Dr. Raj Ambay, a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army Reserve, and the owner of Ambay Plastic Surgery in Wesley Chapel, knows from experience that pulling the right team together is critical.
While stationed in Afghanistan last year, a Taliban rocket landed outside the trauma surgery tent. It tore into Ambay’s right thigh.
“After I was hit, I laid in the dirt and gravel afraid to even look to see if my leg was there. Slowly, I reached down. My leg was there, but I had no feeling and I couldn’t walk,” he said. It was too dangerous for a helicopter to land at the forward operating base, so Ambay put his trust in his medical colleagues to keep him together for five days until he could be flown to Landstuhl, Germany, for further surgery.
Because he believes in the power of a great team, Ambay recently hired several businesses owned by members of the Rotary Club of New Tampa (see story on page 45) to create a TV commercial for his practice. “The Eyes Have It” was shot on location at the home of Karen Tillman-Gosselin, who is a former president of the club, as well as of the USF Bulls board and Iron Bulls, and was the first female Board member at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club, where the Rotary club meets every Friday morning. Her New Tampa home is filled with luxurious colors and furnishings — a testament to her 10 years as an interior designer and her top-tier real estate agent ranking with Smith & Associates.
Tillman-Gosselin’s fellow New Tampa Rotarian Craig Miller, the owner of Full Throttle Intermedia, steered the production through the eight-hour location shoot. Miller’s New Tampa company specializes in commercials, 3-D and motion graphics. His work has won awards for the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and the Wounded Warrior Foundation.
“Craig sweet-talked all of us,” says Tillman-Gosselin. “Peter Gambacorta, the immediate past president of the New Tampa Rotary and owner of Private Chef of Tampa, catered all of the food. It’s basically an all-Rotarian commercial crew.”
Miller says, “I am so impressed by Dr. Ambay, the way he deals with people and his commitment to helping fellow wounded warriors. It’s an honor to help him and his wife build their practice here in our backyard.” Ambay and his wife, dermatologist Dr. Aparna Ambay, made helping veterans part of their plastic surgery and dermatology practices in Wesley Chapel.
“Sometimes one surgery can be life-changing for an injured veteran,” he said. “Burns and pulled skin can be so disfiguring that one surgery can make a real difference in how they look and how they feel about themselves.”
The Ambays work through the Special Operations Warrior Foundation to find that one surgery that will help wounded veterans move on with their lives.
“It’s challenging to do one each quarter because we call in favors from hospitals, anesthesiologists, pharmaceutical firms and others to make the surgery happen for free or low-cost — even when all of our services are free.”
Dr. Raj Ambay is a Board-certified plastic surgeon and trained dentist (DDS) with years of experience treating battlefield injuries as an Army surgeon assigned to the 1st Special Forces Counter-Intelligence Group He completed his dental studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, plastic surgery residency at University of Wisconsin at Madison and a cancer fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Ambay Plastic Surgery & Dermatology is located at 27716 Cashford Cir., in the Summergate Office Park (behind Sam’s Club) in Wesley Chapel. For more info, call 406-4448 or visit AmbayPlasticSurgery.com. For Karen Tillman-Gosselin, call 629-1502 or visit SmithandAssociates.com. For Full Throttle Intermedia, call 971-8486 or visit FTIntermedia.com. For Private Chef of Tampa, call 380-4014 or visit PrivateChefTampa.com. — Submitted to & edited by the Neighborhood News.
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