Pass It Forward
Surgeon Bert Krieger was inspired by a physician mentor
who asked for one thing in return.
General Surgeon and Preceptor
Bert Krieger, DO
Dr. Krieger and the St. Cloud Hospital Surgery team precepted University of Minnesota Med School student, Andie Ledezma, in February on a surgery rotation. Andie will share her experiences with Clinical Partners in March, but ahead of her arrival Dr. Krieger recalled a mentor of his own.
Bert Krieger, DO: I went back and did a degree in biology so that I could go into something science related. I thought maybe research. And then a family friend got me a spot volunteering over in the Cardiac Cath Lab at a little hospital in Baltimore City called St. Agnes Hospital. And that’s where I met a mentor of mine, a guy named Dr. Marty Albornoz. He’s an Interventional Cardiologist who said, “Volunteering is great, and handing out flowers and talking to patients is fantastic, but if you’re interested in science, you should follow me for the next couple of weeks.”
I followed one of the patients to the operating room to watch them get their bypass surgery and thought, this is absolutely for me.
Bert Krieger, DO
So that’s what I did. And I followed one of the patients to the operating room to watch them get their bypass surgery and thought, this is absolutely for me.
Pass it forward
Bert Krieger, DO: While I was there (at St. Agnes Hospital), this cardiologist took me under his wing. It was great. I would go to the hospital on days when I wasn’t volunteering and just be with him. In between cases, we would go on five mile runs together and come back and do more. He was fantastic. He always told me that no matter what field I went into, the only thing he ever asked was that I do the same and pass it forward.
He always told me that no matter what field I went into, the only thing he ever asked was that I do the same and pass it forward.
No one told that man that he had to do any of that. I’m sure he still is doing that to this day. And in residency, when you come through five years of general surgery residency, a big focus of general surgery residency is teaching the younger residents. As you learn from older residents, then you pass that stuff down. So, it’s life-long education. And it’s the same way when you finish. You call senior partners into the room when there’s something you haven’t seen before.