Redefining Care

Yaron Perry, MD, has seen technology evolve cancer treatment, but he wants to do more than just treat his patients’ cancer, he believes caregivers should really care.

Perry is the newest addition to the Department of Surgery, and came to the University at Buffalo in November from University Hospitals in Cleveland. As chief of thoracic surgery and co-director of robotic surgery, Perry hopes to use his patient-focused approach to medicine to emphasize continuous care. His passion for patient-recovery is evident through all stages of treatment, as he said patients are already fighting cancer, they shouldn’t have to fight access to their provider as well.

Perry said patients are increasingly being treated “like a number.” He tries to combat this by personalizing care, and even gives his personal phone number to each of his patients.

Perry attributed these values to his medical training in Israel.

“Coming from social medicine from Israel, the patient is the focus and not the procedure,” Perry said. “I think it’s important for a patient not only to trust their caregivers, but they know that their caregivers care –– that we care for them as well. And I think we’re missing that.”

Perry said he always wanted to be a surgeon and he started pursuing thoracic at “the dawn” of minimal invasive laparoscopic surgery. During his time in the field, Perry has watched alongside the progression of surgical technologies and is excited for the ways he can implement them into his practice.

“With the new innovation nowadays, which is very fascinating, we can actually get patients almost to a normal lifestyle and cure them. And this was not [the case] when I was [in medical school],” Perry said. “All this progress which happened in during my lifetime is fascinating to me, and I really want to catch the wave and do all of this for my patients.”

Perry is excited to start a new chapter in Buffalo, and is ready to dedicate his time to research, training and “exploring new innovations in thoracic surgery,” because the most rewarding parts of his job are finding solutions for his patients, and seeing them recover.

“Even if I do the best treatment for them in the world, many won’t live five years from the diagnosis. And this is very sad,” Perry said. “I think that if we to continue to explore the options to treat cancer, and to see patients actually go through that and be cured from cancer, this is the most rewarding thing.”