A self-professed math and science nerd in high school, Chris Welsch, MD, thought that meant he only had two career options, medicine or engineering. Fortunately, he had always known he wanted to be doctor but what he did not know was that his profession would end up involving an element of engineering technology, robotic surgery. Welsch and his partner, Jeff Ball, MD, were the first surgeons in Jackson to perform robotic surgery, and Welsch was the first gynecologist in the mid-South to offer da Vinci single-incision hysterectomy. Today, the Jackson Clinic OB/GYN has performed over 700 robotic procedures and is one of the most experienced benign gynecologic robotic surgeons in Tennessee.
The Glenview, Illinois native’s love for medicine was fostered by his close relationship to his uncle who was only ten years older than him. “We were really more like brothers,” said Welsch. “I was sixteen when he finished medical school and when he was completing his residency training in California I would go visit him. He would let me see patients and go into surgery and the emergency room with him. It was an incredible privilege to have such a unique introduction to medicine through someone I greatly respected.”
Welsch admits his path to becoming a physician was an atypical one since he entered medical school after his second year of college. “The Honors Program in Medical Education at Northwestern admitted seniors in high school who then received guaranteed admission to medical school after two years of undergraduate studies” he said. “I am not even sure this type of curriculum still exists, but it was a great privilege to be a part of it. There were only 60 of us in the program, 30 from Illinois and the rest from across the country and we were a very close group. It was a little unique coming out of medical school at the age of 24 and even though I was ‘Dr. Welsch’, I wasn’t old enough at the time to rent a car.”
While general surgery – like his uncle – is where Welsch originally thought he would land, it was his rotations in medical school that led him to obstetrics and gynecology. “When I got my exposure to women’s health in my third and fourth years and delivered my first baby, it really clarified for me that with the way I am wired, women’s health was a better fit for me,” he said. “The specialty is part medicine and part surgery. While I enjoy surgery, being able to balance that with getting to know patients and their families and walking with them through some important life events is very meaningful.”
It was in his second year in medical school that he joined the U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship Program as a way to fund his medical education. This decision led to a residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. “The military medical community is an excellent place to learn and grow as a doctor because it provides such quality training,” said Welsch. “It was an honor to be a part of the military family and serve our soldiers and their wives.”
While he admits it was a ‘rough’ place for residency, Welsch entered it as a newlywed with no kids. “We told people we lived in a gated golf community with views of the ocean, which was technically true but not quite as glamorous as it sounded – the Army base on which we lived had a gate, a small nine hole golf course, and we could see a sliver of ocean in the distance. My wife, Elise, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We were stationed with a neat mix of people from all over the country. And our son was born toward the end of our time in Hawaii,” said Welsch. “I do have a surfboard, even though I could never figure out how to stand up on it, that has hung in our house, which our kids think is cool… and a few vintage aloha shirts that I pull out on special occasions.”
After his residency, Welsch completed his commitment to the Army in Augusta, Georgia and got hooked on the South. When looking for his next place, Welsch looked to his faith and a friend. “One of our friends from church had a medical placement practice that focused on putting doctors whose spiritual faith was important to them into practices with like-minded physicians and our search led us to the Jackson Clinic in 1999,” said Welsch. “This has given me the opportunity to work with a well-grounded and well-run organization filled with excellent physicians. I could take my partners anywhere in the world and they would still be best people with whom I could hope to work.”
In addition to his appreciation of the physicians he works with, Welsch is passionate about providing the best care he can for his patients, which led him in the late 2000’s to robotics. Today, he has taught dozens of physicians in multiple states how to use the technology as well as lectured on the topic. “I had watched the technology evolving and was intrigued by what it could mean for patients,” he said. “In 2008, we felt it was something that would benefit the care we offer patients in our community and the hospital administration was gracious enough to spend well over $1 million on that inaugural da Vinci system. The first cases were performed in 2009 and after seven years, the technology has proven itself to be as advantageous for patient care as we had hoped and is so awesome to see the fruit of this approach benefit patients. Complication rates are lower, and even in challenging surgeries patients recover more quickly.”
Welsch is most passionate about his family which includes his amazing wife and what he calls the two best kids on the planet – Josh, a sophomore at Union University and Jessica, a sophomore at Madison Academic Magnet School. “We love spending time as a family. We like to be outdoors and ride bikes or walk or just relax, and are art and literature buffs and tend to gravitate toward bookstores, museums, libraries, and art galleries when we travel,” said Welsch.
“It is such a gift to get to spend time together and I count it a blessing that I get to drop Jessica off at school every day.”
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