DR . WHO Samuel Pollock , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
In the 1950s , the Trover brothers founded the Trover Clinic in response to a lack of access to high-quality medical care in Western Kentucky , and soon after opening , they reached out to Samuel Pollock , Sr . to be their business manager . That manager ’ s son became the cardiovascular surgeon Dr . Samuel Pollock , who said he essentially “ grew up at the clinic ,” often tagging along with dad .
When he was 12 , a general surgeon named Dr . Joseph Milburn moved in next door and the two got to know each other . Over the years , their conversations went from casual pleasantries to the future . Dr . Milburn encouraged him that if he wanted to be a physician one day , he needed to get his foot in the door at the hospital . At 16 , Dr . Pollock took his first job at the Hopkins County Hospital running lab and X-ray slips . The following two summers and Saturdays during the school year , he worked in the operating room .
“ Back in those days , you could circulate and scrub in the operating room . I worked as a tech in the OR so I took call at night , and if there were emergencies , I would come in . I worked in the cystoscopy room , so they called me the ‘ Cysto Kid ’ because I was only 17 working in the OR . We were able to circulate and hand instruments , and if there were cases , I would ask the surgeons if they needed help , and they would call me and I ’ d come in at night .”
Other major influences in his pursuit of a medical career were Dr . Hiram Polk and Dr . Jack Hamman . Both surgeons encouraged him to continue on and have been mentors to him throughout his training and his career .
Out of high school , he knew he wanted to be a surgeon , and he attended Duke University to complete his undergraduate degree in zoology . During his first two years , he worked in the Department of Pathology cleaning slides . He then met a plastic surgeon from Madisonville , Kentucky , his hometown , who had trained at Duke and recommended he look into a work study position at a plastic surgery lab . For the final two years , he worked there assisting with microvascular surgery , often getting cultures from burn patients and preparing topical antibiotics . In 1976 , he headed home to enroll at the University of Kentucky for medical school . At first , he considered thoracic surgery , but after a few rotations , decided that cardiac surgery was where his true interest was .
“ Once I got into clinical medicine , everything clicked . The fourth year , you could do an acting internship where you had more responsibility than just fourth year rotations , so I did cardiothoracic surgery and worked in the CCU . I ended up graduating in the top 10 % of the class .”
Knowing that once he got into surgical training there would be less time for medicine , he made sure to brush up on those skills by
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