This Surgeon Knows the Importance of Teamwork

Charles Miller, MD, has been involved with more than 3,000 liver transplants and 300 living donor liver transplants.

“Donor safety is paramount, but you can’t do it alone. You must have a great team,” says Cleveland Clinic’s Enterprise Director of Transplantation.

“The opportunity to train young surgeons and build a team is something I have really enjoyed,” says Dr. Miller. “Teamwork is what makes this place really special.”

Here we talk to Dr. Miller about how his career path, building relations with patients and why he’s excited about the future of healthcare:

Q: What sparked your interest in transplant surgery?

A: One of my earliest residency mentors was doing kidney transplants. I had the opportunity to spend a year doing transplant research and was able to learn how to do a heart transplant in rats. When I finally had a success with that tiny heart and it started to beat I first felt the magic of transplantation.

Q: How do you build meaningful relationships with your patients?

A: I like to have someone — no matter the situation — laugh at least one time during a visit. I ask them things about themselves that have nothing to do with why they are seeing me. I make sure they know I’m interested in them as a person and not just a patient.

Q: Why do you choose to practice at Cleveland Clinic?

A: I really appreciate the staff model. (Our former President & CEO) Dr. Toby Cosgrove used to call it our ‘secret sauce.’

Q: What keeps you excited about the future of healthcare?

A: I think my job is to empower everyone. Find the niches, the areas they do best, and empower them to do so.

The global nature of spreading our model of care. Working here, I have the opportunity to share our values and the way we practice across the globe. Our new President & CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic has a real focus on that and it is really energizing.