Stony Brook Hospital Featured in CBS Television Pilot

Ricardo Aranguren is a physician assistant at Stony Brook University Medical Center, but one day in April, he got to play the role of a surgical technician.

Literally. Aranguren is one of three SBUMC faculty members who have cameos in the new CBS drama A Gifted Man, the pilot of which aired Friday night at 8 p.m. Aranguren, who originally helped the show's production team by giving tours of the hospital before they made the decision to film there, wound up with a speaking role as a surgical technician.

"Unfortunately, the surgical tech makes a mistake and I get fired," said Aranguren, who has been with the hospital 24 years. "That's my 15 seconds of fame. That was fine. I did it with flair."

Joining Aranguren on the set was Dr. Raphael Davis, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the Institute for Advanced Neurosciences, and Dr. Henry Woo, associate professor of clinical neurological surgery and radiology.

According to the CBS program description, A Gifted Man is about a well-known surgeon who begins seeing his dead ex-wife and "starts questioning the meaning of life and his place in the world."

The TV episode was filmed at the hospital's cerebrovascular biplane suite, which Aranguren said is the nucleus of a department that has been able to reverse the effects of strokes, treat aneurysms, and help patients overcome other neurological problems.

"It's so different from what we do normally, so it was all very cool," Aranguren said.

The cerebrovascular biplane suite has since become the model for a set built at the production team's own studio, he said.

Filming took place between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday in April, on a day when the suite was not being used for patient care. The suite was scrubbed down following the shoot to make sure it was sterile for patient care.