>>> Meet Dr. Kelly Brown
It was a book that set Dr. Evelio Rodriguez on the path to medicine. Raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Rodriguez vividly remembers his mother bringing home a book with a picture of a man with a large incision in his chest. 'I said then that I wanted to be a heart surgeon,” he recalls.
Rodriguez pursued biomedical engineering in college, but during a summer working in a hospital, he watched a heart surgery. He was hooked again and pursued medical school in Albany, New York. There, he saw snow for the first time and developed a second passionthis time, for skiing. During his residency and fellowship in Philadelphia, he met his wife, also a surgeon.
The couple moved to Nashville in 2012 with their three sons. Rodriguez admits it takes a lot of organization to manage two surgical careers and three active boys. He credits his wife with being the 'glue of the enterprise.”
Rodriguez travels extensively, but, when home, he can be found in the gym, on the soccer field, or at the pool, cheering on his athletic offspring. One wonders when he sleeps.
'I don't need a lot of sleep; I can get by on four hours,” he says. 'Because I love my job, I'm happy, and that means the time with my family can be quality time.”
