Doctors’ Day: Drs. Boles reflect on advancements and the joy of practicing obstetrics

When Dr. Mark Boles visited Dublin in 1998, he and his family felt a distinct draw to the community. He was a practicing OB/GYN, working in his native North Carolina at the time, when a colleague requested a visit. 

“A friend of mine who was a fellow resident was practicing here and his partner had a heart attack,” Boles recalled. “He asked that I come down and take a look at it. We were actually taking the kids to Disney World and coming back through, stopped. Leaving town I asked my wife what she thought. She said, ‘It feels like we’re leaving home.’ So I left the practice up there and moved down.” 

Boles was no stranger to rural areas, having grown up Hamptonville, N.C., a small unincorporated community, on a chicken farm. He was the first in his family to go to college, inspired to pursue a career in medicine by a smalltown surgeon who served as a Little League coach in his off-hours. 

“He really impressed me how he handled himself and the things he did for the community,” Boles said. “So ever since I was in fifth or sixth grade, I knew I wanted to be a doctor.” 

The subsequent years after moving to Dublin were busy ones, with Boles, alongside wife Kathy, who is a registered nurse, building the medical practice, raising a family and being active in the community. 

Over the years Boles became the inspiration to another aspiring doctor, his son Matthew. 

“Everyone grows up thinking their dad is a hero or a rock star, and for me, medicine was always a normal part of life, everything from why dad was missing a soccer game to why dad was coming to church in scrubs,” Dr. Matthew Boles said. “I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. It was always on my radar.”

Now the two Drs. Boles work side by side, caring for patients and delivering babies through their practice, Dublin Women’s Center. 

“People think we’re brothers,” the elder Boles said with a laugh. 

“No, they don’t,” Matthew quipped back. “I tell people he’s my grandpa.”

Matthew had a near-identical path into medicine as his father. They both went into medical school wishing to become trauma surgeons before pursuing obstetrics and gynecology training. They both were trained at Wake Forest University’s hospital under the same team of doctors and instructors. 

“It was very special to be able to walk the same hallways that he walked and follow in his footsteps,” Matthew said. 

Both were drawn to their chosen field by its complexities and the variety of the care OB/GYN patients receive. 

“It offers everything, the best of both worlds,” Boles said. “You get some primary care, I have patients that I’ve seen for 25-30 years, you get the surgical exposure and you get the thrill of being able to deliver babies.” 

Matthew concurred.

“The thrill of being able to deliver a baby and be part of such an intimate part of a patient’s journey is very special,” he said. “No matter what kind of surgery nothing I did compared to the thrill of being able to hand a mom her baby for the first time.”

What is different between the two is how the field has advanced over the years. Boles, though practiced in laparoscopic surgery, was trained in traditional, open surgery. Even common procedures, such as a hysterectomy, could leave patients in the hospital for days. 

“We had predominately open cases. We didn’t use the laparoscope as much,” Boles said. “Over the years that progressively became the standard of care. Patients recover quicker, they go home faster and, economically, it’s a better option when you look at time out of work and hospital stays.”

Minimally invasive options have continued to progress, with doctors learning to use complex robotic tools to perform procedures, further improving patient outcomes. Last year Matthew performed the first complete hysterectomy at Fairview Park Hospital using a robotic arm. 

“Medicine is like carpentry,” Matthew said. “You started off with just a hammer and nails, and the tools have gotten better. The robot is like that.”

The pair credit Dublin’s medical infrastructure, anchored by Fairview Park Hospital, for helping make such advancements possible in a rural area. 

“That was not possible before in a rural town,” Matthew said.

The elder Boles is happy to be working with his son and seeing him succeed and learn skills beyond his training.  

“As a father you want to see your child do better,” he said. “He’s already doing better than me.”

The Boles are busy as ever. The Dublin Women’s Clinic has continued to grow, to the point that the pair are eying an expansion to their clinic on Industrial Boulevard or even a move to a new location. Matthew recently welcomed his own son, John, into the world. Kathy still assists in surgeries, and her presence is requested my most patients, Boles said. 

The work never stops. Whether at home, at the office or the hospital, the family stays grounded in faith and works to make the community they chose as a home a better place. 

“This is a gift that God has given us, a talent that God has given us. He is the great physician,” Boles said. “We always try to give him the glory for it.”