Dr. Robert Salem

. In 1970, Salem assisted with the first open heart surgery ever performed in Lubbock. Two years later, Salem became the first professor and chairman of the department of surgery at Texas Tech Medical School - a position for which Salem received no salary for the first three years. Then, in 1992, Salem became medical director of Methodist Hospital, which later merged with St. Mary Hospital to form Covenant Health System. That same year, Salem was judged Lubbock's physician of the year by other doctors throughout the city - an accomplishment that Salem says is among the most memorable in his career. Since then, Salem has continued to shape Lubbock's medical community. In 1998, he became chief medical officer for Covenant. "Dr. Salem's contribution to the entire medical community of West Texas in invaluable," said Steve Hunter, Covenant's president and CEO. "I don't know anybody who has contributed more to Lubbock's health care community than Bob Salem has," said Dr. Donald Bricker, who performed the first open-heart surgery with Salem in 1970 and remains a close friend of Salem's today. True to Texas Raised in the small West Texas town of Sudan about an hour northwest of Lubbock, Salem remembers dissecting frogs he would find as a boy in the cotton fields around his home. That early fascination with science grew with time, but so did a restless feeling stirring inside Salem. After graduating from Texas Tech with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, Salem wanted out of West Texas. "I told myself, 'I'm never going to come back here again,' " Salem said. Salem got his chance to see the world. The year was 1955, and he was about to graduate from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas when he was drafted into the military toward the end of the Korean War. Salem moved throughout the world in his military career. Over time, he began to miss his home in West Texas. "I couldn't wait to get back," he said. In 1962, Salem returned to Lubbock and started his own medical practice. It didn't take long for him make his mark in the West Texas medical community. By the early 1970s, Salem had partnered with three other doctors to form a group known as SWAT. The S stood for Salem and the other three letters were for the trio of surgeons who worked with Salem at the time: Tim West, Ted Allen and Teb Thames. In time, SWAT grew and other surgeons joined the team, which was known as the most elite team of surgeons operating in West Texas. Salem has an uncanny ability in the operating room, according to colleagues who worked with him .And he is considered the rarest type of physician - a doctor who combines extraordinary compassion with exceptional precision and skill. "Bob's surgical work has always gone above and beyond performing a mechanical procedure on his patients," Bricker said. "He has always had a deep emotional involvement with his patients. "The concern for the public's welfare is still what drives Salem today. When asked why he doesn't relax and take some time off, Salem said he once asked his mentor, renowned heart care pioneer Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, the same question. "He told me, 'Because there is still so much left to do,' " Salem said. "There's still so much left to do. "I've still got time in life to make a difference in other peoples' lives," Salem said.

      Salem said his aunt was a prolific painter. He said at the time of her death, she had nearly 400 paintings in her home.“The house was just littered with paintings,” he said. “You could hardly find a place to sit down.” Haddad’s husband died when she was in her 40s and she had no children, so painting became important to her.“Her paintings became her children,” Salem said, noting that she would only sell paintings occasionally to pay for living expenses.Haddad was known for painting in a style called “abstract realism” by art critics. She used vivid colors in her paintings, and often painted with religious themes in mind. Salem said her earlier works were unusually abstract.“She’d paint something and hold it up and ask, ‘Do you like this?’ Then, she would turn it another way and ask, ‘How about now?’” he said.Korioth said Haddad was a spiritual woman and her art reflected her devotion.“She saw God in nature,” she said. “She had God on her mind most all of the time.” Salem and Korioth remember their aunt as caring woman. She left her home studying with a well-known artist in New York City to return to Texas to care for her ailing sister.“She was very spiritual,” Korioth said. “She loved people and she loved her God.”The atrium of the Covenant Children’s Hospital contains another artwork by members of Salem’s family. A large, antique “flying machine,” containing toys from the family hangs from the ceiling. It was acquired from an antique shop and restored by Salem’s daughter and her family. The atrium of the Children’s Hospital was designed to accommodate the art. Dr. Salem has also made the top 100 list of influential people.