A young woman has a very special bond with her father that was put on display recently in an operating room.
Dr. Sophia Roberts is a Washington University resident who is working towards becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon, KSDK reported in June.
According to Roberts’ profile on the university’s website, her clinical and research interests are heart and lung transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, and arrhythmia surgery.
She recently assisted her father, Dr. Harold Roberts, a Washington University cardiothoracic surgeon for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, who said his daughter did an excellent job.
Sophia always knew that she wanted to be just like her dad, and remembered how people would approach him and thank him for operating on their loved one or themselves.
“We got her this game called Operation when she was about four,” her father recalled. “My sister Beth said, ‘You know, she’s really good at that!'”
According to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, a cardiothoracic surgeon is one who specializes in procedures concerning a person’s heart, lungs, esophagus, and other structures in the chest cavity.
These surgeons “operate on diseases that occur in the organs inside the chest and in the bony structures and tissues that form the chest cavity,” the society’s website reads.
Following three decades as a cardiac surgeon in Florida and West Virginia, her father said he was asked to work for the university’s heart and vascular program, to which Sophia responded, “Yes, you have to do this!”
Video footage showed the pair scrubbing their hands in preparation for surgery, and also in the operating room together:
In years past, Sophia accompanied her father to the hospital on a regular basis. Now, it was for an even greater purpose.
“The thing I’m looking forward to is that this will be the first of many,” Harold told KSDK.