about your life outside of work? What are some things that you enjoy during your free time when you're not at work in the OR?

Dr. Sira Duson: Funny you say that because my life outside of work is very-- you'd be like, how did you end up in Surgery? So, I'm very right-brained, I would say, if that term still holds true. So, I'm very artsy. So, I do interior design on the side. I draw, I sing, I play some piano. I did like show choir in high school, so I love Broadway. So, you know, I geeked out. I went to go see Hamilton. It was amazing. So, that kind of stuff. Go to the musical festivals here, travel. So, even though I'm in this very science type of field and very precise and stuff, the things that I enjoy hobby-wise are very much like just arts type of activities and traveling, so...

Host: That is so cool. I love hearing about people who have kind of both sides. You know, they have the really analytical and like you said, that loving the challenge of this type of surgery, but also being like, "Hey, I love Wicked too."

Dr. Sira Duson: Yes. Oh, and I do, the Broadway, the movie. Yes. I was like the first person in the movie theater to see that, and it was amazing. So, yes.

Host: Oh, well, what a joy to have you on the show today, doctor. Thank you for joining us and for sharing a bit about yourself. We appreciate it.

Dr. Sira Duson: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Host: Thanks for making one-on-one with Regional One Health, part of your journey to better health. Join us next time as we introduce you to another member of the Regional One Health Family. You can learn more at regionalonehealth.org/vascular. And for more appointments in Downtown Memphis or East Memphis, call 901-545-7222 and join us next time as we introduce you to another member of the Regional One Health Family.