Area(s) of specialization: Family Medicine and Geriatrics
Greatest medical advance in your area of specialization:
The advances in cardiology and the treatment of coronary artery disease.
How has practice of medicine changed in your career?
Early in my career, all we could do for cardiac patients with acute heart attacks was to support them. Now we can aggressively treat the problems by opening acute blockages in the arteries of the heart with angioplasty and stents.
What inspires you to do what you do?
The positive feedback from patients and families. There are a lot of long hours and frustrations in medicine, but it is always encouraging when a patient comes back and tells you how much they appreciated what you did for them.
Community Involvement:
Hinsdale Rotary Club, Little League and Basketball coach, member of the Hinsdale Hospital Foundation Board, Share Christmas at St. John of the Cross
First Job:
As a high school student, I worked as a patient transporter for the radiology department at MacNeal Hospital.
Pet Peeve:
The growing interference by government and private insurance companies into the patient/physician relationship.
Proudest Accomplishment:
As a Family Physician, serving as president of the Medical Staff of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital.
Most valuable lesson you have learned in your career:
Always listen to your patients. They know their bodies.
Person You Most Admire:
Dick Matthies was the ultimate family physician in Hinsdale. I took over his practice when he retired. Patients still talk about him: he was a great diagnostican and visited them in their homes. His care and commitment to the community inspires me.
What advice would you offer others considering a career in medicine?
Practicing medicine is a very challenging way of life these days. You have to put up with the bad to get to the good, but if you stick with it, the rewards go beyond the monetary. It’s so rewarding when a patient and family tell you how much they appreciate your help.

Area(s) of specialization: Comprehensive ophthalmology, specializing in cataracts and glaucoma
Greatest medical advance in your area of specialization: The greatest medical advance in my career is in the area of cataract surgery. When I started my residency, patients had to go into the hospital the night before cataract surgery and stayed in the hospital for three days after. We didn’t have artificial lenses to take the place of the cataract we removed, so patients had to wear thick coke-bottle glasses after surgery and there were many surgical complications. Now, everything is done outpatient, and with new bifocal intraocular lens implants, about 80 percent of patients don’t need any glasses post-operatively! The rate of complications is very small also with our modern techniques.
How has practice of medicine changed in your career? The field of ophthalmology has changed significantly since I have been in practice. We have made huge progress in the treatment of serious eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. In addition, the area of refractive surgery is a relatively new one, and is constantly evolving, to enable us to allow people to see without the need for glasses or contact lenses. Finally, everything is much more specialized than it used to be. When I started in practice, I used to do everything from muscle surgery on children to removing large eyelid tumors. Now there are at least eight subspecialty areas in ophthalmology, such as pediatric ophthalmology and oculo-plastics that perform those types of procedures.
What inspires you to do what you do? I get tremendous satisfaction on a daily basis from helping people to regain their sight. It is a major quality of life issue…for many elderly people, sight is one of the few senses that can be completely restored enabling them to function independently and enjoy their life.
Community Involvement: Vice President Medical Staff Adventist GlenOaks Hospital
First Job: I ran the candy counter at the Grove Theater in Elgin. It was the best job I ever had because I could eat all the free popcorn I wanted and get my friends and family in free to any movie.
Pet Peeve: My major pet peeve is for people who take their sight for granted, so they don’t come in for regular check-ups to identify potentially treatable blinding eye conditions, like glaucoma and people who lose sight because they have not followed treatment recommendations for diseases already diagnosed such as diabetes or glaucoma.
Proudest Accomplishment: I was one of the first ophthalmologists to wear myself and fit my patients with Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT) lenses. These are specially designed contact lenses that are worn at night to gently temporarily reshape the cornea and enable the user to see in the daytime without glasses. In 2005 I was named the Practitioner of the Year by Paragon, manufacturer of CRT lenses. I have been invited to teach other ophthalmologists about these lenses at several national meetings.
Most valuable lesson you have learned in your career: The most valuable lesson that I have learned in my career is that medicine is an ever-evolving art, and that one has to always be open-minded about learning new techniques and treatments to be able to always offer the best for our patients.
Person You Most Admire: That’s any easy one… it is my father, who was a solo practitioner of orthopedic surgery in Elgin for thirty years. He was very caring physician and a wonderful role model. My father had to leave many holiday dinners to fix someone in the emergency department and never complained about it.
What advice would you offer others considering a career in medicine? If you want to be successful in medicine, you should be prepared to work and study hard, and do it because you truly want to be a caretaker and not just go into it for the financial rewards. It is wonderful that medicine nowadays is so diverse, that there is a place for individuals with many different interests and personalities.

Area(s) of specialization: Spine surgery, including minimally invasive surgery.
Greatest medical advance in your area of specialization:
The development of minimally invasive techniques for spinal fusions. This has allowed neurosurgeons who have learned these techniques to perform the kind of surgeries that have been done for years, but with smaller incisions, less trauma to the muscles and tissues, and less pain and faster recovery for our patients.
How has practice of medicine changed in your career?
Changes include shorter length of stay in the hospital, more rapid recovery and better technology to treat problems affecting both the brain and spine. These changes, as well as staying on the cutting edge of these advances is exciting for me as a neurosurgeon and helps me to provide the best care possible for my patients. Undesirable changes include increased pressure from insurance companies that makes it harder for physicians to provide individualized care to our patients. A particular problem in neurosurgery is the skyrocketing cost for malpractice insurance. This has truly become a crisis and has created serious issues of accessibility to neurosurgical care for patients. This problem threatens the viability of adequate neurosurgical coverage in Illinois.
What inspires you to do what you do?
The satisfaction of helping a patient in need. A visit to a neurosurgeon is often very stressful and helping a patient through that experience is very rewarding. We do not have the long-term relationships with our patients that primary care physicians have, but often the extreme intensity of the problem that we are treating creates a strong bond.
Community Involvement:
President of Youth Baseball/Softball in River Forest, River Forest Youth Soccer Coach, Work at Shriner's Children's Hospital
First Job:
I worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store when I was 16 years old. I worked with one of my high school friends, had a lot of fun and ate a lot of ice cream.
Pet Peeve:
Ignoring and not preserving our natural resources.
Proudest Accomplishment:
Watching our three children grow up to become successful and independent young women.
Most valuable lesson you have learned in your career:
The human body has an amazing capacity to heal itself. Often surgeons can help to correct many injuries or diseases, but after our work is done, the body takes over and really completes the process.
Person You Most Admire:
My father. He is exceptionally intelligent, hardworking and honest.
What advice would you offer others considering a career in medicine?
Medicine is a wonderful and rewarding career, but it is harder than a lot of professions, with some unique responsibilities that are not found in other fields. If it is something that you like, you will never look back and feel that what you did was not a worthwhile contribution to your community.

Robert O. Bonow, M.D., co-director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, has been honored with the 2006 American College of Cardiology Distinguished Service Award. This award was established in 1967 by the Board of Trustees of the College to recognize a physician, scientist or layman who by his or her individual efforts has made profound contributions to medicine and/or the delivery of health care.

Dr. Bonow, who is also chief of cardiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, is recognized internationally for his research and teaching in a variety of cardiac diseases, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and heart failure. He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Fellowship Award (2000) of the American College of Cardiology and the Distinguished Leadership Award (2003) and Distinguished Achievement Award (2005) of the American Heart Association. In addition, he’s received the National Institutes of Health Director's Award, the U.S. Public Health Service Commendation Medal and Outstanding Service Medal.

Bonow is past-president of the American Heart Association (2002-2003). He chaired the American Heart Association’s Committee on Scientific Sessions Program (1998 to 2000), Council on Clinical Cardiology (1999-2001) and Clinical Science Committee (2001-2002) and served on the AHA’s board of directors (1999-2004).

In Chicago’s Southwest Suburbs, Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Center’s Diagnostic Imaging Department is led by Radiology Imaging Specialists, Ltd, a team of eight board certified radiologists —headed by Irving Fuld, M.D. The Diagnostic Imaging Department provides state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapies. The Department provides comprehensive care in all areas of imaging.

The expert team of Radiology Imaging Specialists, Ltd, at Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers include: (l-r) Dharmakaran Alagaratnam, M.D.; Irving Fuld, M.D.; Bennett Lum, M.D.; Gene E. Quirini, M.D.; Kuhn Hong, M.D., Danilo J. Martinez, M.D.; Jonathan A. Levine, M.D.; and Steven F. Domiano, M.D.

Danilo J. Martinez, M.D., and Jonathan A. Levine, M.D. are board certified in diagnostic radiology with subspecialty board certification in vascular and interventional radiology. They perform minimally invasive, targeted treatments using imaging for guidance, including uterine artery embolization, angioplasty, image-guided oncologic and nononcologic therapies, biopsies and the VNUS Closure® procedure. Closure is a minimally invasive procedure that treats the underlying cause of varicose veins and venous reflux —with little or no pain.

The Diagnostic Imaging Department is a multidisciplinary team of experts. Bennett Lum, M.D., has many years of experience specializing in mammography, ultrasound and stereotactic-guided biopsies of the breast. Gene E. Quirini, M.D., has subspecialty board certification in neuroradiology and also specializes in head and neck diagnoses. Kuhn Hong, M.D., is board certified with subspecialty board certification in nuclear medicine. Steven F. Domiano, M.D., is a board certified diagnostic radiologist who heads Computed Tomographic Imaging and, using a new Brilliance 40-slice CT Scanner, performs state-of-the-art computed tomographic imaging including noninvasive cardiac/coronary artery imaging as well as carotid and peripheral CT angiography. The Diagnostic Imaging Department is a mission-driven team who strives to provide high quality, compassionate care.

Area(s) of specialization: I consider myself a generalist with interests in hematopathology and cytopathology.
Greatest medical advance in your area of specialization: The practical application of immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry to the treatment of malignant diseases . . . bringing molecular biology research to the bedside. These techniques have helped us greatly with tissue diagnosis, but also, which is most exciting, to identify treatment options for our patients. It is so rewarding to be able to help clinicians direct medical therapy for neoplasms, rather than just giving them the bad news.
How has practice of medicine changed in your career? An understanding of molecular biology and its applications has become an imperative; these techniques will become even more central to our practices in the future.
What inspires you to do what you do? I really enjoy the challenges of tissue diagnosis and I like working as part of a team with surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, etc.
Community Involvement: I volunteer my time with the Saint Francis Hospital Women's Auxiliary where my chief responsibility is organizing an annual Christmas party for underprivileged children at our Saint Francis Community Health Center. I also enjoy helping my martial arts instructors teach children at Skokie Tae Kwon Do.
First Job: My very first job(s) were working in my family owned and operated furniture store - cleaning, bookkeeping, selling, organizing inventory . . . After that everything else was easier!
Pet Peeve: Filling out these things.
Proudest Accomplishment: Keeping my sense of humor.
Most valuable lesson you have learned in your career: When you are tired, turn off your microscope!
Person You Most Admire: My parents.
What advice would you offer others considering a career in medicine? Expect physical and mental challenges, disappointments, frustrations, political conflicts and more. In the end, you will wear these endured hardships as badges of honor . . . a career in medicine is worth it.

Members of Resurrection Health Care’s Westlake Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program recently participated in several nationally recognized academic competitions.

Five Internal Medicine resident physicians participated in the Annual Academic Forum sponsored by the Indian American Medical Association in Illinois. Two physicians won prizes for their presentations. Prathima R, M.D. won second prize for her presentation on "Prevalence of Statin Induced Myopathy in Type 2 Diabetes." Compiled by: Prathima R, M.D., Radhika Sreedhar, M.D., M.S, Daniel Hirsen, M.D., Maha Abboud, M.D. Alpa Patel, M.D., won third prize for her presentation on "ART STUDY - Correlation Between Heart Rate and Troponin Levels in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation" Compiled by: Alpa Patel, M.D., Radhika Sreedhar, M.D., M.S.

(l-r) Dr. Chitra Sadasiwan and Dr. Prathima Ramaprasad are two of the physicians that were recognized in academic competition

Three other residents participated in the forum and presented clinical vignettes and research. Azra Ali, M.D., presented "Is There Evidence to Back the Teaching of Evidence Based Medicine?" Compliled by Azra Ali, M.D., Radhika Sreedhar, M.D., M.S. Dr. Meena Ramalingam presented "Cocaine Induced Ischemic Ileitis." Compiled by Meena Ramalingam, M.D., Chitra Sadasiwan, M.D., Radhika Sreedhar, M.D., M.S. Dr. Ranjeeta Mani presented "Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension- MRI as a Diagnostic Tool." Compiled by Ranjeeta Mani, M.D., Sanjay Kapoor, M.D., Kevin McCoyd, M.D.

Chitra Sadasiwan, M.D., won first place in the clinical vignette competition of the American College of Physicians Associates Meeting at Northwestern Memorial University Medical Center. In April, she will go on to represent the Illinois chapter at the annual session of the national ACP meeting in Philadelphia. Several other residents also participated in the ACP event. Dr. Sunkara Neelima presented "Muscle Rupture Spontaneous!" Compiled by: Neelima Sunkara M.D. and Radhika Sreedhar M.D., M.S. Dr. Mylene Vicuna and Dr. Pia Lorenzo presented "The deadly toothache; A case of Ludwigs Angina" and "Purple Urine Bag Syndrome." Compiled by: Mylene Vicuna M.D., Pia Lorenzo M.D., and Sajan Thomas M.D. Dr. Faris Khasawneh presented "An Unusual Cause of Dysphagia." Compiled by: Faris Khasawneh M.D. and Radhika Sreedhar M.D., M.S. Dr. Prathima Ramaprasad presented "Giant Hydronephrosis of Solitary Kidney." Compiled by: Prathima Ramaprasad, M.D., Mohammed Pasi Rahmatullah, M.D. and Radhika Sreedhar M.D., M.S.

This is the third year members of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Westlake Hospital have participated in these events.

End-of-life care is Dr. John Ely’s calling, and though he has journeyed far—literally and figuratively—to arrive at this destination, travel continues to plays a prominent role in his work with dying patients and their families.

When Ely, associate medical director at Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter, isn’t at the bedsides of patients in the Chicago area, he is in St. Petersburg, Russia, or Brasov, Romania teaching palliative medicine—a still-emerging specialty in Eastern Europe—to physicians and nurses there.

Born and raised on a farm in Nebraska, Ely dropped out of high school, earned his GED, traveled the country as an over-the-road trucker and eventually received a bachelor’s degree in public health. Prior to attending medical school, he taught in the Lincoln, NE community college system, including a year teaching truck-driver training to female inmates in Nebraska’s prison system. After graduating from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1988 and completing a family medicine residency program, he practiced as a family physician in Minnesota for eight years. But something was missing. "I enjoyed the broad scope of family medicine, but felt bogged down by the tyranny of those rapid-fire appointments and of being in an office rather than getting out and about," says Ely. "I also felt more satisfied caring for older patients, people with more complex medical conditions." So he returned to the University of Minnesota to do a fellowship in geriatric medicine, which ultimately led him to the practice of palliative medicine.

"A fundamental goal of medical practice is to relieve suffering, and that is at the core of palliative medicine" says Ely. "Palliative medicine also provides essential, whole-person care to patients and their families at the end of life, usually where they live, rather than in a doctor’s office."

Ely’s frequent trips to Eastern Europe reflect his commitment to teaching others what he has learned. He has traveled to the region seven times in the past five years with the support of a traveling fellowship grant from the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and serves as a faculty member presenting an ongoing diploma-level Palliative Medicine Curriculum course to physicians and nurses through the Pavlov Medical University in St. Petersburg.

"I do enjoy the work," Ely says, "It’s a constant reminder of how much we take for granted here, it’s rewarding to help shape the specialty there, and each trip is a new adventure for me."