Rovinder Sandhu, MD, Is Excited About Idea Sharing With Jefferson

Rovinder Sandhu, MD, was only 13 years old when his father began having chest pains one day in their home. He remembers his older brother, now a plastic surgeon in New Jersey, jumped to his aid. He talked his dad into going to the hospital, where he had an angioplasty and eventually heart surgery. Dr. Sandhu was in awe of his brother’s response and went along to the hospital when the cardiologists worked on their dad. “It was really inspiring that my brother knew what to do to save him,” he says. 

That’s what fueled Dr. Sandhu’s intense love of medicine and what propelled him to make a career out of helping others. Today, he is an acute care surgeon, encompassing general and trauma/critical care surgery, President-elect of Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN)’s Medical Staff and Deputy Physician in Chief, Quality and Patient Safety, Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence.

Following the footsteps of his brother and sister, Dr. Sandhu was fortunate enough to be accepted to the accelerated pre-med program at Penn State with Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College). When fondly describing his years there, Dr. Sandhu says the education was great and its world-class reputation as a teaching hospital was quite evident during those years.

“The residents and attending physicians were inspiring and the clinical experience was amazing. You get to see and learn from the most complicated procedures and patients,” he says, adding that the program included rotations at smaller Jefferson affiliate hospitals to experience the “community feel.”

Dr. Sandhu’s older sister also graduated from Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) at Thomas Jefferson University and is now an emergency medicine physician in Nevada. Their dedication to medicine and to a Jefferson education rubbed off on others in his family. Two of his nieces also went to SKMC. Hana Sandhu is now a radiology resident, and Devi Schwartz just began her third year of medical school. Dr. Sandhu is not surprised that they opted for “the best.” 

“When graduating medical college, you worry that you won’t be prepared enough to go into your residency,” Dr. Sandhu says. “However, once I got there, I realized how very well prepared I was.”

When Dr. Sandhu was a student, he was drawn to general surgery and emergency medicine. While a fourth-year medical student in emergency medicine, he was fortunate enough to work with Tina Pippis-Nester, DO, wife of Brian A. Nester, DO, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Jefferson. He was also lucky to find a specialty in surgery that incorporates emergency care.

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Sandhu completed his residency in general surgery at LVHN in 2000. From there he completed a fellowship at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore, then came back to LVHN. He was, in part, trained, and recruited back, by Michael Pasquale, MD, Physician in Chief, Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence. Currently, he works as a trauma, general and critical care surgeon at LVH–Cedar Crest, which was the first Level 1 Trauma Center in the state and is still one of the busiest. As medicine continues to evolve, Dr. Sandhu has found that his favorites – trauma/critical care and general surgery – have merged and education is a constant.

“Instead of general and trauma surgery being separate, our team handles all the general surgical and trauma emergencies throughout the hospital,” Dr. Sandhu says, explaining that he and his colleagues are now referred to as acute care surgeons. He adds that education has become an equal passion.

“One of the most important jobs we have is to teach the next generation of surgeons and physicians,” he says, adding that clinical experience and the opportunity to teach is the essential combination that keeps him and his partners on the leading edge of their field. Similar reasoning is behind his belief that good things lie ahead now that LVHN and Jefferson have combined their clinical, educational and intellectual capabilities in one organization.

“Having more colleagues for idea sharing and with whom to discuss clinical scenarios is always helpful and welcome,” he says. “Joining with Jefferson is an opportunity to collaborate in all the great things we do – from up-to-date treatments to patient care. We can expand that further and offer it all to our community.”