Beacon Medical Professionals

Surgical Management options for Trigeminal Neuralgia
2023-01-11 | On Demand
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Surgical Management options for Trigeminal Neuralgia
Presented By: Wei Huff, MD – Neurosurgery, Beacon Health System

As the first member of her family to practice medicine, Dr. Wei X. Huff’s passion and career stem from her experiences. “When I was a little girl, I had to go to the ER because I was sick. While I was there, I saw the doctors helping someone who had been in an accident. I thought they were so heroic and decided I wanted to be like them when I grew up.” Dr. Huff achieved that dream.
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Huff performs surgery on the brain and spinal cord. She treats everything from back pain to brain cancer. “I chose neurosurgery because it is not only a very technically challenging specialty but also one where I can have a very direct and positive impact on my patients.”
Dr. Huff is highly-experienced in her specialized field. She received her Doctor of Medicine from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from Purdue University. She also obtained a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Along with her education, Dr. Huff completed residency in neurosurgery and fellowship in Neuro-Oncology (focused training on brain and spine tumors) from Indiana University School of Medicine.
She joined the Beacon team for both the prestigious providers and the beautiful community. “Beacon employs outstanding providers with whom I am excited to work and is in a great town to settle down and raise a family.”
Dr. Huff is already living Beacon’s value of compassion in her practice philosophy. “Everyone is someone’s son or daughter, their grandparent, their spouse, or their sibling. Everyone has people that love them and worry about them, and they deserve the very best care I can provide.” She practices this philosophy by giving every patient compassionate care, as she would her own family.

Update on Bariatric Surgery
2023-01-18 | OnDemand
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Update on Bariatric Surgery
Presented by: Bradley Gordan, DO – General Surgery, Beacon Health System
Dr. Bradley C. Gordan knew from an early age that he wanted to become a physician. “I always liked to take things apart, fix them and put them back together,” he explains. “Surgery is very much like that.” His passion for medicine was solidified when he worked as a brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation tech after graduating college. “Working with those patients was not only a very rewarding experience, but I also saw how their physicians integrated a team approach — from therapists, to nurses, to the techs — to help them through some of the most devastating injuries humans can endure.”
He chose to practice at Beacon because of his shared passion for providing excellent care to South Bend and surrounding areas. After completing a Bariatric Surgery Fellowship at URMC Highland Hospital, he is looking forward to the opportunity to develop a bariatric program and hopefully bring a Bariatric Center of Excellence to the area. “Obesity and its associated chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and high cholesterol, have become an epidemic in this country. Bariatric surgery provides patients the ability to have most of these diseases improve, if not completely resolve.”
Dr. Gordan strongly believes in the team approach as critical to enabling the best care possible for his patients and their families. “Whether you are a general surgery patient or a bariatric patient, you will have a team guiding you through your care and recovery,” Dr. Gordan says, “we’re here to help you through the whole process, from myself, to nurses, therapists and care coordinators.”
He also understands the importance of compassion and humility. “Communication is so critical,” he says. “I know from experience: surgery is scary. I want to make my patients as comfortable as possible about their procedure. I spend a great deal of time explaining a patient’s diagnosis and what needs to be done to fix their problem, including hand-drawn pictures for them. I always say pictures are worth a thousand words.”
Dr. Gordan wants his patients to know that he will always provide the same care for them that he would want for himself and his own family. “I hope they understand that I’m no different from them. I’m human, I have a family and a child. I’m here to help them — to improve their condition and their quality of life.”

Great Andexxa Debate
2023-01-25 | On Demand
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Great Andexxa Debate
Presented By: Mark Walsh, MD – Emergency/Internal Medicine, South Bend
Matthew DuPre, MD – Family Medicine, Beacon Health System

Mark Walsh, M.D., FACEP, practices Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at Saint Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in South Bend, Indiana.
Dr. Walsh graduated from the University of Notre Dame where he received the Rink Academic Scholarship and an athletic scholarship for track and field. He graduated from the University of Bologna, Italy School of Medicine in 1976, attending medical school in the country of his mother’s birth. Dr. Walsh completed his residency in internal medicine in 1980 at Northwestern University in Chicago. Since that time, he has practiced emergency medicine and internal medicine and has been board certified in internal medicine since 1980 and emergency medicine since 1987.

Growing up as the son of a family doctor in rural southern Indiana, Dr. Matthew DuPre saw first-hand the need and sincere appreciation for doctors in small communities. Inspired to pursue medicine, Dr. DuPre completed the rural track at Indiana University School of Medicine and spent a year working at his father’s practice in Sullivan.
“I would watch my dad walk into the room and sit down. He taught me that the doctor isn’t the most important person in the room – the patient is,” Dr. DuPre said. “He also instilled in me the importance of building relationships and partnerships. You have to connect with your patients because they should always be part of the decision-making process when it comes to their health.”
Much like his father served as a role model, Dr. DuPre is now helping train, mold and inspire new physicians as an associate director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at Memorial Hospital of South Bend. A 2015 graduate of the program, Dr. DuPre is just as passionate about mentoring young doctors as he is about practicing family medicine.
“One of the most important lessons to teach them is to be present for the patient every time you walk into a room. You must give them your full attention, understanding that no matter what happened right before, or what might happen immediately after, is not important,” Dr. DuPre said. “You only have a short time to earn and establish their trust. Our patients deserve our undivided attention.”

Surgery Update
2023-02-01 | OnDemand
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Surgery Update
Presented By: Matthew Deere, DO General Surgery, Elkhart Clinic
Dr. Matthew Deere is a general surgeon in Elkhart, Indiana and is affiliated with Elkhart General Hospital. He received his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has been in practice between 6-10 years.

Disclosing Lab Results
2023-02-08 | OnDemand
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Disclosing Lab Results
Presented By: Ken Cotter, JD – St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney
Ken grew up in Mishawaka, graduating from Penn High School and the University of Notre Dame. After college, Ken taught and coached high school in Phoenix, Arizona until returning home to attend to law school (also at Notre Dame) and begin his legal career. During his legal career, Ken has prosecuted a variety of cases, ranging from misdemeanor to murder. He has lead Misdemeanor Division, the Family Violence/ Special Victim’s Unit (SVU), the High Tech Crimes Unit, and the Drug and Firearms Unit.

Acute PE, Risk Stratification, Multidisciplinary Management, and PERT Updates
2023-02-15 | OnDemand
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Acute PE, Risk Stratification, Multidisciplinary Management, and PERT Updates
Presented By: Diego Heredia, MD – Pulmonology, Beacon Health System
Dr. Heredia received his medical degree from Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital and his pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University Medical Center.
Triple Board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, Dr. Heredia treats patients with critical illness and those with acute and chronic lung disease. In addition, Dr. Heredia performs thoracic ultrasonography, ultrasound-guided thoracentesis, bronchoscopy with endobronchial and transbronchial lung biopsy, endobronchial ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration and several other procedures. Dr. Heredia is the Medical Director of the COPD readmission reduction program at Elkhart General Hospital and the leader of the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team.

Opioid Prescribing Updates
2023-02-22 | OnDemand
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Opioid Prescribing Updates
Presented By: Daniel Cooke, MD – Pain Medicine, Beacon Health System

Dr. Daniel Cooke, MD is a Pain Medicine Specialist in South Bend, IN and has over 36 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY in 1987. He is affiliated with medical facilities Memorial Hospital Of South Bend and Saint Joseph Health System – Plymouth Medical Center.

Trauma Informed Care
2023-03-01 | OnDemand
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Trauma Informed Care
Presented By: Jenna Nofziger, MD – Emergency Medicine, Beacon Health System
Dr. Jenna Nofziger is an Emergency Medicine Specialist in Elkhart, Indiana. She graduated with honors from University Of Toledo College Of Medicine in 2018. Having more than 4 years of diverse experiences, especially in EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Dr. Jenna Nofziger affiliates with many hospitals including Elkhart General Hospital, Goshen Hospital, cooperates with many other doctors and specialists without joining any medical groups.

Patient Perspective on Race in the Health Care Setting
2023-03-08 | On Demand
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Patient Perspective on Race in the Health Care Setting
Presented By: A Patient Panel
This activity is a follow up to the lecture we had two years ago from the physicians point of view on Race in the Health Care. The goal of this lecture is to have the patients share their stories, discuss how we can learn from their experiences and what they want the audience to take away from their talk, and ask them to share how we can do better as a health system and specifically as a hospital in caring for them.
