For new surgical subspecialties chair, culture is #1

When you ask Kyle Thompson, MD, Bariatric Surgery, why he’s interested in the surgical subspecialties chair position at Saint Joseph, he does not hesitate.

“It’s a great opportunity to maintain and help further develop the exceptional surgical culture here at Saint Joseph Hospital, which I feel is unique to us,” he said. “It’s collaborative, professional and rewarding, a specialty filled with great people dedicated to teamwork who all share the same two priorities: great outcomes and an experience that’s as enjoyable as possible for our patients. There is nothing else.”

But at the beginning of Thompson’s professional life, he was looking for anything else. While medicine was in his blood – his dad was a physician and his mom was a nurse – he did not see it in his future.

“I saw how hard they worked,” he said with a laugh, “and I wanted no part of it.”

He went to college to pursue a chemistry degree, until he realized he hated working in the lab. That’s when fate brought him back to his roots. Across the street from his student housing stood a clinic looking for volunteers to donate blood. He sat next to the facility’s CMO, who told him about an internship, which Thompson thought would be great for padding his résumé.

“I got hooked, immediately, on the excitement from every encounter in the ER. The OR, too,” he said. “It was the first time I was excited to get up early and go to work. I loved talking with patients and hearing their stories. The imprint those moments left on me has never faded.”

Thompson earned his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and, in 2019, completed his residency in General Surgery here at Saint Joseph.

(Quick timeout: Thompson met his wife, Maxine Warren, MD, Dermatology, while he was a resident at Saint Joseph. She was a preliminary medicine intern here. They never worked together, but met over lunch in the Physician Lounge. How’s that for a meet-cute?)

It was back to the upper Midwest and the Minnesota Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery in Crosby for his fellowship in Bariatric Surgery before he returned and joined our medical staff in 2021.

As the new surgical subspecialties chair, Thompson feels his role is to support others and help his colleagues navigate through any challenges, administrative or clinical.

“The next six to 12 months here promise to bring tremendous change, but that also opens the door for great opportunity to keep the ORs busy with high-quality, outstanding care,” he said. “I want to help surgeons troubleshoot in real-time so they can continue to provide their best care to every patient.”

Outside the hospital, Thompson enjoys hiking, biking and fishing, and anytime he can spend outdoors with Maxine and their two kids, three-year-old Lila and one-year-old Liam.

Thompson encourages surgeons to contact him anytime with struggles, successes and ideas for improving care or enhancing the surgery experience and culture at Saint Joseph by emailing him at kyle.thompson@imail.org.