2 surgeons join forces at Medina Memorial Hospital

Provided photo: Doctors Todd Prier, left, and Joseph Misiti have joined forces to provide surgical services at Medina Memorial Hospital. When Dr. Misiti donated his practice to Orleans Community Health, he also decided to join the new surgeon.

MEDINA – When Dr. Joseph Misiti announced earlier this year he would donate his practice to Orleans Community Health, his office moved into Medina Memorial Hospital, and the search began for an additional surgeon.

In the summer, Dr. Todd Prier was hired and assumed his duties in the hospital, working with Dr. Misiti, who will stay for undetermined time.

Dr. Prier was born in Kansas City, but grew up in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, where his father was working.

Dr. Prier knew he wanted to be a surgeon after watching a surgery show on a public broadcasting station.

“It was the most wonderful thing I’d ever seen,” he said.

Prier entered the University of Guelph to study kinesiology and would earn his doctorate of medicine at the University of the Caribbean on St. Maarten’s. His first internship was at a Yale affiliate in Connecticut, followed by the Henry Ford Hospital for Surgery in Detroit.

His first practice was in Northern Michigan in a town of 1,500 people. The hospital had 50 beds.

For the last 13 years, Dr. Prier has practiced in Binghamton. He was looking for a change, he said, because he wanted to be closer to his parents in Canada, when he applied for the job in Medina.

He specializes in endocrine surgery, thyroid (he did up to a 100 surgeries a year in Binghamton), esophageal surgery, GI surgeries, as well as laparoscopic hernia, abdominal, colon surgeries wall reconstruction and general surgery.

With the addition of Dr. Prier and continuation of Dr. Misiti, Medina Memorial Hospital will be able to do more surgeries, Dr. Prier said. Doctors Thomas Russo and Jennifer Griffith with Rochester Regional Health are also affiliated with Medina Memorial Hospital.

Kimberly Gray, chief nursing officer and director of surgical services, said, “The addition of Dr. Prier allows us to return more services to our Medina community. In addition to him working with us full time, we’ve added more hours, putting us in a very good place.”