MAITLAND--Rob Winter, MD, may be well known around the Central Florida club scene for his lead rocker role with the popular local band Running With Scissors (RWS).

 

But Winter's guitar-playing finesse is definitely second fiddle to his work pioneering the minimally invasive treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) in the metro Orlando area. Winter and his partner, Ken Adcock, MD, represent the first surgeons in the heart of Florida to use endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to treat patients with AAA. Manuel Perez, MD, who joined the team seven years ago and brought to the practice new technologies learned from other areas of the country, also assists the duo.

 

"The existing alternative treatment is open surgery, during which a surgeon makes an incision the length of the abdomen to repair the AAA," explained Winter, a vascular surgeon in private practice at Florida Vascular Consultants in Maitland, who instead of open surgery cuts a 1-inch incision, and threads a catheter through the blood vessel to repair it from within. Survival rates are near 100 percent and complete recovery time is only a few days.

 

"I had a knack for science and gravitated to medicine," said Winter, a New York native who lived in Charlotte during his formative years, and relocated to Florida in time for high school. "I enjoyed using my head and my hands, and it was a given from Day 1 that I would be a surgeon. It wasn't until my third year of medical school that I narrowed it down."

 

The older of two sons of Mark, a clothing manufacturer's representative for Isotoner and other women's brands, and his homemaker wife, Sandi, Winter established himself as a leader early on. His 1,200 high school peers elected him vice-president of Oviedo High School's student government association during his junior year, and president during his senior year. Before graduating in 1975, Winter accomplished goals involving several controversial issues, including improving interracial relations.

 

After briefly flirting with the idea of pursuing law school, Winter studied biology at Emory University, and remained in Atlanta to study at the Emory University School of Medicine, where he graduated cum laude in 1983. Watching a professor, Tim Fulenwider, MD, now in private practice in Gainesville, Ga., repair an aorta played a key role in Winter's attraction to vascular surgery. 

 

After finishing medical school, Winter headed to the University of Texas to complete his internship and residency at Southwestern Medical School Affiliated Hospitals, which includes Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Children's Hospital Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School before joining the Maitland practice in 1990. Since then, he has been affiliated with Florida Hospital Medical Center. (See companion article, "Maitland Team Advancing Minimally Invasive Treatment of AAAs in Central Florida," in this edition in this edition of Orlando Medical News.)

 

Even though Winter had always strummed the guitar for fun, he was never serious about pursuing music until Mark Schwartz, MD, an ophthalmologist and skilled musician in Orlando, suggested they get together for a jam session. Joked Winter: "I kept telling him it would be a catastrophe!"

 

Yet Schwartz was persistent, and Winter reluctantly agreed, saying it was "my mid-life crisis calling." A third physician joined the band that played hits from the 1970s and '80s.

 

"It was a fun stress reliever," said Winter, recalling their first gig at a biker bar near New Smyrna Beach as "pretty rough."

 

One day, while browsing in a local music store, Winter ran into internist Dan Mancini, a bass player. Together, they formed RWS and other medical professionals joined the group, including Scott Griffiths, CEO of a local community healthcare center, who juggles keyboard, rhythm guitar and vocals; and Lisa Taylor, a telecommunications manager for Florida Hospital, who shares lead vocals with her twin sister, Lori McMahon.

 

"After awhile, we realized we had a pretty good sound and decided to start playing clubs," said Winter, who swaps his white lab coat for a gray henley and jeans to perform with RWS at local venues and private events throughout Central Florida, including favorites Cranes Roost in Altamonte Springs and Dexter's in Winter Park. RWS has participated in several charitable events, such as Battle of the Bands to raise money for the Winter Park Community Center, in which "the doctors" faced "the lawyers" (Treble Damage). The event raised more than $5,000—and RWS won the battle.

 

"The specialty of vascular surgery has changed dramatically in the last few years as we've shifted to a minimally invasive approach," he said. "Halfway through our careers, we had to switch to different skill sets. We're all better for it because patients tolerate the procedure better and it's less disruptive to their lives."

 

His vision for the Central Florida medical community over the next few years involves establishing Orlando and Florida Hospital as a renowned center for vascular surgery.

 

"Our success rates exceed the national average, and mortality/complication rates are lower, especially for the gold standard procedure, the carotid endarterectomy," said Winter, a clinical associate professor of surgery for the Florida State University College of Medicine, chief of staff at Florida Hospital Orlando, and a recent past president of the Florida Vascular Society. "We're worthy of recognition. I'd like to see us nationally acclaimed."

 

Married for 26 years to Caryn, Winter somehow finds time to hunt and fish, usually in Osceola County and occasionally out west. The empty-nesters also stay busy with their children: Lindsay, 21, a senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas studying finance and Spanish, who recently spent a semester abroad in Madrid; and Zachary, 19, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma majoring in meteorology.

 

Winter is often recognized in local grocery stores and at the local mall--not for his rock star role or pioneering medical status, but as "that runner."