When Gabriel Wallace, MD, medical director of vascular surgery for Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, South Region, joined the system in 2023, he had only one dream: to build a vascular care program. In two years, he realized it.
Dr. Wallace attributes the quick success to his “start low, aim high” philosophy and the talent he’s brought aboard along the way.
From his first day on the job, Dr. Wallace, who is also the surgical director for perioperative services at Palos Heights, Ill.-based Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, had a vision of basing academic-level vascular surgery care in the community hospital. To turn that into a reality first necessitated the establishment of parallel services — including an outpatient vascular surgical clinic, ultrasound lab and inpatient infrastructure — as well as building a team from the ground up.
Before Dr. Wallace’s appointment in 2023, the system didn’t employ a vascular surgeon. As the first, he quickly set to work assembling a team with a nurse and a medical assistant. Now, that team comprises 13 people whose titles range from advanced practice providers to referral coordinators.
Dr. Wallace said he invested heavily in finding the right people for the job and supplying what they needed to thrive.
“One type of person we’ve found does exceptionally well on our team is the competitive athlete,” Dr. Wallace told Becker’s. “We actually have several team members who competed at the collegiate level. They bring that team spirit, that willingness to support those around them, and what I’d call an expedition mentality.”
That mentality, coupled with Dr. Wallace’s encouragement to develop different areas of vascular services, has helped birth a booming program. The team has collaborated to improve clinical workflows and process development, and also helped open two ultrasound labs.
“The broader principle is deputizing people on the team to take leadership and ownership, encouraging them to bring ideas to the table — whether it’s a new idea or an improvement to an existing process — and genuinely showing them that we value their input,” he said. “We want people to speak up about what works for them and for patients, because ultimately, if something works really well for the team, it translates directly into a benefit for the patient.”
Expending this extra team-building effort is critical in a smaller hospital setting, not just with the immediate point people, but also to create bridges with other departments like anesthesia, interventional radiology andICU, as well as hospitalists.
“There’s a bit more skepticism around new, complex, or higher-risk cases — but with the right approach, those bridges can be built and people become comfortable doing these cases,” Dr. Wallace said. “At an academic center, it’s more or less expected that you’ll have the resources and take on complex patients and complicated cases. Here, you have to earn that trust and build it deliberately.”
