Cleveland Clinic
General Thoracic
Member Since: 2017
Biography:
Dr. Raymond was born and raised in Fayetteville, NY. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania while playing for the Penn Division I lacrosse team for four years. He then returned to the Syracuse area for medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He began his surgical training at the University of Virginia where he completed his general surgery residency and a two-year Surgical Infectious Disease Fellowship. He then returned to Philadelphia to Cardiothoracic Surgery fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Rochester in 2006 where he filled various roles including Quality Director and Compliance Officer. In 2011, he moved to the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Raymond is board certified in General and Thoracic Surgery. His clinical interests include minimally invasive pulmonary surgery, chest wall disease, surgical management of infectious disease, surgical quality and rare thoracic malignancies. He is the Chief Quality Officer for Thoracic Surgery, co-Director of the Lung Cancer Multidisciplinary Tumor Board, Director for the Center for Chest Wall Disease. He is engaged nationally in surgical quality and indications as well as surgical education through the AATS, STS, ABTS and ACCP.
Dr. Raymond married his wife, Colleen, in 2000. Colleen is an OBGYN at the Cleveland Clinic currently. They have two children, Nathan and Amelia. Nathan is obtaining a Masters Degree in Fire Systems Management after completing his Civil Engineering Degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Amelia just complete her freshman year at New York University and was appointed to the Presidential Honors Scholars Program. The family calls Shaker Heights, OH home where they live with their two dogs, Lila and Ivy.
What Does the AATS Mean To You:
The AATS is a rigorous organization that attracts the best minds in Cardiothoracic surgery from across the globe.
My First Experience with AATS:
I frankly don't recall my first experience. I have been attending the meeting for decades as it is the best scientific CT surgery meeting.
Why I became an AATS member:
Membership was a professional milestone for me due to the respect I had for the many members who are leaders in their fields.
The most impactful presentation I have seen at an AATS meeting:
Tough call, there have been so many. For instance, Dr. Jones' Presidential address this year was fascinating and insightful. Some of the guest lecturers including Alex Honnold and Malcolm Gladwell have been very memorable. I, however, am most fond of the pro-con debates with lively audience participation.
The first presentation I gave is:
My first presentation was a database project looking at the leukemoid response in the elderly at the Surgical Infection Society back in 2000. I was terrified to be on the podium.
The first paper I had published is:
The first paper I had published was regarding the elderly response to infection based upon a large Infectious Disease Database at the University of Virginia. The utilization of that database is what inspired my interest in Surgical Quality and the power of clinical data.
I plan on becoming more involved in the organization through:
I would love to participate in more leadership positions on Committees. I hope to have longstanding involvement with the Thoracic AQG project.
Advice for Trainees:
The most difficult year of your career is your first year out. The weight of that responsibility can be overwhelming. Do everything possible during your training, take every opportunity, so that you start that first year with skill and confidence. Never stop asking for help either. It is better to prepare to fail than fail to prepare."
My career in CT Surgery was inspired by:
I was inspired to become a surgeon from interactions with two surgeons from childhood. One was my Uncle, Robert Menotti, and the other was the father of a close friend, Michael Ratner. Upon starting surgical training, Tom Daniel at the University of Virginia was my primary mentor. I admired him for his kind demeanor, skill and compassion.
A significant case/patient interaction that impacted my career is:
Toward the end of my fellowship, I was involved in a very difficult case of a completion pneumonectomy in a young man who was ventilator dependent. The patient had undergone 4 prior chest surgeries and his remaining lung was destroyed by recurrent infection. This was an extremely difficult case and the attending surgeon was called away at the beginning of the case for an emergency. I proceeded to perform the entire dissection with the aid of a second year surgical resident. By the time the faculty had returned, we hand dissected out all the anatomy, harvested the appropriate flaps and were ready to divide the vessels and airway. When the faculty returned, he looked over my shoulder and was surprised to see how far we had gotten. He then whispered in my ear, "You have passed this fellowship." It made me very proud and gave me the inspiration to proceed with technically demanding cases.
The biggest impact my mentor had on my career is:
The greatest mentor impact was from Dr. Rob Sawyer, an intensivist, transplant surgeon and surgical infectious disease expert who ran the lab I was in during residency. The first day of the lab he told me, "We are not going to teach you how to do experiments, we are going to teach you how to think." He was absolutely correct and it changed my life.
The topic most important to advancing the field of CT Surgery is:
There are many challenges for the future of CT surgery. We need to maintain our quality standards while being fiscally responsible and educating the future generations of surgeons. We must embrace technology to fulfill this very challenging role.
The most pressing issues impacting CT surgery are:
I fear for the financial future of the healthcare industry. We have limited financial resources while cost of care is continuing to rise. The nation has funded this through the generation of debt but this practice cannot continue much longer. Some hard decisions are going to be forced upon us if we are not more proactive.
Advice for Trainees:
The most difficult year of your career is your first year out. The weight of that responsibility can be overwhelming. Do everything possible during your training, take every opportunity, so that you start that first year with skill and confidence. Never stop asking for help either. It is better to prepare to fail than fail to prepare.