SCAN ME Ready to take an important step toward protecting your heart health? A few minutes answering questions in our heart risk assessment will give you a report describing where you’re doing right by your heart — and where you can do better. You can take your report to your health care provider and ask what else you can do to manage and reduce your cardiovascular disease risks. Learn more at NWRegionalHeart.com/HRA or scan this QR code. What Is Your Risk? Quick Quiz Dr. Molloy gives one of his daughters an early flying lesson. AdventistHealth.org/Portland 9 aortic valve repairs and replacements. The da Vinci surgical robot, developed by a surgeon I trained with, allows my hands to remotely control precise, wristed instruments introduced through ports the diameter of a pen. This avoids the need for a mini incision. With the 3D da Vinci camera, I can zoom to 10 times magnification. This means we can offer exceptional results with a faster recovery, less risk and pain, and a shorter hospital stay compared with open-chest surgery or even surgery that uses a mini incision between the ribs. Q With so many advantages, why are there so few heart centers doing robotic valve surgery? A: Good outcomes require more than just advanced technology. There is a steep learning curve for both the surgeon and operating team. A consistent team of dedicated, talented experts performing robotic surgery regularly is required to achieve good outcomes. Our valve team of surgeons and cardiologists reviews all cases to determine whether catheter-based, minimally invasive or robotic-assisted surgery is most appropriate. I handpick our operating team and brief every case with them the day before surgery. Patients are cared for in a universal bed cardiac unit — the first in Portland — to ensure they receive consistent care by experienced cardiac nurses. It takes a lot of time to build a team like this. Q What do you enjoy most about your work? A: Most of all, I appreciate being able to offer patients a life-changing surgery that isn’t available anywhere else in the Northwest. Great satisfaction comes from working as a team to fix something as complicated as a damaged or poorly designed cardiac valve. Finally, follow-up in our clinic, with our patients restored to a normal quality and quantity of life, is very rewarding to our team. Q You’re also an experienced pilot. How did that come about? A: I worked a variety of jobs as a teen to pay for my flying lessons and soloed at age 16. I got my private pilot license when I was 17. That same year, I ferried the first of many bush planes to Alaska for resale. I earned commercial and flight instructor ratings, which helped finance my Stanford undergraduate and Dartmouth medical degrees. These days, I fly to meetings, to visit other centers to proctor robotic surgery and for pleasure with my family.
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