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Expert Medical Staff Highlights

Expert Medical Staff — from skilled surgeons to minimally invasive procedures, Backus Hospital supports exceptional medical talent with state-of-the-art technology.

Highlights 2006

Herb Lustberg, MD, Interventional Radiology Section Chief, and James Burch, MD, an interventional radiologist on the Backus Medical Staff, in the hospital's new Interventional Radiology Suite.

Backus Hospital's Medical Staff has a breadth and depth of expertise in an array of specialties and services. Eastern Connecticut relies on our skilled physicians for primary care, special procedures and surgery.

With approximately 300 physicians on the Backus Medical Staff,patients have more options than ever before. These choices continued to expand in the past year:

Tarik Kardestuncer, MD, offers new procedures for joint replacements and other orthopedic surgeries.

• Two orthopedic surgeons joined the Backus Medical Staff. Tarik Kardestuncer,MD, and Ammar Anbari,MD, offer new procedures and techniques for joint replacements, reconstructive surgeries and cartilage restoration.
• Michael Halperin,MD, an orthopedic surgeon on the Backus Medical Staff, is participating in a national clinical trial of a new spinal fusion surgery for the treatment of moderate to severe degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis, which is an arthritic condition that causes very painful conditions for patients.
• Access to the latest treatments, through clinical trials, is one way that Backus improves the quality of life for its patients in the areas of oncology, orthopedics,diabetes and others.
• Backus Hospital's Dr. Sultan Ahamed Radiation Therapy Center continued its affiliation with the Therapeutic Radiologists at Yale New Haven Hospital. Patients of the Backus Cancer Center have access to the expertise of the Yale physicians and other experts who staff the Radiation Therapy Department, clinical trials, as well as Backus oncologists and the latest technology. The Cancer Center's multidisciplinary team of surgeons,oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, oncology-certified nurses and support staff ensure that patients are receiving a high level of care in a community hospital setting.
• Peter Shea,MD, assumed duties as the hospital's Medical Director. Dr. Shea brings to his work an intense focus on patient-centered care, and has been a driving force in many patient safety initiatives. Z A second interventional radiologist, James Burch,MD, increased the hospital's ability to perform the latest minimally invasive procedures in this rapidly evolving field of medicine.
• To meet the rising demand for arthritis and related services, a second rheumatologist was added to the Arthritis Center at the Backus Outpatient Care Center in Norwich. Increasing numbers of patients are benefiting from their expertise in everything from arthritis to chronic fatigue syndrome.