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22 NOVO LIVE May 2018 In the time since Salem began practicing medicine, technological advances have led to better heart failure management, including home monitoring systems and bet- ter medications on the market, as well as more prevention opportu- nities. Salem's independent model al- lows him to choose the best health care options for his patients with- out going through hierarchy of ap- proval and decision-making neces- sary at larger organizations. "Hopefully we'll be able to fill the gap in existing systems in terms of the heart failure management, because there's a huge gap in this care," Salem said. "We've taken on our shoulders to provide a very comprehensive preventive care for the patients, to try to change the course of their disease early on to have a better outcome." N Numbers from page 21 The Road Taken I asked Greene if he had an "a- ha" moment when he knew exact- ly the medical direction he most wished to travel. "No one could have convinced me at the beginning of med school that I would end up in any kind of surgical specialty, but I knew with my very first craniotomy it would be neurosurgery," said Greene. He described in vivid detail that first craniotomy during his residency in neurological surgery at the world-renowned Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, where a young woman with an unusual seizure disorder had fallen and developed a subdural hema- toma with life-threatening compli- cations. "We needed to operate imme- diately," Greene said. An hour following the brain surgery, his patient was awake, alert, talking, and having a meal. "Yes, this is what I want to do," said Greene. "I never thought I'd be so deeply engaged in anything in all my life." Greene is a committed, trust- ed, and extensively published neurosurgeon who provides neu- rosurgical care for nervous system disorders such as brain tumors, brain aneurysms, vascular mal- formations, and craniovertebral junction abnormalities, spinal dis- orders such as stenosis and disc herniations, spinal tumors, and spinal reconstruction for trauma, and movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. He is also uniquely trained, having special skills in microsur- gical techniques, complex cranio- vertebral junction surgery, spinal stabilization and instrumentation, and stereotactic and functional neurosurgical procedures includ- ing brain microelectrode monitor- ing for deep brain stimulation. And he's still a big rail fan. "I go to places and just sit by the tracks," Greene said at the con- clusion of the interview, punctuat- ing our time with a wide grin and hearty chuckle. "My boys and I love to watch trains." Big smile. Big laugh. Big heart. P.S. I neglected to mention that Karl Greene and I began our discus- sion with something called artifi- cial disc replacement. Ironically, he asked the first question: "Well, it's a variation on anterior cervical discec- tomy and fusion, right?" I told him I wasn't sure. N Greene from page 15 Dr. Greene portrays a character named Dr. Greene in "Wraith," the 2017 indie film shot in Neenah. Learn more about Dr. Salem and Heart Failure Survival Center of America at www.hfsca.org.