Ovleto Ciccarelli thought he’d be a history teacher, but a biology course and an experience with his father in his junior year at Central Connecticut State College changed all of that.
Ciccarelli shared with his father his interest in that biology course, particularly anatomy. His father, a surgeon, invited his son to see the human anatomy firsthand.
On a Saturday night, Ciccarelli scrubbed in with his father and another surgeon for emergency surgery to remove a cancerous tumor that was obstructing a patient’s colon.
“I saw them practice in a community setting. I saw their reactions and their dynamics with patients, and they fixed somebody. They made somebody better.
“It was very overpowering,” says Ciccarelli, who changed his major to pre-med.
Along with switching degrees, he changed schools, graduating from Boston University with a bachelor’s in biology. He went on to Central University of the East in the Dominican Republic (Universidad Central del Este School of Medicine) and then the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, completing his doctor of medicine in 1983.
A five-year residency at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, board certification by the American Board of Surgery and then 21 years of private practice as a senior general surgeon at Bristol Hospital in his home state followed.
Now Dr. Ciccarelli is bringing his more than two decades of experience to Vermont.
A Fletcher Allen Health Care attending surgeon and clinical associate professor of surgery at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Dr. Ciccarelli is working full-time at Gifford Medical Center – a hospital and a state where he says he has found his niche.
In the suburbs of Connecticut, Dr. Ciccarelli says, surgery had increasingly become specialized. In rural Vermont, the diverse skills Dr. Ciccarelli possesses are essential.
“This was a very unique opportunity. This was a chance to do more, and I love Gifford’s culture. People are very friendly and they are very helpful in caring for their patients. The nurses are at the bedside,” Dr. Ciccarelli says. “I was amazed at how generously I was received.”
For Gifford, Dr. Ciccarelli is the perfect fit.
“We are overjoyed to have Dr. Ciccarelli joining us at Gifford. He brings with him a wealth of experience in general surgery that will help us expand the care that we can offer to our community. He will help us expand the variety and complexity of care and do so with the utmost quality. To top it all off, Dr. Ciccarelli is a genuinely kind and compassionate gentleman,” says Dr. Kevin McNamara, a Gifford podiatrist and chief of surgery.
Dr. David McFadden, Stanley S. Fieber professor and Department of Surgery chairman at Fletcher Allen and the University of Vermont College of Medicine, explains that adding Dr. Ciccarelli to its team helps ensure and promote local care.
“We are pleased to have worked successfully with Gifford Medical Center to bring Dr. Ciccarelli’s expertise to the community,” said Dr. McFadden. “As Vermont’s academic medical center, helping to place providers in communities where their skills and expertise can provide care close to home has always been part of our mission. Additionally, having this valuable resource also affords our medical students the opportunity to experience the rewards of community medicine in Vermont, where the need for physicians is greatest. It’s a win-win outcome.”
For Dr. Ciccarelli, the community medicine model at Gifford and academic opportunities at Fletcher Allen weighed heavily in his decision to practice in Vermont.
His faculty position at the University of Vermont allows him to do something he also loves – teach – and Fletcher Allen provides Dr. Ciccarelli ample opportunities to grow his skills and knowledge through continuing education opportunities.
Dr. Ciccarelli’s clinical interests include diseases of the stomach and intestines; breast disease; endoscopy, including colonoscopies and gastroscopy; head and neck tumors, including of the thyroid; and other tumor removal surgeries.
He also hopes to add to Gifford’s surgical offerings one day by providing minimally invasive biopsies and implanting pacemakers – both services that would benefit patients who now often have to travel outside of the area for care.
Patients at Gifford may also be familiar with Dr. Ciccarelli.
He has actually practiced at Gifford since 2007, providing weekend on-call emergency coverage at the Randolph hospital. He and his brother, also a surgeon, own property in Wells, Vt., and have been visiting the state with their families for more than a decade.
Dr. Ciccarelli is now living in Wells and Randolph. He and his wife have four children, including one who is attending Johnson State College. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, bicycling, raising corgi dogs with his wife and playing and coaching basketball.