Dr. Pat Do, is an orthopedic surgeon in Wichita and the founder of Mid-America Orthopedics.
Originally from Vietnam, he came to Southern California as a 4-year-old refugee. Eventually, Dr. Do moved to the Midwest for medical school and started his practice in Wichita in 2003.
He is known for his knee and shoulder surgery, as well as for building his orthopedic practice in Wichita, Derby and in the Kansas City area. Dr. Do owns and operates one of the largest practices in the Midwest.
He and his wife, Dr. Sylvia Do — a hospitalist at Via Christi St. Francis, were recently inducted into the Junior Achievement of Kansas Wichita Business Hall of Fame.
Dr. Pat Do will be presented the Uncommon Citizen Award on April 21 from the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce for his ongoing contributions to the community.
He is now embarking on a news subscription-based health platform.
He’s very serious about injury prevention, getting healthy and giving back.
Early journey
"I graduated from med school in 1995. So, I've been taking care of folks for a long time, but I started our practice in El Dorado in 2000. But probably for me, the most meaningful is really to help folks. When I was in junior high, we were going to Canada on a road trip from Southern California, my dad asked me to help an older lady walk up some steps and I did, and it just made her so happy and grateful. It just gave me an incredible amount of energy from that. And I realized that helping people give gives me my motivation and my energy."
Typical day
"It’s a balance between, taking care of patients doing surgery and then just — I'm probably more on the business side. I do more of a visionary role if you will. I know that sounds a little bit weird, but I'm surrounded by great people, and they just helped me execute. So besides me serving my patients and seeing them in the office and doing surgery, then the next role is just meeting with folks. I try to maximize exercise and my personal mindfulness too."
Orthopedic surgery in the next decade
"The future of medicine probably will get better. As technology grows, procedures will get less invasive and will probably get better at preventing injuries. Cause we know a little bit more of the root causes of certain things like weakness and imbalance between your muscles. So, we can probably do a little bit their job at rehabbing you to prevent injury, maybe detect weakness early so we can strengthen that area before you tear that ACL or that meniscus."
Preventing injury
"I really want to prevent injury. I know that sounds counterintuitive. Yes, I'm an orthopedic surgeon. Yes, I get paid to do surgery, but I ... I hate seeing people get injured.
"So, I think when you stay fit and you learn how to stay fit, it's, it's the direction I want to take my life. I want to figure out how to prevent injuries for kids. So, in this next phase of my life, I want to work on prevention and fitness."
Starting a new health platform
"So, I went from getting more fit, but as I read all the books and study out there, I said, 'Okay, do I do a keto diet? Do I do a paleo diet? Do I do intermittent fasting? Do I do the caveman diet?'
"There are a million diets out there and there are a million supplements out there and everybody says they can do something. I found myself educating myself and just because you're a doctor doesn't mean you know about nutrition or get trained in nutrition. I try to learn about macros. Macros are your protein, your carbohydrates, and your fat. So, I started monitoring that and trying to get in better shape, look under the hood, getting blood work, cholesterol, and metabolic panels.
"I want to create a platform that can give the best of summaries of the best knowledge that we know of, and we can help guide people in keeping track of their fitness, their macros, their sleep, their diet, their timing when they eat, but keep the data for them so we can study what works for everyone. I want to do a personalized platform that really helps people achieve their personal goals.
"For instance, I'm 51 right now, but I want to be healthier from 51 to 70 than I ever have been. I may not get there, but I'm going to try to live that journey and I want to help others do that as well."
Dr. Pat Do’s book “Wealth For Health” will be available in May 2022.
