New surgeon arrives at Lincoln Hospital
Contact: Carey Guhlke-Falk
Lincoln Hospital welcomed a new general surgeon this month. Dr. Raaj Ruparel, MD, will lead general surgery services at Lincoln Hospital, providing surgeries and procedures that include lumpectomies, appendectomies, port placements, mastectomies, hernias, colonoscopies, endoscopies, and more.
Dr. Ruparel moved to Davenport last month from Rochester, Minnesota where he finished his residency at Mayo Clinic as their Chief General Surgery Resident. He also completed a general surgery internship and a surgical simulation fellowship at Mayo Clinic for a total of 8 years at the world-renowned healthcare facility.
“Mayo Clinic provided me a broad experience and helped me to interact with patients of all types,” Dr. Ruparel said. “People from all over the world, as well as the local farmer from down the road, would come to Mayo Clinic with various health problems, but they all shared things in common; they wanted to be helped and they were open to people taking care of them.”
Dr. Ruparel said he is thankful he gets to come to the Pacific Northwest to do what he loves, which, includes caring for patients and being in the outdoors. “I’m looking forward to having the time to connect with patients here and provide more personalized care… if we slow things down a little bit, sometimes we’re able to do things a little better,” he said.
“Your best interest comes first. If there’s something you’d like to have done and I don’t think it’s going to be the most helpful thing, I’m going to be upfront with you and let you know. If there’s something I think is going to be helpful for you, I’m going to do everything in my power to facilitate that – maybe I’m the person to do that, maybe it’s somebody else, but my goal is that you get the best appropriate care from the best possible people.”
Eastern Washington, specifically, was a draw for Dr. Ruparel because it boasts some of the best fishing in the country. As an avid fly fisherman, climber, and pilot, he said he’s looking forward to taking advantage of the resources in the area along-side his girlfriend, Anna Canfield. “Anything that involves working hard outside is fun for me so this is probably as good a place as any in this country for me to hang my hat.”
Dr. Ruparel will hold clinic hours at the Lincoln Surgical Clinic located inside Lincoln Hospital. The clinic will also house Dr. James Dunlap, MD, Lincoln Hospital’s full-time orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Dunlap was previously located at the Davenport Clinic.
More information about Dr. Ruparel and his general surgery practice can be found at www.lincolnhospital.org.