📸 (Photo with Dr. Wang after the live demo surgery — a memory that will keep me moving forward.)
During a recent visit from Dr. Eric Wang of the UPMC Skull Base Center, I had the opportunity to assist in a live demonstration of endoscopic skull base surgery here in Taiwan. It was a compact but deeply meaningful experience — not just for the surgical exposure, but also for what it represented: cross-institutional learning, technical refinement, and subtle moments of professional connection.
As a rhinologist practicing in Taipei Veterans General Hospital, this was actually my third year assisting Dr. Wang during his visits. This year’s case was particularly complex. In addition to the pituitary adenoma at the skull base, the patient also had bilateral sinonasal lesions, which were later confirmed as respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartomas (REAH).
REAH is an inflammatory lesion, which means it tends to bleed during dissection — a factor that significantly complicates visualization and maneuverability in endoscopic surgery. What made it even more challenging was the need to preserve the nasoseptal flap and its vascular pedicle during REAH removal, in order to ensure a viable reconstruction for the skull base defect later in the procedure. This demanded not just technical precision, but strategic foresight in how the steps were executed — an insight I was grateful to observe and learn from firsthand.
Outside the OR, I had a brief but kind exchange with Dr. Wang about my current academic path. I shared with him that I had applied to MD Anderson for a research fellowship but hadn’t heard back yet. He was encouraging and supportive — something that meant a lot at that moment.
That simple encouragement, combined with the surgical exposure, reignited a part of me that had started to dull in the routine of daily hospital life. It reminded me why I continue to do this — not just for the surgery itself, but for the conversations, the learning, and the professional growth that comes from these moments of intersection.
