Dr. Aaron Maxwell Kime has joined Adventist Health St. Helena Hospital as a specialist in cardiothoracic surgery, said a news release.

He specializes in the treatment of coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, aortic aneurysms and dissections, endocarditis, heart tumors and atrial fibrillation, said the release.

Kime’s older brother was born with a congenital heart anomaly and underwent surgical repair as an infant. Heart surgeons have always had a special place in his family, inspiring him to follow this career, he said.

“I love seeing my patients get better," he said. "I take immense pride in operating on someone with a life-limiting or life-altering condition and fixing them — getting them back to doing the things they love.”

Beginning his post-secondary education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Kime earned a bachelor of science from the Grainger College of Engineering. He went on to obtain his doctor of medicine from Rush Medical College, in Chicago. He then served as the administrative chief resident of integrated cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Info: 707-967-7200; Adventist Heart & Vascular Institute, 6 Woodland Road, Suite 304, St. Helena.