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year at the National Cancer Institute , also in Bethesda . “ I was attracted to OB-GYN because of the mixture of medical care and surgery . I knew I wanted to do OB-GYN , but when I did my first rotation with the oncology service , that was kind of it for me , that was all I really wanted to do ,” he said . “ It ’ s the combination of surgical care and medical care . It ’ s like one stop shopping , where the patient has one doctor through the course of her cancer treatment and follow up and for some , unfortunately , end of life care .”
Because of the amount of palliative care needed in his field , Dr . Doering became board certified in Hospice and Palliative Care in 2012 , shortly after it became available .
After the end of his fellowship , he still owed the Army two additional years and he completed his last duty station in Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio , Texas . At the time , Desert Storm had just begun , and the Army was calling up reservists . Much to Dr . Doering ’ s surprise , Dr . Robert Stanhope , a noted gynecologic oncologist from Mayo Clinic , was sent to work with him in San Antonio .
“ I ’ m right out of fellowship and he ’ s a full professor from Mayo - which was great for me , but probably not so great for him .”
Dr . Stanhope had trained with Dr . Thomas Day , who was at the time the head of gynecologic oncology at the University of Louisville . He introduced the two and the rest was history . In 1991 , after his final two years in the Army , Dr . Doering joined the UofL faculty where he remained for the next eight years .
On Oct . 1 , 1999 , he changed course and joined the Norton Healthcare team where he remains employed to this day . His current role is a mixture of in-office patients and surgical procedures . He said the most common gynecologic malignancy is cancer of the uterus , which is typically treated with a hysterectomy . Early on , he got credentialed in robotic surgery and now does approximately
80 % of his surgeries with the da Vinci Surgical System .
There are a number of factors that make robotic surgeries superior , he said . The technical aspects are key : all instruments have a “ wrist ” on the end of them , whether that be a pair of scissors , forceps or a clamp , providing more dexterity than standard laparoscopy . The high-definition binocular video system , and depth of field are essential for precise movements and these surgeries typically result in less blood loss , on average 10x less than an open procedure of the same type . Additionally , post-op pain is typically much less and often patients take little to no pain medicine .
“ With the robotic surgeries it ’ s such a difference . It ’ s operations that when I was a fellow , patients would spend five days in the hospital , now they ’ re going home the same day .” In 2018 , he hit a major milestone of 1,000 surgeries performed with the da Vinci System , at the time only one of two gynecologists in the Louisville area to have done so .
“ I didn ’ t really realize how many I ’ d done , but I knew it had to be getting up there ,” he said . “ I did all the training and just kept coming to work every day , and all of a sudden , you ’ re at 1,000 procedures .”
With continued success , he is now nearing the 2,000 da Vinci procedures milestone . He teasingly can call himself “ the robot doctor ,” but the patient satisfaction is the most gratifying . “ There ’ s nothing more satisfying than seeing a patient with a potentially life-threatening disease get better and get on with their lives ,” he said . “ Even though we don ’ t cure everybody , unfortunately , even the ones we don ’ t cure , we can help them live longer and live better , have a better quality of life , even if they eventually succumb to the disease . It ’ s still gratifying to see that .”
Here in Louisville isn ’ t the only place that he ’ s worked with cancer patients , though . He has been on two trips to Nicaragua over the
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