Dr. Ryan Jean-Baptiste, MD
Board Certified Vascular & Interventional Radiologist
As the child of a Haitian Immigrant and a native North Carolinian, growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I developed a deep appreciation for people from different places and cultures. I learned my work ethic from watching my father get up at 5 am every day to open up his business. Whatever additional perseverance I have, I owe to the many nuns I had as teachers over my 13 years of the Catholic school that I attended from kindergarten to 12th grade.
I chose to go to Yale University as an undergraduate with the goal of becoming a physician. I studied chemistry mainly because it tied into my love of cooking. I liked New Haven and its eclectic community so much I decided to stay and attend Yale Medical School. It wasn’t until my 3rd year at Yale Med, that I would discover that I had a true passion for treating patients with peripheral arterial disease. I chose Interventional Radiology as a sub-specialty and decided to dedicate my professional life to treating patients with peripheral arterial disease.
During my training, I became drawn to the patients with the most intractable disease, those in danger of losing their limbs. After graduating from medical school, I came home to do my residency at Lenox Hill Hospital. While interviewing for my Interventional Radiology fellowship, I was very insistent that my training program not only provide me with good exposure to peripheral arterial disease but that it had a collaborative relationship with cardiology and vascular surgery for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease patients. I found that at the University of Michigan where during my fellowship, I spent time rotating with vascular surgeons learning open surgical approach to treating peripheral vascular disease and doing clinics with vascular surgeons, cardiologists, and interventional radiologists and learning from them every day.
My passion for peripheral arterial disease led me to Mayo Clinic where I honed my skills in practice. I spent 11 years in Eau Claire Wisconsin. While developing my talent for treating peripheral arterial disease, I was able to rediscover my love of cooking. I have always been drawn to detailed oriented patient work and so it made sense that I developed a real passion for limb preservation work. I expanded my toolbox for limb salvage by doing wound care and getting certified in hyperbaric therapy.
While in Wisconsin, I developed a real passion for bow hunting and deer land management. I also deepened my love for BBQ and started my own BBQ food truck, aptly named the “Hambulance: A Pig’s Final Ride”. I cook all types of BBQ from central Texas-style brisket to North Carolina-style pulled pork. My favorite thing to cook though is a whole hog. My love of hog cooking gave birth to my personal motto “there are two things you don’t have to twist my arm to do: smoke a hog and recan tibial arteries.”
I have such a passion for peripheral arterial disease that I have made the decision to create a lab focused on limb preservation. I am very excited about the opportunity to focus on limb preservation in Kentucky and bring these advanced techniques to underserved populations.
