Edward J. Coleman, MD
Cardiothoracic Surgery, Chesapeake Regional Surgical Specialists
Since joining Chesapeake Regional Surgical Specialists last year, Dr. Edward Coleman has brought more than 35 years of experience to anchor a new Open Heart Surgery Program at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
Dr. Coleman, the practice’s first Cardiothoracic Surgeon, has helped launch such programs at two previous hospitals in Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Each time, he has built strong surgical teams dedicated to caring for patients at critical moments of their lives.
Starting this spring, Chesapeake Regional’s program will save crucial time in cases of life-threatening cardiac emergencies, from aortic aneurysms, heart failure and arrhythmias to gunshot wounds, stabbings and other traumatic chest injuries.
“We will be able to respond immediately when minutes and even seconds matter,” Dr. Coleman says. “I’m happy to be a piece of the puzzle on a larger team that has been working for years to make this care available to our community.”
Dr. Coleman’s expertise in pulling together multidisciplinary team members for a complex, frequently stressful surgical environment – intensive care unit (ICU) nurses, hospitalists, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, blood bank managers and more – is invaluable.
For example, he has been meeting weekly with ICU nurses to discuss what a normal patient recovery should look like in the vital 24- to 48-hour period after open-heart surgery, versus symptoms of trouble that need immediate attention.
Dr. Coleman also educates operating room teams and hospitalists on patient care before, during and after open-heart surgery. Once his practice hires a second planned Cardiothoracic Surgeon, he will work in close partnership with that specialist as well.
Dr. Coleman gravitated to his specialty precisely for its challenges. After graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine, he completed General Surgery residencies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and Columbia University, followed by a Cardiothoracic Surgery residency back at SUNY at Buffalo.
“Heart surgery is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding – it requires your best,” he says. “Each decision has life-impacting consequences, and you need to perform at your highest technical skill level. The excitement I have for the work I do hasn’t dimmed at all.”
An award-winning educator, Dr. Coleman has held academic appointments at four universities and spent two years as a Visiting Clinical Fellow in Surgery at Columbia. He also has served in numerous leadership and committee positions with local and national organizations, including the American College of Surgeons and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Yet ask Dr. Coleman about career highlights and he responds by describing his many memorable patients. Just one: a mother of two found unresponsive outside on a -20-degree day in Wisconsin, who underwent 45 minutes of emergency CPR before heart surgery.
“Not only did we save her, but she was neurologically normal,” he relates. “Being able to step into someone’s life and have an impact like that is such a gift. The most important part of my job to me is the people, beyond any of the amazing technology we have today.”
A father of six and grandfather of seven (with an eighth on the way), Dr. Coleman is fluent in Spanish, previously served in the Navy and is currently a U.S. Army Reserve Colonel. He also was a USA Triathlon Age Group National Champion in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and is still training for local events.
In medicine, too, Dr. Coleman is committed to excellence. This winter, he took a team of Chesapeake Regional providers to Massachusetts General Hospital to observe policies and procedures at one of the nation’s top Cardiothoracic Surgery programs.
“Our patients are depending on every one of us,” he notes. “We can’t ever forget that.”
