When he was growing up, Dr. Peng Zhao first learned about medicine through an aunt who was a pediatrician. “I noticed that she had a great way with patients, which really impressed me and that put the thought of becoming a doctor in my mind,” he explains. “Then when I came to America, I received a lot of support from people around me and I thought becoming a physician was a great way to help others and give back.”

While training to become a surgeon, Dr. Zhao decided to make vascular surgery his specialty. “I liked the fact that you could treat patients in a much less invasive way than vascular surgery once did and still make a big impact in patients’ lives.” At Reliant Dr. Zhao treats all facets of vascular pathology, and performs aneurysm surgery, carotid artery surgery, upper and lower extremity revascularization for peripheral artery disease, endovenous procedures, as well as hemodialysis access surgeries.

Dr. Zhao feels it’s important to work closely with all his patients and help them understand their problems. “In vascular surgery, it has to be a partnership. That’s because there are several options to treat each vascular problem. For example, if someone has an abdominal aortic aneurysm, there is more than one way to correct it depending on the patient’s vascular anatomy and performance status,” he explains. “You can do a traditional open surgery repair or a less invasive repair by making two small skin incisions in the groin.” Dr. Zhao believes that each patient is unique and medical and surgical decisions should be made by both the doctor and their patients.

Dr. Zhao says he gets a great deal of satisfaction when he performs a procedure that has a big impact on a patient’s life. “I had a patient who could only walk a very short distance due to blockage in his leg artery and after I performed an angioplasty procedure on his leg he came back and told me he was able to walk like he used to and felt great. It’s very rewarding when you can help a patient like that.”

In his spare time Dr. Zhao enjoys hiking and traveling with his wife to Europe and Asia.