St. Luke’s cardiothoracic surgeon trio bucks convention while delivering high quality care

The work speaks for itself, with many happy patients leading healthier lives, but there is something else special in St. Luke’s cardiothoracic surgery.

Of the seven surgeons in the department who focus on the heart and chest, three are women — or 43% of the group. An exact number across the country is not known, but an Association of American Medical Colleges study in 2020 reported 8% of cardiothoracic surgeons were women, making it one of the most disparate specialties.

“Honestly, yes, it means a lot to be a part of this group,” thoracic surgeon Dr. Rosemarie Serrone said. “The camaraderie of understanding what it means to be a woman in medicine is a big deal. To have not one, but two, other women around that just get it and understand the uphill battle to be respected in the field … we have had similar experiences since medical school.”

Serrone has worked for St. Luke’s for the past year and a half, having joined her friend, fellow thoracic surgeon Dr. Ashley Morgan, who was hired in September 2021. The pair first met during their fellowship at the University of Utah.

“It’s really helpful to have people around you that can reality check what you’re experiencing: ‘I’m feeling this way, is that what’s really going on? Am I overblowing it?,’” Morgan said. “I like to have people that can be that for you. As you go through training … there’s not often anyone like you that you can look up to, so having that around you in your practice is really special.”

In March, Dr. Rachel Heneghan joined the fold as a cardiac surgeon.

“I feel I can call them any time and explain how I feel about something, and they get where I’m coming from,” she said. “Pretty quickly, it became ‘surgery with friends.’”

Added Serrone: “I think it translates into work really well, being able to share ideas and be honest and supportive.”

That common bond has translated into life outside of work, too.

“Having a better work-life balance was a draw for me coming to St. Luke’s, but having these two here also gave me two friends that I can get together with whenever we aren’t busy,” Heneghan said.

Heneghan, who is due in September with her second child, said in her previous work experience, it was a challenge to raise her family how she wanted, and an always-changing schedule put most of the work on her husband’s shoulders.

Morgan noted that for many women interested in cardiothoracic surgery, they wonder if raising a family is realistic while balancing a practice. When interviewing with St. Luke’s, she said she noticed “a lot of people who started their careers here and are still here 20 years later – that’s not common.”

“The undertone here is that they truly do care about the patient, they’re first, and it’s not something I have experienced everywhere else,” Serrone said. “It goes back to my whole reason for wanting to be a surgeon.”

The trio has felt supported by those around them, including thoracic surgeon Dr. Matt Schoolfield, whom Morgan called “a great senior partner,” and veteran cardiac surgeons like Drs. Andrew Forbes, Andrew Mesher and David Stuesse.

When Heneghan, Morgan and Serrone discuss why they wanted to pursue their specialty, each expressed the unique connection to a patient, but also that human desire to pursue a challenge – in their cases often very difficult ones.

“I really like the anatomy in the chest, it can be really technically detailed surgery, but also not, like how you would open a chest,” Heneghan said. “It can be very fine work and not necessarily fine work, plus so many patients recover similarly, which is great to see.”

“In medical school, you have to rotate in specialties, I did surgery rotation and was like ‘wow, this is the best thing ever, I cannot live without being a surgeon,’” Morgan said. “In general surgery, rotating, it was like ‘this is the best thing ever’ when it came to cardiothoracic. There’s nothing more satisfying than saying ‘we took your cancer out, it’s gone and likely won’t came back.’

“There’s so much in life you can’t control … you can’t control the air quality outside, politics, whatever. It’s very satisfying to go to work and tackle a problem that may be the biggest they ever faced, but it’s something you can help fix. Going to work and helping like that, it’s an antidote to feeling helpless.”

Added Serrone: “Operating on, helping people with lung cancer, that’s a passion of mine. That relationship with patients is so special."

And with new additions have come new perspectives and new ideas on how to help St. Luke’s patients. Among them is the implementation of new technologies, primarily robotics, in the practice. Big surgeries with smaller incisions help recovery and are beneficial to both the surgeon and the patient.

The innovation is ongoing, like finding cancer early enough to diagnose and begin reatment in the same session. Folding in other specialties, like nutrition and physical therapy, to help address the root causes of illness or enhance recovery, is a focus. And there are further plans for growth while establishing a national reputation as a top-of-the-line practice.

“I think the community in Idaho and in the states neighboring us are still learning what we can offer,” Serrone said. “We’ve extended the kind of patients we can see … we can do anything in Boise that an academic center can do.”

With a growing practice will also, they hope, include adding to the surgical team in the future.

“Who knows, maybe another woman,” Heneghan said with a smile.