While translating monumental surgical advancements to this generation’s best doctors takes him around the world, Nifong cherishes his ties to the East. Clearly modest about his accomplishments, he admits he’s worked hard for them.

Coming from a county with no incorporated townships, he spent summers helping his father in his family’s heavy construction business and, later, assisted in the veterinarians’ offices where he followed his love of animals. He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in poultry science from North Carolina State University, intending to become a veterinarian.

When he decided on medicine as a career, he began as a night orderly, staffing the emergency room between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. In medical school, he frequently shadowed private practice physicians on weekends and holidays.

Nifong married his high-school sweetheart, Daphne, almost 20 years ago. They have two children, Caroline, 7 and Timothy, 5.

His childhood among neighbors and wildlife in Hyde County has remained a part of his life. “I think that having a family environment, being dependent on other people and on your close friends, is important,” he said. “It makes a person more sensitive.”

Advancements on the horizon
In January, ECU hosted Dr. Lucia Torracca, a cardiac surgeon from St. Raphael Hospital in Milan, Italy. Already proficient with the da Vinci system after two years of using it, she wanted to refresh her training on mitral valve repair.

Robotic-assisted surgery is very popular in Europe, she said.

“We have had a very interesting response,” she said. “People are not afraid.”

While Torracca appreciates the advancement, she eagerly waits for the next generation of robotics to appear. “I’m excited, but I know there are still some limitations and difficulties we have to work on. We are only at the beginning,” she said.

Dr. Roxanne V. Newman, a cardiac surgeon from Fargo, N.D. who also trained at ECU with Nifong, agrees.

“I think the next two to three years will be spent on developing and improving,” she said. “Then it’s going to skyrocket, and it will be like calculators and computers. When you look at those two examples, you can imagine how rapidly the technology can accelerate.”

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At the Heart of a Surgical Revolution was written by Marion P. Blackburn and was originally published in the winter 2003 issue of East, the Magazine of East Carolina University.