While most toddlers were picking up picture books, Sophia Roberts and her father, Harold, were thumbing through Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice.
“I got into medicine because of my dad,” Sophia says.
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Now, she’s working alongside him.
Sophia, a second-year surgical resident in the Barnes-Jewish Heart and Vascular program, is training to become a heart surgeon at the same St. Louis hospital where Harold is now a cardiothoracic surgeon — a rare and fulfilling occurrence for physicians from the same family. Sophia was already studying in St. Louis when Harold, who was previously working in West Virginia, received an opportunity to join the faculty at Washington University. He was delighted, but wanted to get permission from his daughter first. She responded to his text in all caps: “WHOA. DO IT!”
After all, the two had been thinking about medicine side-by-side for as long as Sophia can remember. Harold recalls picking up on Sophia’s growing interest in medicine when she was 12, inviting her to watch him operate on a patient to satisfy her curiosity. “It was incredible because I got to see what he had been doing this whole time,” Sophia says. Later, when she was in medical school, Harold taught her to suture on banana peels since they simulate skin. Over time, she became drawn to the cardiovascular area of medicine—just like her father.
Although Harold is supportive and flattered his daughter wants to follow in his footsteps, he was also conflicted, given that “it’s highly stressful and some of the patients are even dying by the time you get them,” he says. “You don’t always have happy outcomes.” And yet, Harold says there’s no denying that pursuing a career in medicine is intensely rewarding thanks to all of the lives a physician can touch. Sophia saw proof of this growing up, recalling the times a former patient would approach her father at a restaurant to thank him for his work.
Although they love talking shop, Sophia and Harold have worked together on only two cases since reuniting in St. Louis. That’s because Sophia is still navigating the early stages of her surgical training. Even so, working in the same hospital has allowed Harold to teach his daughter some of the technical maneuvers he has learned. One example, Sophia says, is “how to flip a needle from going forward to backhand without touching it. I did that in the next case I worked on, and it was pretty cool.”
Both father and daughter were drawn to Washington University not only for its excellent reputation, but because of how many women occupy positions in the cardiothoracic surgery program. In a male-dominated field, that means something.
Harold is proud of his daughter’s growth, and is excited to watch her career take shape from an up-close vantage point. “I was in the delivery room and saw her take her first breath,” he says. “It’s been great to watch her mature into a strong, confident, nice, very intelligent young woman.”
Sophia, meanwhile, is simply thankful to have a father who is both a tremendous resource and an unwavering supporter. “Dad has been a tremendous role model in life and now professionally,” she says. “I’m very lucky.”
