Skip to main content

Learn More About AUC's COVID-19 Response

AUC Med Logo

Mobile Main Nav

  • About AUC
    • About AUC
    • Residency Placements
    • Accreditations & Approvals
    • St. Maarten Campus
    • UK Track
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Facts & Figures
    • Events
    • News & Publications
    • Blog
    • Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine
    • Leadership
    • Community Affairs
  • Admissions
    • Admissions
    • Admissions Requirements
    • How to Apply
    • Tuition & Financial Aid
    • Scholarships
    • MCAT Information
    • Canadian Student Applicants
    • Non-US Applicants
    • Transferring to AUC
    • Career Changers
    • Admissions Assessment
    • Request More Information
    • On-demand Webinars
    • Events
  • MD Program
    • MD Program
    • Medical Sciences Curriculum
    • Clinical Sciences
    • UK Track
    • Medical Education Readiness Program
    • Hospital Teaching Sites
    • Medical School Guides and Resources
    • USMLE Preparation
    • Meet Our Faculty & Staff
    • Student Forms
  • Student Life
    • Student Life
    • About St. Maarten
    • Virtual Tour
    • Safety & Security
    • Health & Wellness
    • Clubs and Organizations
    • Spouses Organization and Families
    • Housing
    • OFFICE OF CAREER ADVISEMENT
    • Class Profiles
    • Alumni Class Notes Form
  • Discover AUC
    • Discover AUC
    • Virtual Tour
    • Blog
    • Medical Specialties
    • News & Publications
    • Viewbook & Factsheets
    • Alumni News
    • Photo Gallery
  • Apply
    • Start Your Application
    • Submit Your AMCAS Application
    • Submit Your AACOMAS Application
    • Submit Your TMDSAS Application
    • Continue Your Application
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers

Secondary Mobile Menu

  • Request Info
  • Apply Now

Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Call
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers

Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

Utility Navigation

  • REQUEST INFO
AUC Med Logo
  • About AUC
    • ABOUT AUC

      Our medical school offers a collaborative learning environment that features a multitude of student organizations, small class sizes, international training opportunities, and a team-based learning culture.

      VIEWBOOK & FACTSHEETS

      • About AUC
      • Residency Placements
      • Accreditations & Approvals
      • St. Maarten Campus
      • UK Track
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Facts & Figures
      • Events
      • News & Publications
      • Blog
      • Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine
      • Leadership
      • Community Affairs
  • Admissions
    • ADMISSIONS

      Our medical school admissions team is eager to assist you as you embark on your journey to become a physician. Our goal is to provide you with all of the information and guidance you need to explore AUC as a medical school option.

      Take the Admissions Assessment

      • Admissions
      • Admissions Requirements
      • How to Apply
      • Tuition & Financial Aid
      • Scholarships
      • MCAT Information
      • Canadian Student Applicants
      • Non-US Applicants
      • Transferring to AUC
      • Career Changers
      • Admissions Assessment
      • Request More Information
      • On-demand Webinars
      • Events
  • MD Program
    • MD PROGRAM

      A US-modeled curriculum designed to prepare you for practice in the US, Canada, and beyond.

      Learn More

      • MD Program
      • Medical Sciences Curriculum
      • Clinical Sciences
      • UK Track
      • Medical Education Readiness Program
      • Hospital Teaching Sites
      • Medical School Guides and Resources
      • USMLE Preparation
      • Meet Our Faculty & Staff
      • Student Forms
  • Student Life
    • STUDENT LIFE

      Learn what it's like to be a student at AUC, including living in St. Maarten, opportunities for community involvement, and clubs and organizations.

      TAKE THE VIRTUAL TOUR

      • Student Life
      • About St. Maarten
      • Virtual Tour
      • Safety & Security
      • Health & Wellness
      • Clubs and Organizations
      • Spouses Organization and Families
      • Housing
      • OFFICE OF CAREER ADVISEMENT
      • Class Profiles
      • Alumni Class Notes Form
  • Discover AUC
    • DISCOVER AUC

      From our alumni news, to informative blogs, and virtual tour, discover all that AUC offers.

      Learn More
      • Discover AUC
      • Virtual Tour
      • Blog
      • Medical Specialties
      • News & Publications
      • Viewbook & Factsheets
      • Alumni News
      • Photo Gallery
  • Apply
      • Start Your Application
      • Submit Your AMCAS Application
      • Submit Your AACOMAS Application
      • Submit Your TMDSAS Application
      • Continue Your Application
  • Apply Now
      • Start Your Application
      • Submit Your AMCAS Application
      • Submit Your AACOMAS Application
      • Submit your TMDSAS Application
      • Continue Your Application
Pattern Two
Wednesday, May 02, 2018
Featured News
Alumni News

Matthew Johnson, MD '05
Las Vegas, NV

Share

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • email

Breadcrumb

  1. About Us
  2. News & Publications
  3. Robotic Surgeon at the Forefront of Medical Innovation

Robotic Surgeon at the Forefront of Medical Innovation

What is robotic surgery? To the uninitiated, it might conjure up images of everything from Star Wars’ beloved character R2-D2 to the Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner. But for Matthew Johnson, MD, it’s just a way of life.

Dr. Matthew Johnson
Dr. Matthew Johnson, MD '05 with the Da Vinci robotic surgery system. 

As a board certified robotic surgeon, Dr. Johnson performs surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm, which he controls with a computer. The robot follows his hand movements to perform the procedure using the tiny instruments, and a 3-D camera allows him to view enlarged images of the patient’s body throughout the surgery.

The benefits? Tiny, robot-manipulated tools mean greater precision and smaller incisions than traditional open surgery. This results in a host of other positive outcomes: reduced blood loss, quicker healing time, decreased risk of infection, and shortened hospital stays. 

“I do about 95 percent of my surgeries robotically now,” said Dr. Johnson, who began using the method about three years ago. “The instruments are so precise. It’s really a great thing.” 

Starting a Career in Surgery

A Houston native, Dr. Johnson had wanted to be a physician since he was five years old. His passion grew from playing doctor with his family to majoring in microbiology at the University of Texas at Austin. The culminating experience was after college, when he joined his father on a business trip to Holland. His father was a lawyer who worked with several Dutch cardiac surgeons, and Dr. Johnson had the opportunity to watch a nine-hour double aortic replacement surgery. 

“Once I saw that, I just said, ‘wow, this is it,’” says Dr. Johnson.

Now, more than ever, he knew that surgery was the career for him. But he had a critical obstacle—he wasn’t accepted into the U.S. medical schools he’d applied to. He wasn’t a great test-taker, and his MCAT score didn’t fully reflect his abilities. So he chose to apply to a medical school that looked beyond the numbers: American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. 

“It was incredible,” said Dr. Johnson. “I miss it every single day. And I did my third-year clinical rotations in England—if I had gone to an American medical school, I wouldn’t have been afforded that opportunity. I was able to travel everywhere.”     

After graduating from AUC, Dr. Johnson completed his surgery residency at University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, where he served as chief resident and earned the Professionalism Award. He stayed at UN as a fellow in the acute care surgery program. UN was the first in the country to develop this fellowship, which combines a year of surgical critical care and a year of acute care surgery. 

“It makes you prepared for anything surgical that comes in the hospital. You know you can take care of it,” said Dr. Johnson. 

Getting a Patient Back in the Game 

Today, Dr. Johnson continues to work out of Las Vegas, where he is associated with several different hospitals. He specializes in gallbladder, hernia and foregut surgery, as well as trauma, general and acute care surgery. 

“I can’t imagine myself doing anything else,” he said. “With surgery—especially trauma—you don’t know what’s coming. You know what the books have said and what your training has provided you, but it’s spontaneous. You see the patient and sometimes there’s blood coming out of every orifice and organ there is—you have to know what to do and how to take care of it. It’s fast and furious. You just have to stop the bleeding.”

One of his most memorable experiences was treating a 14-year-old boy with life-threatening injuries to his pancreas, small intestine and colon from a bad hit in a football game. The boy spent a month in the hospital. A year later, he’s made a full recovery and is back on the football field as an All-Star player. 

He and Dr. Johnson still keep in contact—in fact, Dr. Johnson cheered him from the stands at a recent game. 

“Patients like that really touch my heart,” said Dr. Johnson. “The patient and their whole family are so thankful. And for me, to know that my team and I have saved a life—it means so much.”

No matter the situation, Dr. Johnson prides himself on being a compassionate doctor. 

“Spending that extra time and showing compassion often get lost in the workload. I do as much as I can to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Dr. Johnson. “It’s worth spending that time. I just try to let them know I’m here and that they’re going to be okay.”

Related News

News
bop-pop
Through Catchy Kid Songs, Two PM&R Physicians Become Public Health Liaisons
Enjoy this engaging story that includes audio clips from the dynamic musical pair.
News
bvgh
AUC Leads Initiative to Improve Cancer Patient Outcomes in Africa
Partnership with BIO Ventures for Global Health will strengthen African doctors’ capacities to prevent and detect cancer.
News
Derek Anderson
Dr. Derek Anderson Recognized as LAFP 2020 Family Physician of the Year
AUC’s Family Medicine Chair and Lead Clinical Chair, Dr. Derek Anderson, was recently honored as the 2020 Family Physician of the Year by the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians (LAFP).
Top
AUC Med Logo

Footer Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Careers
  • Student Email
  • Colleague Email
  • Contact
  • Sitemap

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE

880 SW 145TH AVENUE • SUITE 202
PEMBROKE PINES, FL 33027
PHONE: 305-446-0600

TOLL-FREE: 866-DR2B-AUC
(866-372-2282)
FAX: 305-444-6791

ST. MAARTEN CAMPUS

1 UNIVERSITY DRIVE AT JORDAN ROAD, CUPECOY, ST. MAARTEN

PHONE: +1 721-545-2298

FAX: +1 721-545-2440

PRESTON, UK PROGRAM SITE

VERNON BUILDING ROOM 64, SIZER STREET PRESTON, LANCHASHIRE PR1 1JQ

PHONE: +1 721-545-2298

FAX: +305-444-2440

American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Commission on Colleges of Medicine (ACCM, www.accredmed.org), which is the accreditor used by the country of St. Maarten.

 

© 2022 American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. All rights reserved.   
Privacy Policy | Student Consumer Information | Online Cookie Policy | Accessibility | Catalog and Student Handbook

 

  • Call
  • Chat
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers
  • "Chat Now"