Our Team
Perfusionists
Sometimes, cardiovascular surgeons can operate on the heart when it is beating, but often they need to stop the heart in order to work on or around it. Valve replacement surgery is a good example of where the heart must be stopped temporarily during surgery. To maintain blood flow to the body’s tissues during operations when the heart needs to be stopped, surgeons call on perfusion technologists, usually called perfusionists.
Perfusionists are vital members of the cardiovascular surgical team because they are responsible for running the heart-lung, or cardiopulmonary bypass machine. The heart-lung machine draws blood away from the heart and lungs, adds oxygen to the blood and removes carbondioxide, then returns the blood to the body, completely bypassing the heart - hence the name. During surgery, perfusionists use the heart-lung machine to maintain blood flow to the body’s tissues and regulate levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. Perfusionists are also responsible for measuring selected laboratory values (such as blood cell count) and monitoring circulation. Under the direction of the anesthesiologist and surgeon, perfusionists may also administer medicines through cardiopulmonary bypass apparatus.
If you are an Asheville Heart patient, you may never even see your perfusionist, or be vaguely aware of smiling eyes peeking over a surgical mask. Here are the members of the team who have your best interests at heart (literally).
| JOHN MARFLAK Chief Perfusionist |
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| HEATHER DAVIS Perfusionist |
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| MICHAEL KUNTZ Perfusionist |
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| JOE LUDE Perfusionist |
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| BRYN WILLIAMS Perfusionist |
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Physician Assistants
Physician Assistants are advanced practice clinicians who are licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision, including first-assist in surgery.
The Asheville Heart surgical team is proud have the services of the following Certified Physician Assistants:
| CATIE HAUCK Certified Physician Assistant |
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| MICHAEL LUCA Certified Physician Assistant |
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| AMBER MADRIN Certified Physician Assistant |
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| JOHN SALIMBANI Certified Physician Assistant |
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| RAYMOND YOST Certified Physician Assistant |
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Autotransfusionists
As you might expect, a lot of blood may be lost during cardiac surgery and it must somehow be replaced. Blood from a donor used to be the only solution, but it is now common practice to use the services of an autotransfusionist.
Using specially-designed equipment, the autotransfusionist collects the blood lost from the patient during the operation, scrubs or cleans the blood of impurities, then makes is available to be reinfused into the patient. The process is commonly know as a "cell-saver" and is considered far superior to the use of blood from a donor, because it reduces the possibility of infection and provides more functional cells back to the patient.
Asheville Heart has a team of highly skilled autotransfusionists dedicated to providing the highest possible quality of care.
| DEBBIE BRADLEY Autotransfusionist |
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| HARRISON FORD Autotransfusionist |
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| JASON MOORE Autotransfusionist |
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