September 2025

WHEN OTHERS SAY NO, THESE SURGEONS SAY ‘LET’S FIND A WAY’

At Northwestern Medicine, some of the nation’s most complex cases find solutions. Patients from across the country come here after being told their condition is inoperable, untreatable or simply too difficult to manage. Where others see limits, our experts see possibilities — to restore function, improve quality of life and offer renewed hope.
 
Meet some of the physicians redefining what’s possible in medicine, and explore real-world examples of lives changed through their expertise.

​Ankit Bharat, MD
Thoracic Surgeon
 
Ankit Bharat, MD, has pioneered advances in lung preservation, transplant immunology and airway biology. Among his notable accomplishments, Dr. Bharat performed the first successful double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient in the country, a milestone that set a precedent for treating severe cases of COVID-19-related lung damage. He also pioneered the first-of-its-kind DREAM (Double Lung Transplant Registry Aimed for Lung-Limited Malignancies) Program, and has been instrumental in advancing ECMO techniques to support critically ill patients.
​Dr. Bharat and Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, successfully performed the first combined lung-liver transplant in the U.S. on a patient with advanced lung cancer. The patient, a 69-year-old pulmonologist from California, discovered that immunotherapy for stage 3 lung cancer had permanently damaged his lung and liver. He turned to Dr. Bharat at Northwestern Medicine, where the innovative combined transplant was his only option for survival. 

Ziho Lee, MD
Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeon
 
Ziho Lee, MD, is one of only a few genitourinary reconstructive surgeons in the nation. He specializes in complex robotic reconstruction of both the upper and lower urinary tracts, often performing surgeries considered too risky or advanced for traditional approaches. Dr. Lee has also helped pioneer innovative techniques, including the use of intraoperative fluorescence and ureteral substitution during robotic ureteral reconstruction.
One of Dr. Lee’s complex cases involved a 70-year-old patient with a post-prostatectomy urinary stricture. The patient had a complex medical history, characterized by recurrent urinary retention and multiple dilation procedures, as well as various endoscopic management attempts. In this video, Dr. Lee demonstrates the intricacies of the surgical procedure, combining robotic and perineal techniques to precisely excise scar tissue and reconstruct the urinary pathway.
 
In another case, a 54-year-old patient experienced a ureter injury that necessitated a drainage tube in his back, which he had for over eight years. Multiple surgeons deemed it too risky to operate due to extensive scar tissue and the surgery's complexity. However, Dr. Lee successfully connected the patient’s kidney back to the bladder using a segment of intestine, and the patient is now free of the drainage tube.

Christopher K. Mehta, MD
Cardiac Surgeon
 
As an expert in surgical heart valve procedures, Christopher K. Mehta, MD, routinely takes on complex cases and collaborates with colleagues on the Northwestern Medicine Tumor Board to provide innovative solutions for patients.
A particularly complex recent case involved a 69-year-old patient with an large, cancerous tumor invading and compressing the pulmonary valve and the pulmonary artery. After surgeons at multiple institutions declined to operate due to the complexity and risk, Dr. Mehta successfully removed the 1.5-pound tumor and repaired the damage it caused to the heart structure, including rebuilding the pulmonary valve, in 12 hours.
 
Satish Nadig, MD, PhD
Transplant Surgeon
 
Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, has pushed the boundaries of transplant surgery with groundbreaking techniques. One of his most notable innovations is the lifesaving RAPID (Resection and Partial Liver Transplantation with Delayed Total Hepatectomy) procedure. Traditionally, liver transplants were deemed unfeasible for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, but Dr. Nadig's pioneering approach — utilizing normothermic machine perfusion to split a piece of a liver allocated to another recipient — offers new hope to patients once considered untreatable.
In another case and in collaboration with Dr. Bharat, Dr. Nadig performed the first combined lung-liver transplant for a patient with advanced lung cancer. The 10-hour procedure used innovative “liver-in-a-box” technology, or liver perfusion, which allowed Dr. Nadig to preserve the donor liver outside the body.
 
Jean-Paul Wolinsky, MD
Neurological Spine Surgeon
 
Treating patients with complex spine conditions and spinal tumors, Jean-Paul Wolinsky, MD, is one of a select few in the country with the experience and skill to perform en bloc chordoma resections, as well as advanced procedures for conditions that might be considered inoperable. 
One notable case involved a 40-year-old man diagnosed with basilar invagination. After evaluation, Dr. Wolinsky identified cranial settling resulting from the assimilation of the occiput and C1, and C2-C3 Klippel-Feil causing instability and brain stem compression. Given the severity of the condition, a posterior approach alone would not adequately decompress the brain stem. Dr. Wolinsky recommended an endoscopic transcervical odontoidectomy — a novel surgical approach he developed — and occipitocervical  fusion.
Ankit Bharat, MD, is chief of Thoracic Surgery, director of the Canning Thoracic Institute, the Harold L. and Margaret N. Method Professor of Surgery, and professor of Thoracic Surgery and Pulmonary and Critical Care at Northwestern Medicine.
​Ziho Lee, MD, is chief of Trauma and Reconstructive Urology and assistant professor of Urology at Northwestern Medicine. 
Christopher K. Mehta, MD, is surgical director of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program and assistant professor of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine.
​Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, is chief of Organ Transplantation; director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center; the Edward G. Elcock Professor of Surgical Research Professor; and professor of Organ Transplantation, Microbiology-Immunology, and Pediatrics at Northwestern Medicine.
​Jean-Paul Wolinsky, MD, is vice chair of Strategy and Operations in the Department of Neurological Surgery, a professor of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern Medicine.

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