Essentia gains two new cardiothoracic surgeons
Dr. Antonio Laudito is one of two cardiothoracic surgeons joining the staff of Essentia Health in Duluth.By: John Lundy, Duluth News Tribune
Dr. Antonio Laudito is one of two cardiothoracic surgeons joining the staff of Essentia Health in Duluth.
Laudito will be joined by Dr. Terry Olivas next month, an Essentia Health news release said.
They fill a gap created earlier this year with the departures of Drs. Subbareddy Konda and David Arzouman. In the interim, Essentia relied on locums — the medical equivalent of temporary workers — and referrals to St. Luke’s hospital.
Essentia spokeswoman Kim Kaiser said one locum still is being used through this month. Cardiac patients are no longer being referred to St. Luke’s, she said.
Laudito, a native of Turin, Italy, graduated from the University of Turin Medical School. He completed his general surgery residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, his cardiothoracic surgical residency at University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida, and his pediatric cardiac surgical residency at the University of California, San Francisco. He has had academic positions at the University of Mississippi, the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Turin. Most recently, he was a cardiac surgeon in Wichita, Kan.
In an interview, Laudito said he wasn’t drawn to Duluth by geography or climate. When he flew to Rochester, Minn., to visit the Mayo Clinic some years ago and arrived at the airport, “I thought it was an emergency landing,” he said.
He likes oceans and heat. His two years on Miami Beach “is a situation that’s difficult to replicate,” he said.
Nonetheless, Laudito not only chose to relocate to Duluth, he bought a house here for the first time in his 24 years in the U.S. He found what he wanted here, he said.
“I believe if you have the right team, the right human factors, you can be in the desert, but you can build a cathedral,” he said. “I felt that in Duluth with the cardiology team, with the leadership team I found that kind of commitment, dedication and environment.”
Laudito specializes in minimally invasive heart valve repair and the latest techniques for arterial coronary bypass surgery, the news release said. He also offers surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation, a treatment for abnormal heart rhythms. He has operated on patients from 4 hours old to 96 years old, but will focus on adult surgeries at Essentia.
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