Orlando Physicians Open Up About The Moments They’ll Never Forget

The 26th anniversary edition of our annual special section celebrates excellence in the medical field and features hundreds of doctors chosen by their peers, guiding readers in their choice of physicians. In addition to our PREMIER DOCTORS and TOP DOCTORS  lists, you’ll find personal accounts from physicians detailing some of the most memorable moments of their careers, along with a story on how robotic companions are helping seniors lead fuller lives. Finally, our special advertising section highlights the services, backgrounds and achievements of dozens of doctors and medical practices.

At a recent annual checkup, I saw a patient whose journey began 15 years ago. She had come to me then with recurrent urinary tract infections that were disrupting her life as a mom, a nurse and a runner. What we expected to be a routine diagnosis turned out to be not so simple. Her condition was serious enough that she believed her running days were over. She trusted me to explore every solution available that could help her maintain her personal and professional pursuits, as well as her dignity. Today, she’s a grandmother who still runs marathons. Her story reminds me that healing isn’t just about curing disease; it’s about preserving the parts of life that make us whole. Her strength and resilience continue to inspire me, and I’m proud we were able to help her hold on to the things that mattered most.

When I was in college, I had no plans to spend my free time in a podiatrist’s office. But my grandmother, who suffered from terrible foot pain, begged me to go with her. At 21, the idea of sitting in a waiting room with my grandmother felt like the last thing I wanted to do.

What I didn’t know at the time was that appointment would help change the course of my life.

Her doctor invited me to shadow him. Suddenly, I wasn’t just a college student tagging along. I saw how the doctor examined, diagnosed and treated patients. I saw the difference he made in someone’s quality of life.

Over time, my love for sports medicine pulled me toward working with college athletes. Helping them recover from injuries and staying at the top of their game fueled not only my career but also my passion for keeping people moving.

During a follow-up visit, I noticed a patient’s blood pressure remained dangerously high despite being prescribed medication. When I asked her about it, she looked embarrassed and said, “I’ve been going through a hard time and I had to choose between buying food or medicine, and I chose food.” I was overwhelmed with sadness and the timing struck me deeply, as it was just two days before Thanksgiving.

I shared her story with my office manager, and the next day, we arrived at her home with a turkey and all the fixings. The joy and gratitude on the faces of her family not only resonated with me, but it became a transformative moment in our practice. What started as a way to try to help one family has become an annual tradition and we have been blessed to have provided more than 100 Thanksgiving meals to patients and families of our practice who are in need.

I often meet children and families as they face their toughest journeys. I join them where they are and partner with other team members with one goal in mind: Healing. As a Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida, pediatric surgeon who focuses on cancer care, I am deeply invested in my patients’ initial and ongoing care. Once a patient completes their cancer surgical care, they do not follow up with me as frequently since they transition to other care services. One afternoon I received a wonderful gift from a patient, he thanked me after making a full recovery from a challenging cancer surgery. I was so moved to see the transformation of this child who had conquered cancer to be a healthy, vibrant young man. I am humbled and thankful to have played a small part in his recovery.

As an ophthalmologist, I am rewarded each day by witnessing the restoration of sight in my patients. One patient in particular came to see me after experiencing a gradual decline in her vision. The slow, insidious loss caused by cataracts left her fearful of driving and increasingly anxious about her independence. With her daughter’s wedding approaching, she longed to fully participate in the planning and to cherish this milestone without the burden of poor vision.

A few weeks before the wedding, I performed successful cataract surgery in both eyes. When she later described watching her beautiful daughter walk down the aisle through tears of joy, I was deeply moved. Moments like these—when restored vision transforms a patient’s confidence and quality of life—fill me with immense gratitude and reaffirm my dedication to the gift of vision.

Ever since I was a boy, I knew I wanted to practice medicine. That feeling cemented for me when my grandfather passed away from a heart attack. I knew then cardiology was my calling. I often meet people on the worst day of their life. It’s my mission to help them survive, persevere and get back to living their best life.

Recently, I treated a patient I’ll never forget: a young man who suffered cardiac arrest. He coded 11 times and was on the brink of death. I’ve never seen anybody code that many times and come back. I was able to perform a successful pulmonary artery thrombectomy on him. Fast forward a couple of months later, I saw him again with his family. He was dressed in a nice suit, ready to conquer the day. He gave me a big hug. To see him go from his deathbed to walking before me was incredibly rewarding and a life-changing moment.

It’s moments like these that make me love medicine. It is a privilege serving my patients and constantly learning in this ever-evolving field.

If you took a snapshot of my career as a physician, you’d see three defining roles: scientist, mentor and surgeon. As a GYN oncologist, I’m part of the only cancer specialty where the surgeon also administers chemotherapy. It puts me and my colleagues at the very intersection of precision and compassion.

Meanwhile, I’m proud to direct a fellowship program and mentor physicians, residents and students. These roles are extremely meaningful, certainly, but my most memorable moments occur when I see my patients not just surviving but thriving. I have an older patient with ovarian cancer. Despite numerous medical challenges, we’ve stayed ahead of her cancer for more than six years. She just came to my office with pictures of her recent world travels. It reminded me: Our goal isn’t just to keep patients alive, it’s to help them live. To help them have their own memorable moments.

Constant innovation in my practice is what drives me—because every life deserves not just time, but quality.

In 1981, I was a fourth-year medical student at the University of Florida serving an externship at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City—often referred to as one of the “ground zero” facilities of the AIDS epidemic. My first patient presented with complications from what we now know was AIDS.

At the time, it was a newly discovered syndrome. The only thing we knew was that two months earlier, five patients with very similar risk factors had presented with the same symptoms.

That was the beginning of my medical career. One of the biggest challenges then and now in the practice of infectious disease is diagnosing illnesses. Many patients come to us with unknown conditions, and we must become investigators.

It took 15 years to develop an effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. Since 1996, with the introduction of new medications, patients who are diagnosed with HIV and who are compliant with their treatment can live relatively normal lives.

In my medical practice, I try to heed the words of Sir William Osler—the father of modern medicine—who said, “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.”

During medical school, I had the privilege of learning from a remarkable orthopedic spine surgeon who had performed a life-changing procedure on a plane crash survivor. That moment reshaped my understanding of medicine. I realized that as an orthopedic surgeon, I didn’t need to save a life to profoundly change one.

I was captivated early on by the intricate anatomy of the shoulder and elbow. I was fortunate to train under pioneers in the field who were redefining what was possible.

One patient stands out among the nearly 10,000 surgeries I’ve performed. She was just 17, battling rapidly progressing juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She had lost her vision and her joints stiffened to the point where she could no longer walk. Her elbows had fused completely straight, leaving her unable to feed herself.

Working closely with her pediatric rheumatologist, I performed a bilateral elbow replacement. It gave her back something priceless: Independence. She could feed herself again. That restoration of dignity was transformative—for her and for me.