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Navigating the world of health care is both an essential and oftentimes intimidating part of life. Whether the search for medical care is for a loved one or for oneself, finding the best doctor can feel like embarking on a treasure hunt. But once a gem is discovered, there’s no shortage of gratitude.
The relationship between patient and doctor is a connection that is incredibly special. Start that search for the right physician for you with the Best Doctors in America list of 196 of Greater Akron’s top physicians in 49 specialties.
In The 330, medical professionals are dedicated to more than just treatment — they are committed to healing
the whole person. Meet five doctors who apply that approach to improving the health of both individuals and the larger community, while fulfilling a purpose that’s much greater than themselves.
photo by Anna Wright
Dr. Eric Espinal
Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery | Summa Akron City Hospital
Espinal takes a patient-centered approach to surgery.
Dr. Eric Espinal has always been fascinated by the mystery of the human body.
“I was initially inspired to become a physician because I believed that just figuring out the problem was most of the challenge,” he says. The problems he solves are extremely complex, serious health conditions ranging from heart disease to lung and esophageal cancers.
When Espinal started in the field nearly 20 years ago, surgery was the answer later in the patients’ journeys, after diagnosis and all other treatment modalities were exhausted.
But he’s pleased to see that has shifted to a broader, more collaborative approach that allows the surgeon to educate patients in a more individualized way throughout their entire journey.
“Surgeons are [now] much more involved throughout the diagnostic process and help explore all options — surgical and nonsurgical,” he says. “Many thoracic surgeons participate in multidisciplinary clinics along with medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and other supporting providers to delineate the best treatment options.”
For example, Espinal explains the difference in care given to a patient with aortic valve disease now versus 20 years ago. In the past, this type of patient would typically be referred to a surgeon for aortic valve replacement surgery. Today, patients with heart valve disease are approached collaboratively with a team comprised of heart surgeons, cardiologists, geriatricians, and a larger lineup of support staff to assist in diagnosis and treatment. While heart valve surgery remains a preferred option most of the time, Espinal explains that he could also collaborate with his colleagues in cardiology to provide a minimally invasive, catheter-based heart valve replacement.
“The result of this approach is better care and more options for the patient,” he says.
Being more involved in overall patient wellness has helped Espinal form more personalized connections. He hopes to inspire patients with lessons he’s learned from his unique perspective of dealing with serious diseases. He uses a favorite song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” by country singer Tim McGraw, to illustrate one of these lessons.
“I wish my patients would follow the message delivered: accomplish important things, enjoy life, love often, forgive always, and find the good in things,” he says. “But I wish my patients wouldn’t wait until they are facing cancer or heart disease. I wish everyone could realize how precious life is and how short life can be; we should all live like our lives might change tomorrow.”
photo by Anna Wright
Dr. Tsulee Chen
Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery | Akron Children’s Hospital
Chen uses advances in neurosurgery to create a future for her young patients.
At age 13, Tsulee Chen was completing her math homework when she witnessed her older brother experience an epileptic seizure. Having read the American Heart Association First Aid Guidelines just months before, she knew to clear the furniture, turn him on his side, allow him to finish seizing and have her parents call 911. Ever since helping her brother with his neurological disorder, Chen knew there was something about neuroscience that she wanted to pursue.
“The ability for a developing brain and spine to heal after some insult never ceases to amaze me,” she says.
Dr. Chen cares for infants, children and teens with abnormalities of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system. Chen likes treating pediatric patients because she loves to see them grow up.
She appreciates Akron Children’s Hospital’s embrace of advanced technologies and methods that help her and her team constantly improve patient care. Recently, the hospital added the robotic neurosurgical assistant, Rosa, which allows neurosurgeons to perform less invasive procedures quicker and with better accuracy. Also, the hospital’s NeuroDevelopmental Science Center offers a space where neurosurgeons, developmental-behavioral pediatricians, pediatric neurologists and other specialists can collaborate to provide a tailored approach for the neurological and developmental needs of patients.
Genetic sequencing is another innovation in Chen’s field that mesmerizes her. This involves the process of determining the sequence of nucleotides in DNA and highlighting genetic errors.
“The more we understand about the brain, its pathways, and the diseases that affect them, the more we can try to cure diseases and not just treat them,” she says.
Outside the hospital, the native of the Washington, D.C., metro area takes advantage of all that The 330 has to offer. “On a daily basis, I love doing the crossword puzzle in the Akron Beacon Journal,” she says. “I also like to find challenges that inspire me to train. I recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and am hoping to complete my first triathlon in July 2018.”
Beyond volunteering for Akron Children’s fundraisers and events, Chen became involved with the LGBTQ festival, Akron Pride, this past August. “[Tolerance] should be so ingrained and natural that it shouldn’t even be an issue,” she says. “Love is life, and life is love.”
photo by Anna Wright
Dr. Troy Bishop
Internal Medicine | Western Reserve Hospital
As he guides patients toward wellness, Bishop focuses on making connections.
Being a doctor — and a good one, at that — is about more than accomplishments and titles for Dr. Troy Bishop. It’s about connecting with purpose.
“It’s crazy that I get to make a living, day in and day out, in the work of helping others,” he says. “It really keeps me going.”
In the field of internal medicine, he was drawn to understanding his patients as a whole and getting to know them beyond their diseases to better guide them toward wellness. For Bishop, it is the human component of the medical profession that has taught him the most.
“The greatest surprise I have found in my work is this truth: love is the most valuable thing in the world,” he says. “That sounds cliche, but the raw truth of this fact [is that] human connection, and pouring service into the soul of another, is the most important thing. Being a physician keeps me in a good position to continually relearn this truth, and it often wakes me from the slumber of daily living.”
Life, he says, is about trying to love others in small moments. Bishop’s favorite part about internal medicine is seeing patients triumph over their health complications.
“It is the best thing ever to share in and actually to be a part of a patient’s victory over a disease or some struggle,” says Bishop. “I think of the diabetic who lost 70 pounds or the patient struggling with alcohol that stays sober for years; to see that person return to health and to know you played a part … how could that not be my favorite thing?”
During his free time, Bishop likes biking, spending a day at home with his family or coaching youth baseball for his son’s team. Beyond the great hospitals in the area, Bishop enjoys The 330 for the great people he’s met.
“I am proud to have made my life here,” he says, “and am thankful for each person in The 330 who has impacted my life!”
photo by Anna Wright
Dr. Akbar Shah
General Cardiology | Aultman Medical Group
Shah works to improve the experiences of cardiology patients.
For Dr. Akbar Shah, the best part of practicing medicine is seeing the powerful impact it has on the lives of patients. As someone who describes his vocation as “the most gratifying and enjoyable profession in the world,” Shah’s dedication to helping patients, no matter their situation, rings true.
“If [patients] get better, then you can see them in a more comfortable state,” he says. “Even if they don’t, we are usually able to comfort the patient and family, and help them go through some very difficult times.”
Originally from Pakistan, Shah completed his residency in internal medicine in New York state, as well as a fellowship in cardiology in New Orleans. Now as part of Aultman Medical Group Cardiovascular Consultants, he practices electrophysiology, nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, clinical cardiology and more to help improve heart health for patients in The 330.
Shah says that three main features originally attracted him to the region and have kept him here since: the people, the location and the work itself. He says that he enjoys the slower pace of life in a small city, and describes the surrounding community as full of “honest, open-minded, down-to-earth yet hardworking and intelligent” citizens.
As for his career, Shah is amazed by the continual innovations in the field. Shah explains that with each new discovery, our understanding of the human body’s complexity grows in fascinating ways. He sees one of the greatest advances in medicine in the past decade as the ability to mitigate the necessity of large-scale surgical procedures.
“We are going more and more noninvasive,” he says. “Treatments that required major surgeries and large incisions not too long ago can be performed through a skin puncture or a very small hole nowadays.”
photo by Anna Wright
Dr. Robert Schweikert
Chief of Cardiology | Cleveland Clinic Akron General
Schweikert puts his heart into treating patients with cutting-edge new technology.
Heart — both literally and metaphorically — is truly at the center of Dr. Robert Schweikert’s profession.
Having the desire to become a doctor from an early age, Schweikert’s passion for helping those with issues related to the heart has led him to become chief of cardiology at Cleveland Clinic Akron General. Schweikert has almost 20 years of experience as an electrophysiologist, and he’s used that experience to help expand Akron General’s electrophysiology department, a growing field that focuses on heart rhythm disorders. He also helped to open a $3 million electrophysiology lab with a robotic system that allows for the magnetic navigation of catheters into the heart during procedures.
“It still amazes me how much difference we can make in people’s lives,” he says. “A lot of that comes from the treatments and technology we have, but it is surprising the difference a physician can also make by taking time to listen to the patient.”
Technology helps Schweikert improve patients’ lives — and in some cases, keep them alive. He recalls treating a patient with severe heart disease by implanting a cardioverter defibrillator, a battery-powered device placed under the skin that tracks heart rate and, when the rate is abnormal, delivers an electric shock to restore a normal heartbeat. Two weeks after the device was implanted, Schweikert received a phone call from the patient expressing her gratitude for saving her life.
“The ICD saved her life when she [had cardiac arrest] in a parking lot,” Schweikert says. “She [called and] said, ‘I wouldn’t be here if not for you and Akron General.’ What a great outcome for this lovely lady!”
While the work is rewarding, it’s also challenging. So Schweikert advises that young people considering a career in medicine should evaluate if their heart is in it.
“Make sure that whatever you want to do in life is something that you love to do and for which you have a passion,” Schweikert says. “Nothing else will sustain you in your career. I still drive home from work most days thinking, (I have a really cool job.)”
