Catherine E. C. Hutz, MD

From laparoscopic operations to robotic-assisted procedures, surgery is always changing. And these changes force you grow as a surgeon to be able to care for people. One thing I really want my patients to know about me is I truly follow the golden rule. If you can apply that to your interactions with others, it will lead to better relationships and outcomes.

My younger brother had cystic kidney disease in utero. I went to the hospital with my parents for prenatal visits. The doctors became my heroes and inspired me to follow their path. I have a background in engineering -- I always liked working with my hands -- and surgery has some similarities with engineering: You diagnose a problem and fix it. What I like about surgery is that when patients come in with specific pathologies or pain, we can diagnose it and fix it. A general surgeon needs to be flexible. Surgeons need to adapt to offer the most advanced procedures to their patients. I focus on robotic-assisted surgery. The field has advanced greatly in the last ten years. We can do minimally invasive robotic surgery and with a procedure that would have required a large open incision twenty years ago. The best part about being a physician is when patients come to you with a problem that you can fix, and the satisfaction you get from helping someone restore their lifestyle.

One of the more exciting things you can do in medicine is deliver someone's baby. It's a really personal thing. When I was teaching, I used to tell the residents 'You need to find something about your work that you will stay excited about when you've done it a thousand times. That appendectomy may seem like the coolest thing you do the first few you do. But when you're doing your thousandth one, is that going to be the same excitement?' I think that's the way it is with obstetrics. You're able to be with patients at a really important time in their life - many times you're part of a memory that they will always cherish.