Director of Bariatric Surgery
Palmetto General Hospital

Jorge L. Sosa, M.D., began his career in the fast-paced, high-stress world of trauma surgery. Now, he saves lives in a different way, by performing bariatric surgery on morbidly obese adults, seniors, and – soon – adolescents.

Dr. Sosa became interested in treating obese patients when he learned of the laparoscopic methods used in modern gastric bypass surgeries. He became one of the first bariatric surgeons in South Florida in 2001 and was named Director of Bariatric Surgery at Palmetto General Hospital in 2005.

As bariatric surgery has become increasingly popular, Dr. Sosa has witnessed several notable trends in his field, including greater numbers of elderly and adolescent patients.

“Morbidly obese seniors are looking to improve their quality of life, whereas adolescents are beginning to realize they need to prevent organ damage and the onset of diabetes,” says Dr. Sosa.

One driving factor behind the increase in elderly patients is that Medicare now covers the cost of bariatric surgery, provided that it is performed at a Bariatric Center of Excellence, such as Palmetto General Hospital.

Palmetto General also will become one of the first hospitals in South Florida to offer gastric bypass surgery to teenagers. According to Dr. Sosa, the standards that he uses to screen these younger patients will be stricter than those used for adults and will involve psychiatric counseling for both the adolescent and his/her family, compared to just the patients in adult cases.

“Adolescents must prove that they are ready for the life-changing experience of gastric bypass surgery,” he says.

Dr. Sosa received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Florida International University in 1983, where he was first in his class. He earned his medical degree from University of South Florida School of Medicine in 1987.

At Palmetto General Hospital, Dr. Sosa serves as chairman of the Bariatric Quality Review Committee and a member of the Operating Room Committee.

A native of Cuba and current resident of Miami Lakes, Dr. Sosa is board-certified in surgery and is fellowship-trained in trauma and critical care. He is an active member of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons and the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons.



JFK Medical Center has acquired a new digital mammography system that enables its physicians to detect and diagnose breast cancer in patients with confidence. The innovative digital system provides outstanding image quality and clear, highly detailed images of the breast. JFK Medical Center’s new Senographe® DS full-field digital mammography system acquired from GE Healthcare is the most modern mammography equipment available to patients today.

“Now JFK Medical Center’s physicians and the patients of Palm Beach County have a new and powerful tool in the detection and fight against breast cancer,” said Gina Melby, CEO “This new, all-digital system is revolutionizing breast care by providing our patients with state-of-the-art mammograms that are faster and easier, while providing our physicians with highly detailed images to use in the diagnosis.”



Palm Healthcare Foundation is setting the example locally and statewide for green building reconstruction. Currently under construction, the Palm Healthcare Pavilion, home of the Mollie Wilmot Children’s Center, will be a state-of-the-art $12.5 million project for children with special healthcare needs. Through this project, Palm Healthcare Foundation is seeking to be the first in the State of Florida to achieve LEED® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification for the renovation of an existing building. It will adhere to the LEED® Green Building Rating System, the nationally accepted standard for green buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The project will follow the USGBC’s design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impacts of buildings on the environment and occupants in five areas: sustainable site planning; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality.

“According to the USGBC’s Certified Project List, no existing building renovations have been LEED® certified in Florida,” said Rob Hink, Principal of The Spinnaker Group, Inc. and sustainability consultant for the Palm Healthcare Pavilion project. “Palm Healthcare Foundation is really a leader in demonstrating that green building projects don’t have to always be new construction, as most of them are. It is possible, and better for the environment, to disassemble and reconstruct a building in a sustainable, environmentally responsible way.”

During the first phase of the project, interior disassembly, a wide variety of materials were carefully removed in order to recycle them by donating them to local charities. Four non-profit organizations, Hospice by the Sea, Habitat for Humanity, Florida Atlantic University Wellness Center and Palm Beach Habilitation Center took away truckloads of materials, including light fixtures, hot water heaters, water fountains, sinks, ceiling tiles, doors and cabinets. “In a typical interior demolition, everything would be thrown into a dumpster and hauled away,” said Suzette W. Wexner, Palm Healthcare Foundation president. “By renovating green, we have benefited our non-profit partners in the community and saved tons of materials from landfills. Through the donation of recyclable materials, and by sorting wood, metals and other materials for alternate uses, we will be able to divert 75% of materials away from landfills—something that is so important in Florida where landfill space is premium.”

During the exterior disassembly phase, construction crews “skinned” the outside of the building, removing the windows, studs, aluminum, steel studs and drywall and segregated tons of materials for recycling.

Every step of the way, from site selection, to disassembly to reconstruction, Palm Healthcare Foundation is eligible for points toward LEED® certification status. The number of points earned designates the level of certification awarded to the project (basic, silver, gold or platinum).



Sam L. Ellington, Managing Director of Wells Fargo Insurance Services, has joined Glades Healthcare Foundation’s board of directors. Ellington joins a board committed to leading the $73 million fund raising campaign for a new 70-bed regional hospital in the Glades as its first project, with a long-term vision of advancing healthcare throughout the communities of western Palm Beach County.

Ellington, a Clewiston native, has served in various roles during his 38 year career in the property/casualty insurance industry, including vice president of Cornelius, Johnson & Clark, and currently as managing director of Wells Fargo Insurance Services. He has been actively involved in both professional and community organizations, including the Insurance Board of the Palm Beaches as past president, the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, serving as past mayor and councilman of Lake Clarke Shores, Florida, and has held every major office at United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. He currently serves on the board of directors for the South Florida Fair.



Mercedes K.C. Dullum, M.D.

Mercedes K.C. Dullum, M.D., is the surgical director of the Heart Failure Center at Cleveland Clinic in Florida and South Florida’s only female board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon. She specializes in heart failure, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, beating heart surgery, atrial fibrillation surgery and heart disease in women.

A passionate clinician and researcher, Dr. Dullum is continually making strides in the advancement of cutting-edge procedures, especially in the treatment of heart failure and in beating heart bypass surgery. In 2005 Dr. Dullum was the recipient of the Physician of the Year Award presented annually by the South Florida Business Journal. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, she also was named one of the top cardiac surgeons in Washington D.C., by Washingtonian Magazine for several years.

Throughout her life, Dr. Dullum has known that she wanted to take care of people. Along with helping to care for her grandparents when she was younger, she would “patch up” her dad and two older brothers, when they got injured while racing go-carts in her hometown of Montego Bay, Jamaica. Today Dr. Dullum is especially devoted to improving women’s cardiac care. Through her involvement in numerous educational seminars and screening events, she has become a leading proponent women’s heart disease prevention in South Florida.

Dr. Dullum came to the United States in 1972 to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree. She earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia and completed a general surgical internship and general surgical residency at the University of Mississippi’s Medical Center, eventually serving as chief resident of general surgery. Dr. Dullum went on to complete a thoracic surgery residency at the George Washington University Medical Center and is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery

Dr. Dullum applies her two decades of surgical experience as an editorial board member of The Heart Surgery Forum, co-editor of the CTS Net Beating Heart Center, a reviewer of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and an editorial board member for the International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery. She is also a cardiac surgery consultant for the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and an advisory board member for the Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Howard Bush, M.D.

As chairman of the Department of Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, Howard Bush, MD, oversees a staff of nine cardiologists and approximately 55 medical support personnel. He is director of the hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and head of its Chest Pain Alert Team, supervising the care management of patients that present in the emergency room with cardiac symptoms.

Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic in Florida has earned significant industry recognition for its ability to deliver high quality cardiovascular care to patients. In 2007 it was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® for cardiovascular care by Thomson Healthcare and one of just three hospitals in Florida to receive the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Coronary Artery Disease Annual and Sustained Performance Achievement Award

Winner of the South Florida Business Journal’s 8th Annual Excellence in Healthcare Award in 2006 for a hospital-based program, the Chest Pain Alert Team at Cleveland Clinic is recognized as one of the best in the nation with a “door-to-balloon” time that averages 60-70 minutes. This is well below the national average of approximately two hours and exceeds the industry recommended guideline of 90 minutes for this national quality of care standard. It has been with Dr. Bush’s guidance and inspiration that the heart care team at Cleveland Clinic has achieved so much.

A graduate of Syracuse University, Dr. Bush earned his medical degree from New York Medical College. He completed advanced training in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His advanced training in cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology were conducted at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Bush was an instructor in medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Bush is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Chest Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Angiographers and Interventionalists.

Walter Douglas Boyd, M.D.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Walter Douglas Boyd, M.D., with Cleveland Clinic in Florida, is recognized throughout the worldwide medical community for his pioneering work in cardiothoracic surgery and the use of robotic surgical systems. He is a vital asset not only to patients from Florida, but also to patients from around the world who travel to Weston seeking his expertise.

Dr. Boyd has been actively involved in developing and teaching new robotic procedures, using the da Vinci Surgical System, and is one of North America’s most experienced tele-robotic heart surgeons. He is currently involved in numerous clinical research activities that include utilization of automated vascular connectors in robotic bypass surgery and the development, application and teaching of intra-operative laser angiography systems. These efforts are aimed at improving patient outcomes after coronary bypass surgery. Dr Boyd has also been actively involved in preliminary cardiac regeneration studies using minimally invasive surgical techniques along with intracellular matrix and stem cell technology to re-grow damaged heart muscle and repair hearts weakened by infarcts.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2002, Dr. Boyd was director of the National Center for Advanced Surgery and Robotics at the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada. While there he completed the world’s first closed-chest, beating-heart coronary artery bypass surgery with the use of the ZEUS® Robotic Surgical System. He also conducted the first robot-assisted cardiac procedure in Canada, as well as the country’s first beating-heart robotic bypass procedure.

A graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa, Dr. Boyd earned his medical degree from the University of Ottawa, where he also completed his residency in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. In addition, he completed fellowships in transplantation/mechanical assist devices and medical education at the Ottawa Heart Institute and the University of Toronto, as well as a mini-fellowship in lung transplantation at Washington University.

Certified by Canada’s Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in cardiothoracic surgery and general surgery, Dr. Boyd is a member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, and the Society of Thoracic Surgery.