Ann
Allegre
Internal Medicine, Palliative Specialist
Ann Allegre
had just finished her residency and begun her practice when she was diagnosed
with cancer. She was 31 and scared. Only when she faced the reality of
her own death was she able to get past it. "I learned the typical
lesson - live life while you're here," she says.
But in getting past it, she dove into it. Her first practice included
many older patients, and her interest in palliative medicine grew there.
She later found her absolute mission: improving care for patients who
have a six-month life expectancy and no longer receive curative care.
Today, Dr. Allegre is the Director of Medical Programs for Kansas City
Hospice.
"It's
very common for doctors to hedge with their dying patients," Dr.
Allegre admits. "They talk about options for further treatment, and
they don't want to give a negative prognosis." Even now, training
in palliative care is quite limited - doctors are not usually taught how
to deal with, and talk to, the dying. Little help is available for the
individual and the family to cope with death and its implications - from
the spiritual to the practical. When Dr. Allegre began the palliative
team approach years ago at Sisters of Charity, she saw a remarkable improvement.
Technology
has made a huge difference in people's lives, she points out. "It
also means that your chance of dying hooked up to a machine are greater.
If you want quality of life, you must set the limits yourself. The education necessary there is part of our job."
William
Brodine Cardiac Electrophysiologist
Dr. Bill Brodine's
grandfather died abruptly of a heart attack, and this helped propel the
doctor into a lifelong interest in cardiology. He decided then upon a
seemingly simple, but oh so complex goal: to prevent people from dying
unexpectedly.
His cardiology
fellowship at the University of Utah convinced Dr. Brodine to push further.
Before coming back to Kansas City, he had become director of an electrophysiology
laboratory in New York. His private practice, Kansas City Cardiology Associates,
is part of Research Medical Center where he is Chief of Cardiology, a
job he finds challenging and rewarding. His success, he attributes to
his sterling team of associates.
Dr. Brodine
believes that pacemakers are a relatively stable area, but defibrillators
have many more applications. Scientific studies are continuing to determine
how they can be further used to prevent death. But the bigger challenge
for him is going to be in the subset called "ablation." This
involves the use of catheters in the veins and tends to be more curative
than palliative. He treats more women in this category, and many are in
their teens or low 20's. "These are actually the most fun,"
he says. "Because then you get to walk in and tell them they're most
probably cured."
Electrophysiology
is demanding and often in the spotlight because other cardiologists sometimes
need the additional expertise. "I'm able to provide help because
I've been in such a terrific environment with nurses, hospital and group
support which has allowed our group to flourish."
Dr. Brodine's goal of saving lives hasn't changed. He has other goals as well: taking care of his family, including his two college-aged students and an 18 month adopted daughter from China; continuing in his faith; sustaining his leadership efforts in his chosen field of electrophysiology; and, not least, taking excellent care of his many grateful patients.
Jon
Browne Orthopaedic Surgeon
"Every
day is game day," is Dr. Jon Browne's motto, and it's clear he lives
by it. And game day is every day for Dr. Browne as he maintains a private
practice, serves as the Kansas City Chiefs' Head Team Physician, teaches
at UMKC's sports medicine program (one of only 37 in the country), and
travels the world presenting papers and lectures.
It helps
that while Dr. Browne juggles his many roles and responsibilities and
maintains a schedule that would do in many an athlete, he knows he is
doing what he wants to do. And, as the good doctor is quick to acknowledge,
he has the support of his Chiefs-fan wife and his two sons as well as
the partnership of two great colleagues, Drs. Cris Barnthouse and Andy
Scott, and their terrific staff.
Like many in sports medicine, Dr. Browne admits he's an athlete at heart.
He had undergone several surgeries as a student athlete, understood the
trauma, the motivation to improve, the anxiety, and thought he could help
others in similar situations. When in medical school at the University
of Missouri, despite his interest in practically every field through which
he rotated, he decided on orthopedics. He wanted to help people regain
their strength, their agility, and their abilities, all of which were
virtually beyond fixing back then.
"Today,
it's a different story," he points out. "Basic science knowledge
at the molecular level has voluminously expanded. Then, an incredible
blend of technology to assist not only in diagnosis but also in treatment
has added to our capabilities. The injury that debilitated a Gayle Sayers
is now time off, some pain, some personal work and lots of motivation,
but you're able to recover from it."
"The work is what makes me tick," Dr. Browne enthuses. "I
wanted, and still want, to make a real difference in someone's life. To
watch someone literally crippled come into my office and later, after
appropriate rehab, to see him fully restored, that's a feeling like no
other."
Ernest
Cattaneo Internal Medicine
Specialist
"Family,
faith, and my practice, that's who I am." That family is a very large
one for Dr. Ernest Cattaneo. "My patients are like my family."
He says that often, and it's clear that Dr. Cattaneo values what he calls
"the nicest people in the world," those who regularly visit
his 29 year-old practice in Prairie Village.
Dr. Cattaneo
says he loves preventative medicine and likes office care. He was raised
in a small town with one general practitioner. That doctor was his idol.
He took one vacation in 35 years, visited patients at 2 AM in his bathrobe,
and never charged those who couldn't pay. That memory, coupled with the
recollection of delivering 227 babies in six months during residency,
convinced him that a well rounded family practice in internal medicine
was just what this doctor required. His stint in Viet Nam as a battalion
surgeon and Bronze Star winner only strengthened his conviction..
Like many
physicians, Dr. Cattaneo has problems with the changes in health insurance.
He sometimes has to refer patients to doctors he doesn't know, and the
continual restrictions placed on types and forms of drugs his patients
can take also irks him. But still, the doctor says he'd do it all again,
in a heartbeat.
The greatest
change in his practice, other than technology, may be in the people themselves.
He sees more stress, more asthma, more cancer. But on the other hand,
he believes people are exercising more, paying more attention to nutrition,
going to the doctor earlier -except, of course, for those patients of
his who "drive me nuts, don't keep appointments and don't do what
I tell them. Just like me."
The qualities which inspired Ingram's to honor Dr. Cattaneo go far beyond his being a "hoot," as one admirer described him. His enthusiasm (seen just as loudly in his support for the Royals), his diagnostic skills, his devotion to his patients' well being, and much more have all won him this hard-earned accolade.
Michael
Driks Infectious Diseases Specialist
The hunt for
the diagnosis. It's not a wild creature but it's often more elusive. This
challenge is what drives Dr. Michael Driks in his specialty, infectious
diseases.
"My
work is very diagnostic oriented and figuring it out is often the hardest
part. What glory there is comes in establishing an accurate diagnosis.
And that makes the patient happy, the referring physician happy, and me
happy, too."
Born and
raised in New York, Dr. Driks chose Kansas City after a first visit here.
He says his three children are his greatest achievement, but when pushed,
points to an old accomplishment: getting his first research project published
in the New England Journal of Medicine when he was a Fellow at Boston
University. He notes that for him, as a consulting physician, succeeding
in practice means that his peers and colleagues have to respect him and
his opinion. "My livelihood depends on other people wanting my consult
- that's also a good kind of success."
Dr. Driks
has an active practice in HIV but sees people from all over with every
kind of infection possible. It's a real challenge dealing with sick and
often unhappy people. For him, it's the most stressful part of the job.
"You want to help them be well, and you can't always do that. But
you do the best you can." A great day for him is one where "the
volume of work is manageable and within that volume, there are successes
- diagnoses made, people responding well, someone expressing gratitude
versus dissatisfaction, a good case."
Just one "good case" can make his day, really. That's something different, unusual, extraordinary "where I have to reach and learn and grow, and where I do, eventually, find the answer. It makes me go to work each day with a positive attitude," he says. "Medicine is great!"
Bob
Hall Neonatologist
If there can
only be one signature characteristic of Dr. Bob Hall, it's
curiosity. "I am fascinated by the unknown," he states. "I
struggled between pediatrics or internal medicine originally - I chose
children because they were even more of a mystery, especially 35 years
ago when I started."
Dr. Hall's
career is full of "firsts." One of the most significant firsts
for the lives of children in the region is the transport service he helped
develop in 1971. Rather than just conveying children, the vans he helped
develop were totally equipped to actually care for the children as they
were taken to the hospital. Another "first" is the Regionalized
Perinatal Program created with other hospitals in the area. This system
provides emergency care no matter where mothers or children live or what
hospital they've come to. This means many lives saved. It also means being
on-call 24 hours every day.
Three great joys inspire Dr. Hall in his work: interaction with the families
and children, improving outcomes through the acquisition of new information,
and association with like-minded colleagues at work. He admits to being
an absolute cheerleader for Children's Mercy and all the "good people"
with whom he works. Dr. Hall serves at Children's Mercy as Chief, in the
Division of Human Development. He points out that because of the phenomenally
generous people of Kansas City, Children's Mercy is able to treat children
regardless of their ability to pay. Other hospitals, even other children's
hospitals, can't make the same claim.
He is also very appreciative of what he sees as cooperative relationships among those in Kansas City who provide perinatal care. "Any woman can receive the best perinatal care in the country here, and there are no barriers because we work together to see that it happens. Kansas City should be proud of that, the hospital has something to do with it, and I am proud to be a part of that."
Lori
Lindstrom
Radiation Oncologist
Growing up
in upstate New York, Dr. Lori Lindstrom knew she was going to be a doctor
at age twelve. She had no idea, though, that she'd choose to become a
radiation oncologist-a physician who treats cancer patients with radiation.
This niche of the discipline just seems to fit her. "It's outpatient
centered. It uses a three dimensional approach to viewing tumors. It's
broad in scope and requires extensive knowledge, and it lets me develop
relationships with such a wide variety of people."
Dr. Lindstrom
graduated from KU Medical School, did a specialty internship at Tufts
New England Medical Center, and returned to KU for her final residency.
She liked the people and the city and so she stayed. As a young doctor,
she really liked radiology but wanted to do patient care. She enthuses
that this specialty lets her do both. Today, Dr. Lindstrom serves on staff
at Providence Medical Center.
Her work
makes her hopeful. She is pleased that survival rates in breast, prostate,
and colon cancers have improved. "The team approach means we're more
often treating the whole person who then has to suffer less drastic types
of surgery. There's more organ preservation. We're the happy recipients
of the technology boom. We can deliver much more accurate care and can
target treatment to smaller areas of the body. Human guesswork is going
down as the technology continues to advance. We're just better at curing
patients now."
The greatest reward for Dr. Lindstrom is the personal relationships she's able to develop. "Cancer is a great equalizer. It doesn't care who you are, where you live, what you own. I get to see that inner core that is fighting. I see what's behind the face and the voice. I see the generosity, the real person everything else is stripped away." She believes she's a better person and a better doctor because of those relationships.
Jared
Grantham
Nephrologist
When Dr. Jared
Grantham talks about his latest grant from the National Institutes of
Health to create a polycystic kidney disease center (one of four in the
United States), you can see his eyes shine.
"Already most nephrologists in this country would agree that Kansas
City has become a center for research and for patient care in polycystic
kidney disease," he declares. "This multi-faceted grant should
take us even further." He adds, "We're also home to the PKD
Research Foundation, an international organization that raises substantial
money for research and education."
Since Dr.
Grantham co-founded the organization, he should know. He began the kidney
transplant program at KU in 1969, a program he's very proud of. "It's
a wonderful team effort with huge success due to great surgeons, nephrologists,
and staff who have done 600-700 transplants since the program began."
Dr. Grantham
chose his specialty by wandering into a lab looking for a summer job after
his first year at KU's medical school. There he worked on an artificial
kidney, discovering the intricacies of kidney research. After five years
with the National Heart Institute's Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism
Laboratory, he returned to KU where he concentrated on PDK, perhaps now
best known as the disease that columnist Erma Bombeck initially had which
required a kidney transplant.
More than
600,000 people in the United States have PKD, most often discovered in
people 40-60 years old. "It's no longer the death sentence it was
when I started," he says. "Since the genetic revolution has
come about, there is, and will be, so much more we are able to do."
Once he decided he probably couldn't make a living singing opera, Dr. Grantham thought he'd go back to western Kansas as a general practitioner until the challenge of PDK captivated his interest. He says his grants go on for another four years - and he's not running out before they do.
Jameson
Forster Transplant Surgeon
Dr. Jameson
Forster claims to uphold the honorable tradition of the surgeon who works
within a teaching environment. Just the other day he taught three surgeons
from Minnesota, Arkansas, and New York how to position a mechanical device
that would enable a person to eat who otherwise could not. Supervising
summer research trainees, serving on numerous committees inside and outside
the school, teaching, presiding over the local medical society, exploring
the ethics of his profession all are part of Dr. Forster's life. Oh, he
also just happens to save lives by giving people new livers.
Cyclosporine,
the drug used to keep transplant rejection under control, is somewhat
responsible for Dr. Forster's vocation. He graduated from the University
of Pennsylvania Medical School knowing he wanted to be a surgeon, but
during his clinical fellowship in Canada, he saw the drug's capabilities
in successful transplantation. Intrigued, he continued his study. Today,
Dr. Forster is the Director of the Liver Transplant Program at the University
of Kansas Medical Center.
A former
"easterner," one of the things Dr. Forster likes about the Midwest
is our livers. "Midwesterners have healthy livers," his voice
smiles. "And we're willing to give them up. We will donate because
we want to help others." It's a trait not shared by all parts of
the country he believes.
Dr. Forster and two other surgeons at the center perform about 40 liver
transplants a year. "We have more livers than recipients," he
notes. More people seem to need a new liver on the coasts than in the
Midwest, which contributes to the imbalance.
A surgeon who likes working with his hands, Dr. Forster has little time for an assortment of hobbies including his Macintosh Newton, gardening, or making mobiles. His family, his church, and his work keep him more than busy. He is thankful, he says, for the incredible support he gets from all the people who are always there. "My work is a joint effort - I've just been a catalyst."
Gary
Salzman Pulmonologist
One out of
ten people suffer from asthma and many of them don't even know they have
it.
Dr. Gary Salzman, pulmonologist, professor, and researcher, wants to do
something about that. And that he does as UMKC's Section Chief of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine.
First on
his list - the research grant he's just been awarded by the American Lung
Association of Western Missouri. He's looking for volunteers for its September
start and is thrilled about the five year funding for clinical research
into asthma that will further help him alleviate debilitating symptoms.
He's eager to get to work on it. "Tell your readers to call 816.235.1855
if they want to get involved in the research study," urges Dr. Salzman,
ever the promoter.
"Most
people I see I can make feel better, and I really like that," he
admits. An asthma victim himself from an early age, he took an understandable
interest in lungs early in his career. "After 15 years and thousands
of asthmatics, the biggest change I've seen is the treatment focus. We
used to concentrate on medicines that would dilate the airways. Now we
focus on decreasing inflammation. But the challenge is informing patients
and doctors on these newer treatments, plus getting people to take medicine
every day which prevents them from getting asthma in the first place."
The other
challenge is diagnosis. Many people don't know they have asthma, which,
for most, is an allergic problem. Still, Dr. Salzman believes the future
looks bright: genetic research, progressing so rapidly, may hold the cure.
For all his teaching, his patients and his research, Dr. Salzman wants to be known, "as a good father, good husband, good personality, kind and caring, a hard worker." His family, patients and colleagues all agree with that assessment. These are just some of the reasons Dr. Salzman is being honored by Ingram's Magazine this year.
William
Pingleton Pulmonologist
Juggling the
demands of his private practice and those of North Kansas City Hospital,
where he is currently President of the Medical Staff, is a labor of love
for Dr. William
(Pete) Pingleton.
He became
a doctor because his mother's bridge partner's son - Joe Bob, but of course
- was going to medical school. Pete had never thought a boy from a small
town in Oklahoma - too small to even have a doctor - could do such a thing,
but he thought the idea sounded mighty fine just the same. At the University
of Oklahoma, a faculty member who was an expert in pulmonary disease inspired
him towards this specialty.
After a stint
in the Army as Chief of Pulmonary Disease Services, Dr. Pingleton came
to Kansas City to teach at the University of Kansas. While he liked teaching,
he decided to enter into private practice, believing he was destined to
be a bedside doctor, a position which would allow him to do full time
what he enjoyed the most.
The scope
and variety of his specialty appeals to Dr. Pingleton. "One third
of my practice deals with other diseases than smoking's effects on the
lungs." But he is also philosophical about the harmful effects of
smoking. "Everybody gets to make choices - eat, drink, smoke or whatever.
It's just our job to take care of them. I advise them. I try to help them.
I'm patient with them I think."
Pulmonology
also remains interesting to him due to all the advances he's seen in the
last ten years such as improved surgery with its volume reductions for
emphysema and transplants as well as the host of new drugs. And he's also
involved in the search for new partners to his practice - the demand for
pulmonologists has risen as the supply has fallen.
"I truly live in fascinating medical times," he notes. "Even with my too many hobbies which I seldom have time for, I can't imagine doing anything else."
Ted
Lockwood Aesthetic Surgeon
If you call
Dr. Ted Lockwood's office now, you might be able to get in for a consultation
by early March. That's as might be expected. You see, Dr. Lockwood spends
most of the time he is not operating and caring for his patients traveling
the world teaching other doctors how to operate and care for their patients.
Dr. Lockwood's
practice is devoted half to faces and half to other parts - lifting and
contouring. What makes Dr. Lockwood unique is his discovery in the 80's
that the skin was not the support structure he and every other doctor
had been taught it was. Instead, primarily through cadaver study, he found
that within the fat there was a fibrous meshwork honeycomb structure.
He named this the "superficial fascial system," and his procedures
have changed the way this kind of surgery is done.
"We
do have a better understanding today. But change is very slow. The concepts
are so different from what we all learned." Dr. Lockwood was able
to talk about those changes on television last year when he was interviewed
for ABC's 20/20. He says that he feels honored that his work is improving
the field of plastic surgery.
Dr. Lockwood
likes aesthetic surgery not only because it's highly creative, but also
because it's a solution design that brings immediate results. "What
I'm about is developing better operations for my patients. I care about
them. I want that relationship with them. I want them to have more safe
and effective operations."
His patients come to him from all over the world, always surprised that they're referred to Kansas for state-beyond-the-art plastic surgery. Dr. Lockwood says, "I love it here. It's a great place with independent and creative people. I have a passion for what I do, I love providing better care and more natural results. I am fortunate to be in this area and to have found a branch of medicine that allows me to give back to my patients and colleagues."
David
Steinhaus
Cardiac Electrophysiologist
"Oh,
just call me a stimulating doctor," laughs Dr. David Steinhaus, a
cardiologist who specializes in the electrical system of the heart. He
also calls himself a sub-sub-specialist, someone who implants over 200
pacemakers per year, compared to, say, the 20 of an average heart doctor.
All doctors seem happy and impressed by the technology in their field.
Dr. Steinhaus is absolutely ecstatic. "Micro revolutions have changed
this field entirely. The stuff I'm doing today, I didn't even dream of
it back when I started. Even just the last five years have transformed
what we can do! Come visit - I'd like you to see the equipment we have
today!" Enthusiasm is not in short supply when the doctor talks about
the advances.
He is equally
animated about another of his four distinct jobs, Executive Medical Director
- Cardiovascular Services, Saint Lukes/Shawnee Mission Health System.
Dr. Steinhaus sees the new arrangement with his practice, Cardiovascular
Consultants, P.C., as the first step in a revolutionary approach to patient
care, one that is a true partnership between doctors and health care providers
to benefit the patients. Last year CCI took over the system's "heart
product line" - after two years of trust building negotiations. In
a role reversal, administrators report to him, and he reports to the CEO
of Saint Lukes. He sees himself as a health care reformer. He believes
that hospitals, doctors, all the staff need to do a better job for the
patient and his family. "Partnerships are the way to go," he
exclaims. "We can end up more caring, more efficient, with better
systems, better processes for all involved if we partner. It's the only
way."
Dr. Steinhaus's love of patients, of research, of the technology all mesh together in his desire to improve services. "I love every moment," he concludes. "I love the challenge of how to make it better. So we'll see, we'll just see."
Howard
Rosenthal Orthopedic Oncologist
How is an
orthopedic oncologist like a Stealth bomber pilot? No, no joke. Dr. Howard
Rosenthal believes that even without the plane, the pilot would want to
fly. And so he too would want to work with cancer patients and build the
largest single orthopedic oncology practice in the country, even if he
didn't have a hospital.
Dr. Rosenthal
and his nine partners treat patients in limb preservation mode. This means
that they seldom have to amputate (less than 2% of the time). Instead,
they reconstruct bones internally with metal, plastic, other real bones
or biological methods. "I don't accept failure - that's our policy,"
he states firmly.
Dr. Rosenthal
is a believer in his team based, multidisciplinary approach to the treatment
of bone and soft tissue cancers. He says his is a highly pro-active, aggressive
process which moves rapidly and takes the patient's needs into consideration
first.
"The
patient is a part of the treatment, not just the textbook standard of
care." What is satisfying to him is curing that patient and at a
higher rate than those practices which do not use the multi-disciplinary
approach. "We have a conference about every patient," he says.
"We look at the individual and his disease from every possible standpoint.
We question each other. It makes a tremendous and valuable difference
since we must answer immediately and independently to our colleagues."
Dr. Rosenthal has much to be proud of, including being Chief of Surgery at Trinity Hospital and Chief of Orthopedic Surgery before he was 40. He's proud of his four kids, too, and of bringing in Jewish educators from around the world to act as a resource for Judaic education. But mostly he's just happy when he's helped transform someone from a scared, dependent cancer victim into a strong and healthy person who's loving life again.
Sandra
Willsie Pulmonologist
Not all doctors
stay purely "doctoring." There are some for whom detours end
up as chosen destinations.
Dr. Sandra
Willsie may be an example of that. She began in internal medicine but
went to pulmonology largely because her attending physician was so outstanding
that she wanted to follow in his footsteps. It is hard to imagine a greater
tribute to another doctor - Ingram's Magazine honoree this year, Dr. Pete
Pingleton. Dr. Willsie also loved research and didn't want to lose her
capabilities or interest in it as a discipline and a foundation for improvement.
So now she basically does "everything" at her University of
Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, focusing on programs
for graduate medical education, research, and clinical practice.
Dr. Willsie
has discovered that she has a knack for administration with all of its
people and paper complexity. When she was Assistant Dean at UMKC Medical
School, she was one of only 40 women accepted into a very competitive,
year-long program called ELAM, Executive Leadership in Administrative
Medicine. "Its lessons continue to help me improve all the time,"
she says. Today, Dr. Willsie is active as the Vice-Dean of Academic Affairs,
Administration and Medical Affairs.
Because a
D.O. school tends to have a bit different approach to care, focusing more
on family care and utilizing a holistic approach as a philosophy, its
doctors learn the skill set of osteopathic manipulation. Dr. Willsie feels
that it's "something extra" and that helps doctors be better
as they care for their patients.
Dr. Willsie wants to improve medical education and to continue her research as well. Her plan is to focus on new drug and medical education research. And she wants to get kids to stop smoking, which she hopes to accomplish in collaboration with other university health centers. Her goal is to use medical students and involve the entire city in a results-oriented initiative. She has packed big plans and lots of energy for this particular journey.
