For St. Clair Medical Group’s Dr. Baral, Satisfaction Comes from Seeing Patients Improve

By Andrew Wilson

Heart surgery is complex, but the goal is simple

“My goal is to prolong my patient’s life or to improve their quality of life, hopefully both,” said Perel Baral, D.O., a cardiothoracic surgeon with St. Clair Medical Group Cardiac Surgery.

How that goal is achieved is what engages and inspires Dr. Baral.

“As a surgeon, I have the opportunity to help people in such a direct way,” she said. “I find cardiothoracic surgery to be the most interesting field of surgery. The heart is an amazing organ. Both its structure and function relate to each other so intricately.”

She learned this appreciation for the way the systems in the body work in concert at an early age. Her mother is a physician and some of Dr. Baral’s earliest memories involve discussions at home around the dinner table.

“I remember her coming home and hearing how her day went. I knew I wanted to be a physician, too,” she said. “When I was in high school, I learned about surgery, and found it fascinating. That’s when I decided that I wanted to be a surgeon.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree, she went to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (CCOM) of Midwestern University.

“I interviewed there and I really liked the school,” she said, adding that at the time of the interview she also had the opportunity to speak with current students who offered their perspective for what the school had meant to them. “It was a really great experience that gave me a lot of opportunities.”

Following graduation from CCOM, she completed her residency in general surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center and then a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine.

There are advances on the horizon in minimally invasive cardiac surgery and robot-assisted cardiac procedures that Dr. Baral finds particularly exciting. While such innovation may soon be the future of cardiothoracic surgery, she believes the present-day cardiac procedures are no less exciting and provide satisfaction for both the patient and herself.

“The most satisfaction for me is when I have completed an operation and, in a few weeks, I see the patient for follow-up and I can see that they’re getting back to their regular life,” she said. “That’s when I know I’ve made a difference.”

Dr. Baral says that although a patient’s diagnosis is usually determined before he or she is seen by a cardiothoracic surgeon, her work is never boring or routine. Two patients with the same diagnosis may have individual factors that must be considered, which may result in different approaches to treatment.

“No two patients with three vessel coronary disease are the same. As a surgeon, I take into consideration the patient’s age, physical condition, emotional status, and their activities of daily living, to name just a few,” she said. “You have to have a healthy respect for each patient and take their individual needs and goals into account.”

Respect for each patient is a lesson that she learned at an early age from her mother’s accounts of her day. It’s also a lesson that she may soon be imparting to her two children – ages two and five months.

“They take up most of my time away from the office or the operating room,” she says with a laugh when asked about what she does in her free time. “We go to museums, parks, and sporting events. I love to cook and make dinner with my husband. I love to spend time with my family.”

Dr. Perel Baral specializes in cardiothoracic surgery and is board-certified by the American Board of Surgery. She earned her medical degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University. Dr. Baral completed a residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center and a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. She practices with the St. Clair Medical Group Cardiac Surgery and sees patients at the Dunlap Family Outpatient Center in Mt. Lebanon. To contact Dr. Baral, please call (412) 942-5728.