Cardiac/Thoracic Surgeon, St. Vincent Hospital, Arkansas Heart HospitalWhen Tommy Rayburn, MD, was growing up in the Mississippi Delta during the turbulent 1960s, the son of an engineer and social worker wasn’t affected by the cultural uprising that impacted much of the state and drew unfavorable national attention.“It was much more racially harmonious than other parts of the state,” said Rayburn, recalling his childhood days in Greenville, Miss. “It was an idyllic and fun place to grow up – and much more diversified than many people thought for that region of the world.”Rayburn pointed to the cultural structure, which power players – plantation owners and considerable farmers – set in motion preceding the Mississippi flood of 1927. “I recently read (in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America, Simon & Schuster, 1998) about the influence of the races working together, which also included Italians and Chinese. By the 1960s, everyone had been working together for decades, so we were somewhat insulated.” Because no family members preceded him in the healthcare profession, Rayburn didn’t initially consider a medical career. Instead, he graduated from Ole Miss with an English degree. “I picked medicine by luck,” he said. “I fell into it, probably because of my dad’s meticulous nature. The human body, especially the anatomy of the heart, intrigued me. It’s somewhat of a technology business.” For a couple of years while studying at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), Rayburn assisted a Baptist Medical Center heart surgeon, where he quickly learned “the ropes of how things worked,” he said. Rayburn initially considered specializing in pediatric heart surgery, but working with children who were very sick “was a difficult thing to constantly deal with,” he said. Following internship and residency training in general surgery at UMMC, Rayburn headed to the University of Florida-Shands Hospital, where he completed residency training in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. The high-volume medical center in Gainesville, Fla., focused on minimally invasive surgical techniques. “Great place, great time, great networking,” said Rayburn, of his days in Florida. “Only about 2,500 of us around the country do what I do, and there are only a few degrees of separation in such a small circle.”Rayburn maintains contact with colleagues in Florida, who are involved in various clinical trials offering alternatives to open-heart surgery, such as an experimental mitral clip to correct leaky valves or the iliac branch stent-graft used to treat aortic and iliac aneurysms. “I’ve collaborated with some, and minimally invasive procedures will become a bigger part of what we do,” said Rayburn. “The real selling point to patients is being able to make repairs to the heart without big incisions.”Rayburn has traveled the world, giving presentations in countries like Canada, Mexico, Switzerland and Germany on varying topics, such as “Discrete Membranous Subaortic Stenosis,” “Decreased Transfusion with Microplegia,” and “Synergy between Subtherapeutic Cyclosporine and Fructose-1, 6-Diphosphate in Rat Cardiac Allografts.”“Right now, I’m working with a friend from medical school who’s a full-time medical missionary in Kenya,” he said. “We’re in the process of setting up heart surgery there … a very exciting venture for 2014. The most important part of heart surgery is having a very strong support staff. Because it’s unlike any other medical procedure, you must have really good people around you, or otherwise it won’t work.”When Rayburn relocated to Little Rock in 1999, he was initially drawn to the state because his wife’s family resides in Arkansas, and it was a short drive to his parents’ home.“At first, it was foreign to me, but I quickly grew to love it,” he said. “Arkansas is such a beautiful place to call home. It’s a hidden gem. Our children are very happy here, and we are, too.”Rayburn joined a practice at St. Vincent’s last summer, where hospital leaders have ramped up its heart program. “My slant is minimally invasive arrhythmia work, and I do a lot of telescopic surgeries,” he said. “We’re doing interesting and fun things that benefit our patients. We’re kicking off a clinical trial for arrhythmia surgery. We’re participating in mitral valve technology studies. There’s always some interesting new technology evolving.”Rayburn and his wife, Shelly, an RN, stay constantly on the go with three children at demanding ages – Sam, 17, Jackson, 13, and Ann Riales, 12. “Growing up as an only child, I didn’t have any idea how siblings deal with each other,” he said, with a laugh. In his spare time, Rayburn enjoys a unique mix of hobbies – golfing, cycling, hunting and reading. “I enjoy doing a lot of different things, though I’m not really good at any of them,” he joked. Concerning biking, for example, he’s quick to point out that he does “nothing hard-core like mountain biking.”“These days, when I’m not at work, I usually plan activities that involve at least one child,” he said. “This time of year, it’s hunting with the boys. There’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure.”
