Tatiana Ramirez Dominguez, MD

As a vascular surgeon, it's important to meet my patients where they are, to understand that heart disease is a developing process, and work together to minimize their risk factors. Beyond that, our training in the latest treatments allows us to offer the most effective, least invasive options to our patients.

The best part of being the physician is the patients because you get to see them after you've operated on them and see how they grow. You get to see how they change their lives, quit smoking, walk when they couldn't before. I tend to get really close to my patients so I learn about their families and their grandkids and they'll tell you these stories that make you happy to be part of their lives.

I became a doctor because of my sense of responsibility for patients. It's also one of the most selfless jobs. Doctors think about patients more than patients may know. The job really does require someone willing to be selfless. I like that aspect of it. I'm interested in general gastroenterology. Colon cancer screening, as we see from the changes in age recommendations, is on the uptrend and rising. Mercy does a great job of caring for IBD patients, and we can extend that to colon cancers. We're finding cancers earlier, in younger populations. Colon cancer screening, if done correctly at the right intervals, is the one test that lets you prevent the development of cancer. Getting those polyps out is incredibly important. And it's a very safe and simple procedure. I want patients to know I love my work and being a gastroenterologist. I enjoy listening to them and thinking through their problems with them. Beyond performing the procedures, that's what I enjoy the most.