Surgeon as Caregiver - The Triple Threat: Caring for Yourself While Caring for a Loved One While Caring for Patients

(Recorded on June 22, 2022)

Being a caregiver for a someone in your social support system can have many challenges. This webinar will feature surgeons sharing their experience of navigating their surgical career, well-being, and being a present caregiver. From lessons learned to boundaries, compassion, empathy, the influence of being a surgeon caregiver, career trajectory, and more as a caregiver, Melissa Red Hoffman, MD, FACS and Rohan Jerayajah, MD, FACS will share their experience and perspectives as surgeons and caregivers, moderated by Carla Haack, MD, FACS.

Moderator

Carla Haack, MD, FACS
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of General and GI Surgery, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Henry B. Tippie Clinician Scholar, Emory University SOM, Director, Surgery Care Coordination, Emory University Hospital

Dr. Haack is an assistant professor of general and GI surgery, the medical director for care coordination for Emory University Hospital and Emory University Orthopedic and Spine Hospital and the Henry B. Tippie Clinician Scholar. Dr. Haack completed her general surgery resident at Emory University and during her chief residency, she was named a Grady Memorial Hospital Healthcare Hero by the Grady Health Foundation and received the David V. Feliciano Teaching Award. Dr. Haack led the creation of the content for Emory's patient education app "Come Clean: Stop Surgical Infections Before They Start," which educates patients on wound care and how to reduce their risks for surgical site infections. Dr. Haack is a faculty member of the Emory Haiti Alliance, which offers medical attention and surgery to patients in the country's Central Plateau. She also serves as a medical volunteer in her homeland of Puerto Rico. In 2017, she was the 40^th medical provider to arrive following Hurricane Irma and regularly returns to continue providing medical care for those in need. Dr. Haack is also a certified yoga instructor and founded the Emory Healthcare Yoga Studio to provide healthcare professionals and their families with resources to enhance their mental health and physical and spiritual wellness. Dr. Haack is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the ACS Surgeon Well-being Workgroup.

Panelists

Rohan Jeyarajah, MD, FACS
Chair, Department of Surgery, Texas Christian University and University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Medicine, Methodist Richardson Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Dr. Rohan Jeyarajah is the academic chair of Surgery at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, a distinguished member of Methodist Richardson Medical Center attending staff and the Director of GI Surgical Services at MRMC and Director of the Hepatopancreatobiliary/Advanced GI Fellowship Program. He trained at the University of Chicago and then attended the liver transplant fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center after which he was on faculty at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor. He has authored more than 80 articles and book chapters. His practice is focused on surgery of the pancreas, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. He loves complex GI problems. He is the Secretary for the Americas Hepatopancreaticobiliary Association, the Vice President of The Fellowship Council and Chair of the HPB Program Directors Committee. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the ACS Surgeon Well-being Workgroup.

Melissa Red Hoffman, MD, ND, FACS
Associate Hospice Medical Director at Mission Hospital, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Director of the third-year surgical clerkship for University of North Carolina Asheville campus

Dr. Hoffman practices as an acute care surgeon at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina where she also serves as the Associate Hospice Medical Director at Mission Hospital. She is an adjunct clinical assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at UNC and the surgery clerkship director for UNC School of Medicine Asheville campus. She is a hospice attending at the John C. Keever Solace Center, also in Asheville. She is a member of the University of North Caolina Academy of Educators. Dr. Hoffman trained and worked as a naturopathic physician and yoga teacher then attended medical school at Oregon Health & Science University. She completed a residency in general surgery at Maricopa Medical Center, in Phoenix; and a fellowship in surgical critical care at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine through Mountain Area Health and Education Center, in Asheville, N.C. Dr. Hoffman is a co-founder of the Surgical Palliative Care Society, the founder and host of The Surgical Palliative Care Podcast and speaks about the integration of palliative medicine into the care of surgical patients, including a six-part series on Surgical Palliative Care for Behind the Knife. She is the section editor at Current Trauma Reports for the Pain Management and Opioids section. She has been features in JAMA, Doximity, and KevinMD, and writes a byline at General Surgery News. Dr. Hoffman speaks about the integration of palliative medicine and end-of-life care into the care of surgical and trauma patients and on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) with a focus on the care of surgical patients with OUD. Dr. Hoffman is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the ACS Surgeon Well-being Workgroup.