This was one father-daughter activity Dr. Harold Roberts Jr. and Dr. Sophia Roberts will never forget: The day they teamed up to perform heart surgery. Sophia is a general surgery resident physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. That's also where her dad Harold serves as an associate professor of cardiac surgery.
Sophia Roberts' interest in medicine started at an early age. Harold Roberts said he took her to her first operation when she was around 11-years-old. Harold said, “Instead of reading storybooks to her at times, I was showing her anatomy books and stuff like that. She showed a real interest in (medicine).”
Sophia was recently able to fill in for another physician and assist her dad during an aortic valve replacement surgery. On the day of the operation, Sophia started off by helping open the patient's chest, and the rest of the surgery went very smoothly. Doctor dad said, “I couldn't have done the case any better if I had another heart surgeon assisting me. What can be better? I taught this kid how to ride a bicycle a few decades ago. Now, to get to teach her how to operate on a human heart is pretty mind-blowing.”
