Mokryk, Igor - Recommendation letter 12.29.14
- 1. ~ Ward Family Heart Center ~ CHILDREN'S MERCY KANSAS CITY www.childrensmercy.org 2401 Gillham Road Kansas City, Missouri 64108 Phone: 816-234-3000 December 29, 2014 Re: Igor Mokryk, M.D., Ph.D. This is a very strong letter of recommendation for Igor Mokryk, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Rehabilitation at the Gusak Institute of Urgent and Recovery Surgery in Donetsk, Ukraine. I have known Igor for over seven years and he is one of those rare individuals that you encounter only a few times throughout your career. I first met Igor when we brought a team from our institution at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City to work with his team in Donetsk, Ukraine. Igor was in charge of developing a pediatric heart center at their institute. He had accepted the challenge of building a program in this previously unserved area with a population of approximately five million people. Working with extremely limited resources, Igor was able to assemble talented and dedicated individuals to build a department. This is a department that seven years ago was performing very basic surgery on older individuals, and most recently was able to provide complex congenital heart surgery for neonates. The development of this program is a testament to his leadership, but mostly his medical knowledge and skill as a surgeon. Igor is an extremely knowledgeable surgeon. He is very well read and understands the complexities of the anatomy and physiology of congenital heart disease. He has added to that foundation an extensive experience in the surgical treatment of these patients over the last seven years. As a leader of the group and its developing heart center, he was responsible for all aspects of the care of the patients and was involved in every detail. Due to his meticulous attention to detail, the center thrived and the care of the patients improved exponentially. His leadership also led to increased investment in resources to the center. This most recently resulted in the construction of new building of the Gusak Institute dedicated to the care of cardiac patients, with a new operating theater and intensive care unit dedicated to the care of children with congenital heart disease. It is only through an unfortunate political situation in the eastern Ukraine with incredibly unfortunate timing that all of Igor's hard work and dedication did not result in the incredible accomplishment of having a modern congenital heart program in the eastern Ukraine. So, in summary, I find Igor Mokryk to be a man of high moral character and ethical standing, deep medical knowledge, with years of experience in the surgical care of patients with congenital heart disease. His energy, enthusiasm, dedication, work ethic and leadership skills are a rare combination to find in one individual. In addition, he is an outstanding human being In Academic Affiliation with the University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Medicine An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer- Services provided on a non-discriminatory basis
- 2. who is a pleasure to work with. For all these reasons, I highly recommend, without any reservations, Dr. Mokryk as an outstanding congenital heart surgeon. We would love to have him as part of our team here and are attempting to overcome the unfortunately enormous bureaucratic obstacles to having that take place. I'd be happy to provide any further information, or talk to you personally, should you have any further questions. mes E. O'Brien, Jr., Co-Director, Ward Family Heart Center Chief, Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery Associate Professor of Surgery University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine Office: 816-234-3580 Fax:816-802-1245 jobrien@cmh.edu