For a long time, Kristen Rezak, MD, and Amy Alger, MD, worked to avoid being in the same place at the same time. For the close, twin sisters, it wasn’t because of ill feelings or potential for an awkward conversation. It was purely practical.
“I tell people all the time, if I don’t say hello, it’s probably not me,” Rezak said with a laugh.
It can all be a bit confusing, as Rezak and Alger aren’t just identical twins, but both are surgeons at Duke. Alger, a trauma and critical care surgeon who has worked at Duke University Hospital (DUH) for three years, recently welcomed Rezak, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon spending time at DUH and Duke Raleigh Hospital, as a new colleague. The two formed an interest in medicine growing up with a father who served as a firefighter and EMT and watching medical TV shows like “Emergency!”
Despite following their own career paths, the pair’s lives have continually been connected. They both attended the Ross University School of Medicine and purposefully created different hospital rankings for residencies. Still, they ended up in New York City during their clinical rotations and eventually at Duke.
“Our entire life has been a big, long infinity loop,” Alger joked.
But Rezak is quick to point out their eventual reconnection at Duke wouldn’t have taken place if it weren’t for a combination of the health system’s reputation, opportunity to help patients and family.
“Every time you move into a new system, it takes time to learn the system and about the trust and respect that comes from a new place,” Alger said.
“But, I wouldn’t be here,” Rezak added, “if it weren’t a good time to be a part of Duke and what’s going on.”
–By Bryan Roth
Original post at: https://1periop.dh.duke.edu/articles/two-kind-twin-sisters-reunite-duke-surgeons. See a similar story by Duke Today on the sisters: https://today.duke.edu/2018/12/sister-surgeons.
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