It’s been more than 10 years since Michael Mayo and Hugh Greene began recruiting talent for a specialized cardiac program – today’s Structural Heart Program – and put it in motion. Fast forward and Mayo is the current president and CEO of Baptist Health and Hugh Greene, the former president and CEO, has since retired. Both were instrumental, along with a strong hospital board and staff, for bringing top tier care to North Florida.
“I personally am so proud of it because I got to be on the very front end of when the program started, and when they brought the idea forward to move with,” said Mayo. “I’m proud to see, mostly, all the patients who have been effected and how much it’s put our community and our health system on the map.”
At a June 5 ceremony, these achievements were on full display in the Weaver Tower lobby, where leadership took time to reflect upon the past while forging forward with success stories from patients, eventually unveiling the decade’s timeline in a photographic display following remarks.
“Today we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Baptist Structural Heart program, and that means, we’re able to take care of, in a minimally invasive way, any issues associated with the structure of the heart,” said Nicole Thomas, MHA, FACHE, president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville. “So when you think about a leaky valve and learn that someone may have a hole in their heart, this team is able to fix those issues without opening the chest.”
“We have some of the most remarkable interventional cardiologists who are trained in these structural heart techniques and we’re just grateful to be able to provide this level of care close to home,” shared Thomas.
Physicians leading the program were heavily recruited and have continued to recruit, attract and retain additional specialists throughout the growth of the program. Dr. Ruby Satpathy, MD, FACC, FSCAI, is the leader, structural interventional cardiologist and director of the Structural Heart Program at Baptist Health.
“This is a basically a celebration of me being here 10 years, that’s where I started 10 years ago. So time flies when we’re having fun, I always say,” she said.
Satpathy was instrumental in the formulation of the program; five years in, she recruited her partner, Dr. Siddarth “Sidd” Wayangankar, MD, MPH, FACC, FSCAI, RVPI, who joined her after working at Cleveland Clinic and UF Health in Gainesville. He is now the director of the catheter lab. Since his arrival in 2020, the program has seen tremendous growth.
“I always say that, it’s that growth is only possible when there’s a perfect symphony – from administration to physicians to all the support staff – we have the perfect amalgamation here,” said Wayangankar. “We have an extra supportive administration that lets us explore different technologies, that’s why we’ve been able to offer such innovations to society. And as I say – when people talk about Tower – there is no ‘I’ in [Weaver] Tower; there is a ‘we’ though, and that ‘we’ is very important. Without the ‘we,’ there is no Tower.”
For more on the Structural Heart Program, visit baptistjax.com/heart-vascular-care/structural-heart-program.
