Introducing… a cardiac surgery resident
Dr. Saurabh Gupta is a cardiac surgery resident and critical care clinical assist. He is part of the cardiac surgery and clinician investigator program at McMaster University and has been with Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) for close to four years.
What do you do?
As a resident, I am training to become a cardiac surgeon; learning to perform complex operations on the heart, like coronary artery surgeries, valve surgeries, aortic surgeries and more. In that process, I help take care of patients with complex cardiac diseases, along with a broad team of physicians, nurses, perfusionists and other allied health specialists.
As a critical care clinical assist, I provide back-up to junior residents or work directly with intensive care unit (ICU) fellows and physicians. This involves caring for patients in medical and surgical ICUs along with a team of health professionals.
What do you love most about your job?
I love that I wear different hats in this role. As a surgical resident, I love taking care of critically ill patients, providing them with life-saving operations every day.
As a mentor, I enjoy teaching clinical and research skills to medical and undergraduate students.
And as a master’s student, I love working on research projects, creating important work and learning the complexities of research work.
The impact we can have on the community through surgery, teaching and research is profound. I love that I get to be a part of that process.
What keeps you motivated at work?
I am motivated by my mentors at HHS. Watching and learning from our staff continually pushes me to achieve my goals.
To name a couple, Dr. Richard Whitlock and Dr. Victor Chu amaze me in how they think outside the box when it comes to unusual and complex cases. Their willingness to teach and mentor me both in and out of the operating room, motivates me to work hard so I may one day match their technical and decision-making skills.
Who inspires you?
I am inspired by our chief resident, Dr. Iqbal Jaffer. In my mind, he is an example of how a surgical resident should function.
A strong leader and dedicated to his work as a surgeon, he also built a reputation as a thrombosis expert, which is a form of blood-clotting that may cause a heart attack or stroke. Whenever faced with a challenging situation, I ask myself, “What would Jaffer do?”
Outside of work, travelling is a big passion of mine. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. The way they live their lives outside my bubble always inspires me.
Describe how you use social media in your work.
I use social media to connect and network with other medical professionals who are interested in surgery, research and education. As part of the McMaster program, we use Twitter and Instagram to highlight the impact our team does on a local, national and global scale.