Making the Rounds with Dr. Scott Roth

For this edition of Making the Rounds, we interviewed Scott Roth, MD, FACS, Chief of Surgery at UK Good Samaritan Hospital. We chatted with Dr. Roth about the large, talented team of specialists he oversees and what he finds most gratifying about his work.

What are your main responsibilities at UK HealthCare?

I am Chief of the Division of General Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery here at the University of Kentucky, and I'm also Chief of Surgery at UK Good Samaritan Hospital. I'm responsible for a pretty large group of surgeons that provides minimally invasive surgery, general surgery, the bariatric surgery program, as well as the endocrine surgeons.

What’s your main area of focus?

My practice has evolved to primarily complex gastrointestinal surgery. That means a lot of things to a lot of people, but for me, I like to focus on hernia, in particular hiatal hernia, reflux operations, paraesophageal hernias, as well as abdominal wall hernias.

I also have an interest in weight loss surgery, and that marries very nicely into my gastrointestinal surgery practice. I really enjoy gastrointestinal surgery. I enjoy the pathology and the physiology of GI diseases. Many times, non-oncologic procedures are not thought to be medically necessary, but patients can have significant symptoms, whether it's their weight management, their severe heartburn or reflux, or the pain associated with their condition, and we can significantly improve their quality of life by offering them these elective procedures.

What excites you most about your work?

I've developed a reputation and a referral practice for fairly complex patients, and I find it very exciting. Patients that have had many experiences, some favorable, some unfavorable, who have had maybe a series of operations in the past, and many, many times they've been told that there's no hope and there's no surgical options for them. I find it extremely gratifying to take those complex patients and offer them hope and actually improve their quality of life.

Watch our entire interview with Dr. Scott Roth: