Dr. Craig McClure is an interventional radiologist, a title at which he laughs since he knows his field is often difficult to define. “Sometimes we do work similar to a cardiologist, but we do it in other parts of the body. Sometimes we do work more in line with traditional radiology, but we do it to perform new treatments,” McClure says.

The Kansas State alumnus actually began his graduate life in dentistry school at UMKC. After five years practicing as a dentist, McClure enrolled in medical school at KU, wanting to become a maxillofacial surgeon. But early in his medical education, he did a rotation in radiology and loved it. The rest, as he says, is history.

After a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, McClure landed at Baptist Hospital in Kansas City for 13 years, then moved to Providence Medical Center 10 months ago.

Two new procedures in the past few years have particularly intrigued Dr. McClure: uterine artery embolization and vertebroplasty. The former is a treatment for the pain experienced by a woman with a fibroid uterus. McClure injects particles into the uterus, using radiology to guide the placement of the particles. The particles can break up the fibroid tumors, and in certain cases the embolization can be as effective as a total hysterectomy. But because the woman is able to walk out of the clinic the same day, the recovery time is a significant improvement.

Vertebroplasty is a treatment for spinal compression fractures caused by osteoporosis. Using X-ray as a guide, McClure inserts a needle into the tiny space of the fracture. Then a medical-grade cement is pumped through the needle into the fracture, filling up the broken space and quickly drying. “In some cases,” McClure says, “the patients actually get up off the table and walk out of the clinic totally under their own power.”

McClure says his biggest hobby is reading, and it comes as no surprise that this technology-driven doctor loves high-tech, military novels by Tom Clancy. With radical procedures being introduced regularly, McClure says his most important hobby is trying to stay on top of the exponentially increasing knowledge in his field. “You don’t get stale,” McClure says, “but I love the challenge!”

Talking to Steven Owens about his work, you get the impression you have run into an “old-school” doctor: he loves his work, his family and his church. Owens, the President of Mid-America Cardiology and Clinical Director of Cardiology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, says he chose to work in cardiology because of the opportunities he has to develop relationships with each of his patients over the long-haul. He and his family—he married a Kansas City native, and he has a daughter at KU and another at Shawnee Mission East—are members of Christ Episcopal Church, and Owens speaks of his work as a kind of ministry to those in need.

“It’s got to sound like a terrible cliché, but the fact is I believe it. My work is challenging, but rewarding; and it’s a chance to minister,” Owens says. Owens is also quick to note the important role teamwork plays at Mid-America Cardiology. “Every new patient excites me, because I know it’s not just me treating him, it’s not just my work. As a cardiologist, I can only give my patients great care by working in tandem with my team, and incorporating all the expertise they’ve developed.”

But just when you think you have a handle on this “old-school” doctor, he tells you that what he loves about his job is the rapidly evolving field of cardiology. “We have so many new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities we can offer patients: implanting defibrillators or treating coronary disease with radiation delivered through a catheter—cardiology is always on the edge of medicine and technology,” Owens excitedly says.

To understand Owens’ blend of traditional values with developing technology, it helps to know he grew up in two very different towns: the smaller, old-fashioned town of Salina and the university town of Lawrence. Blending those small-town values with an academic thirst for knowledge make Owens an effective doctor who cares.

“My success as a cardiologist always boils down to an examining room filled with my patient, the patient’s family and me. The care I give there—diagnosing, recommending, listening, encouraging—that’s what drive me. That’s why I’m a doctor.”

“When I got to medical school, I already wanted to be a surgeon. Then I looked around and saw that the ENT guys (ear, nose and throat) were having the most fun,” says Douglas Girod, the Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Today, as an otolaryngologist who is also boarded in head and neck surgery/oncology and facial reconstructive surgery, Girod still believes his work is fun, even when he performs operations that can last 18 hours.

Originally from Oregon, Girod followed up medical school at the University of California—San Francisco with a fellowship through the National Institutes for Health. After his post-doctoral work, Girod became the Vice Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Naval Medical Center in Oakland, Calif. In 1994, he left the West Coast to come lead a head and neck microvascular surgery team in Kansas City. The development of microvascular surgery has had a tremendous impact on Girod’s profession, enabling doctors to transplant a bone from the arm or leg as a substitute mandible for patients whose cancer has caused the loss of their original jawbone.

“The end result for the patient is fantastic,” says Girod, who has also performed transplants for patients that lose muscle or other tissue in the face and neck. The infection rate for these patients is much lower than in traditional transplants, and the success rate is 98 percent.

A second breakthrough has also radically changed the way Girod works. “Within the last two to three years, a lot of these cancer surgeries have been done endoscopically,” Girod says, “and that tends to break every rule we knew about removing tumors. You can’t get a tumor out in one piece through a narrow tube, so we have to take it out in pieces. When the procedure is done correctly, it’s as effective as traditional surgery, and because the incisions are smaller, the recovery time is cut significantly.”

“It can be a very complex procedure,” says Girod, but he insists that the bigger the challenge, the more fun the work. “I love the challenge, because challenges are what make my work fun!”