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BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, The Virginian-Pilot

Dr. Joseph S. Auteri, a cardiothoracic surgeon who recently moved to Suffolk, is all heart when it comes to his patients. Auteri, medical director of the new Bon Secours Heart Institute in Portsmouth, has performed more than 3,000 open-heart surgeries during the past 12 years as medical director of the Scottsdale Heart Center, and previously as a surgeon at the Arizona Heart Institute.

When Auteri, 44, made the decision earlier this year to move to Hampton Roads, a number of operating room and office personnel followed him.

It was not surpising. Auteri was named as Phoenix’s “Top Doctor for Cardiovascular Surgery” for seven out of 10 years by Phoenix magazine.

New Bon Secours physician Dr. Joseph S. Auteri relaxes on the Nansemond River near his home in Sleepy Point Estates in northern Suffolk. Auteri examines equipment in the operating room at Bon Secours Heart Institute in Portsmouth. Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System recently announced that Auteri will lead the cardiac surgery team as medical director of the institute.

Several of his patients were transferred to the care of an associate in Phoenix. “Most took it well,” Auteri said. “But some asked, ‘Where are you going?’ ” After answering their questions, Auteri said he learned that a couple of his patients have families in Hampton Roads, and have made the decision to travel to Portsmouth for their surgeries.

The $20 million, 40,000-square-foot heart institute is part of Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center on High Street. The cardiac center, due to open this month, will be able to serve 350 patients a year. The Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health Care System formed a partnership with one of the leading cardiac surgery programs in the nation – Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons – to create the institute.

As medical director, Auteri will lead the institute’s cardiac surgery team. “We know Joe very well,” said Dr. Eric A. Rose, chairman and division chief at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, in a phone interview.

“He spent nine years in our training program. It is not a surprise to us that he succeeded so well in Arizona. “He is extremely welltrained, has a calm demeanor, and is, technically, spectacular. “He is also a warm, compassionate and organized human being. We are extremely delighted to have him at the heart institute.” Richard Hanson, CEO of Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System, said in a statement that “Dr. Auteri’s leadership will set the standard for the heart institute.”

Ellen Lengel and Dr. Joseph S. Auteri check out an ICU room at Bon Secours Heart Institute in Portsmouth. The $20 million, 40,000-square-foot heart institute is due to open this month.

The institute, he said, is “located in a part of the country with one of the highest incidences of stroke and heart disease.” Bon Secours is reaching out to those who live in Suffolk, Franklin, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, as well as Portsmouth and Chesapeake, because residents of those areas combined suffer from heart disease at a greater rate than residents in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, according to hospital spokeswoman Lynne Zultanky.

Dr. Auteri points out elements of the Bon Secours Heart Institute in Portsmouth. He will lead the cardiac surgery team as medical director of the institute, which is expected to serve 350 patients a year.

The “market,” if you can call it that, is certainly there for customers. Earlier this year, Sentara Healthcare’s Norfolk General Hospital opened an institute devoted to developing and testing treatments for heart disease.For the past five years, Sentara has been named in an annual U.S. News & World Report survey as having one of the nation’s top 50 cardiac care programs.

In mid-September, Auteri was in shirtsleeves – unpacking boxes, and moving into his new office at the medical center. He and his son, Benjamin, 13, had traveled by car across the country from Scottsdale, and arrived in Hampton Roads in early August.

Auteri’s wife, Maia, and their younger sons, Peter, 10, and Jack, 8, had recently joined them, and had moved into their new home in Suffolk’s Sleepy Point.

The boys are students at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy. “It was a welcome change to come back to ‘green,’ and four seasons,” Auteri said. “In Arizona, it was brown and very hot. Undercover parking is at a premium there.” Most of his hobbies have been centered around his sons – going fishing, hunting and duck hunting on the Colorado River in Arizona. “My golf game has suffered,” he said, smiling, “but my boys are now showing an interest in golf.” It was Dr. Rose at Columbia who called and asked Auteri to consider leading the new heart institute. “I decided to come here because there is a real need in Southside for another heart surgeon, and choice is good,” Auteri said. “There is an ability to have an alternative choice, and that forces all of us to do a better job. We have a quality competitor, but we don’t want to focus on competition.

“Bon Secours was smart enough to recognize that they needed to bond with Columbia – to partner with somebody who has been doing (heart surgeries) for 50 years.”

Added Auteri: “It’s important to keep our focus on what we want to do. If we get in on the ground level from Day One, we really are able to put our mark on it.

The Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo, front center, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, uses holy water to bless the new Bon Secours Heart Institute at Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth. Following the bishop are Brian Yanotchick, senior vice president of mission for Bon Secours Hampton Roads, left, Dr. Auteri and Jennifer Boyinton Smith, right, executive director of Bon Secours Maryview cardiovascular services.

“It’s also an opportunity to start a program from scratch, and that’s a lot of fun. It’s also on the East Coast – not far from home.”

Born in New York City, Auteri grew up with four siblings in Warrington, Pa. He was the third family member to choose a career in health care – his father is a retired optometrist; his older brother, Tony Auteri, is a gastroenterologist.

“I wanted to take sick people and make them better,” Auteri said. “I wanted to do cardiac surgery, but I was reluctant to tell my family because it meant three more years of training, and three more years of postponing a family.”

Auteri and his wife, Maia, met in the ninth-grade, and were married during his last week of medical school. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in biochemical sciences, Auteri received his M.D. from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

He finished his postgraduate training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, where he completed his internship and residency in general surgery, and was chief resident in surgery.

He also completed a research fellowship in cardiopulmonary transplantation, and a residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian.

After a brief tenure on the staff at Columbia-Presbyterian, Auteri moved to Phoenix and joined the staff at the Arizona Heart Institute.

He is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Auteri has extensive experience with minimally invasive cardiac procedures and heart transplantation. “Robotic surgery is exciting,” he said. “We were the first ones in Arizona to use the da Vinci robot. Small incisions are made on the side of the chest to do either valve or bypass surgery. We won’t be doing that at the heart institute for six months to a year.

“There are a lot of programs, and lots of CEOs who want to open a heart program, but it takes more than an operating room and a surgeon to start one,” Auteri said.

“We are going to take care of a person as if she’s our mother. If it’s good for your mother, and it costs a little more, we’ll do it.

“We also want to hire people with the right attitude – those who are like-minded. There are lots of people with cardiac experience, but not all have the attitude we’re looking for.”

Photos: MICHAEL KESTNER PHOTOS / The Virginian-Pilot

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.

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