Melissa Loja, MD, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery

I grew up always wanting to be a doctor. I don’t know where that came from but I put a lot of stock into the fact that my mom made sure I had female physicians and I could relate to it and see myself in that field.

In medical school, I thought I wanted to specialize in head and neck cancers and earned a master’s degree in research, looking at oral cancers. Ultimately, though, I felt like it wasn’t the right choice for me so I turned to vascular surgery. It is a fascinating field that allows for using creative techniques to help people.

In my specialty, I provide minimally invasive surgeries to help with arterial disease – that is the vessels outside of the heart. So I can put stents in arteries in the lower extremities, for example. It is using minimally invasive techniques to fix complex issues.

I love what I do. I am able to cater to the desires and needs of each individual patient and design a plan for that person. The field is limitless. I help patients dealing with everything from dialysis to placing stents in clogged arteries.

I like to get to know my patients one-on-one. I want to know their family and their interests so I can understand their goals and needs and tailor more care to that.

For me, it all comes down to patient-centered care. I approach each patient with no preconceived notions. No one in my family was in medicine so I use the lessons I learned as a teen working at an ice cream shop – it’s all about the focus on customer service. And I try to be the kind of doctor I would want.

I want to be someone my patients can connect with and who they are comfortable with so that they can ask me any question. To do that, requires establishing trust and have a working relationship. When I am not working, I like hiking and biking and spending time with family - and skiing in the winter. I just try to stay active.