Why I became a thoracic surgeon — and why it still matters to me every day

I grew up in central Italy. My uncle was a cardiothoracic anaesthetist — the person in our family who everyone turned to when something went wrong medically. When I broke my leg as a child and needed an operation, it was him who put me to sleep, and I watched him do it with a calm authority I never forgot.

A few years later, a surgeon came to give a talk at my school. When he began showing photographs of his work — chests opened, repaired, closed — I felt something shift. I realised I could make people better. I could see them smiling again. That was the day I decided to become a thoracic surgeon.

Twenty-five years on, that moment still informs how I approach every consultation. Surgery is not just a technical act — it is an intervention in someone's life at one of their most vulnerable moments. The training can be taught. The care for the person on the table has to come from somewhere else.

I am Italian by origin, British-trained, and internationally experienced. My career has taken me from Cambridge to London to Toronto to Milan and back. What I have kept constant through all of it is a commitment to offering each patient the most accurate diagnosis, the least invasive operation that achieves the goal, and a recovery supported by someone who knows their name.

What shaped my understanding of what patients actually need

When my mother was diagnosed with melanoma, I sat in every oncology appointment with her. I watched her navigate a system that was medically excellent but not always emotionally supportive. I saw her uncertainty when a doctor left the room without fully answering a question. I felt the weight of waiting for results.

That experience changed how I practise. It is not enough to perform the correct operation. The patient must understand what is happening, feel that their questions are welcome, and know that someone — a specific, named person — is responsible for their care from the first consultation to the final follow-up.

That is what I aim to provide. Not just surgical excellence — though that comes first — but a relationship with a surgeon who sees the whole person, not just the scan.