Caring Begins at Home | Darien Bradford, MD and Kristin Bradford, RN - Spotlight

Photos by Landon Day

Leading Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Darien Bradford and his wife, Registered Nurse Kristin Bradford, are all about caring for people. He through life-saving cardiothoracic care and she through aesthetic treatments such as Botox, fillers, and skincare. They’ve even found a way to marry their two interests at her Kristin Ellyn Aesthetics where he serves as medical director.

This year has brought a lot of exciting changes for the Bradfords as Darien has left his longtime affiliation with Methodist Mansfield and is now caring for patients at Huguley Texas Health Hospital, and Kristin pushes forward in her career working toward her nurse practitioner’s degree. Although the husband-and-wife duo are offering different types of care to our community, they’re each endearing themselves to their patients and making lifelong connections inside and outside of their careers.

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While busy careers keep them both on the run, they cherish any time they can steal away from work to just be together and spend time with their five children. “We have a no-shop-talk policy at home,” Kristin said. “Our time together is about us and family and friends and we try not to talk about work. I was privileged to work alongside Darien as an ICU nurse and I know he is the rarest of persons—someone who’s truly serving his God-given purpose. It’s not unusual, when we’re dining out, for someone to approach our table to tell us how Darien saved their loved one’s life. I couldn’t be prouder of my husband and the work he does. His bedside manner is something I rarely saw with any physician. But at home, he’s just Darien and I couldn’t ask for a more supportive life partner and friend.”

And Doc is pretty proud of her, as well. “Kristin has a heart for serving people,” he said. “I watched her do that as an ICU nurse. That job isn’t for the weak. It’s intense and can be exhausting, but Kristin did it with all her heart. Now, she’s found another way to give of herself to others.”

After 25 fulfilling years as a nurse, Kristin still wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. She actually began administering injectables part time in 2010. Word spread and as client after client referred her to their family and friends and returned to her again and again, she soon found she had enough clients to offer aesthetics fulltime. And Kristin Ellyn Aesthetics was born!

“I left the ICU with mixed feelings,” Kristin said. “I loved the high-energy nature of that care and going home each night knowing I’d truly made a difference in someone’s life. But by offering my clients a true boutique cosmetic experience focused on personalized service and natural-looking results, I can still make a difference for others, just in a different way. My goal is for clients to leave their time with me feeling better—physically, mentally, and spiritually—than when they arrived.” Her location within Town Garden Salon on South Bowen Road provides the perfect pampering space where Kristin can customize care for each client’s needs and beauty goals and allows enough time between patients that no one ever feels rushed or like a number. And having Darien on board as medical director gives her the ability to continue to expand her offerings.

Meanwhile, board-certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Bradford has changed countless lives. A true leader in his field, he’s spent 25 years pioneering minimally invasive thoracic surgery techniques and technology such as video and robotic-assisted surgery of the chest, heart, lungs, esophagus, diaphragm, and trachea. He brings all of that plus his trademark gentle bedside manner to Huguley Texas Health Hospital.

For almost three decades, Dr. Bradford has helped develop less invasive surgical procedures offering hundreds of patients more surgical precision, shorter recovery time, less risk of infection, negligible scarring, reduced hospital stays, less blood loss, less pain, fewer complications, and far greater success. Because each patient is unique, Dr. Bradford works closely with each individual and their physicians to tailor a treatment program designed specifically for them.

As Dr. Bradford continues to lead the way with life-saving techniques, such as minimally invasive surgery for coronary artery disease, cancers of the lung, esophagus and chest wall, abnormalities of the great vessels and heart valves, as well as birth defects of the chest and heart, he’s now seeing patients at Huguley Texas Health Hospital.

“I’m excited about making the move to Huguley,” he said. “I love their whole-person approach to care designed to help patients take their heart health into their own hands. It’s not just about healing what’s wrong but about celebrating what’s right and helping patients create a life of better health, more joy, and less stress. Huguley Texas Health Hospital has been providing that type of whole-person care for more than 40 years and I’m thrilled to be part of that model.”

Find out more about Dr. Bradford at Texashealthhuguley.org and about all of Kristin’s aesthetic offerings at KristinEllynAesthetics.com. Kristin currently works by appointment only.