A conversation with David P. Faxon, MD

Issue: November/December 2011

In this issue, Dr. Bhatt speaks with David P. Faxon, MD, vice chair of medicine for strategic planning at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston and Cardiology Today Intervention Editorial Board member.


	David P. Faxon


	Deepak L. Bhatt

A graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine, Faxon has been deeply involved with intervention since it first began to take form in the late 1970s and was one of the first in the United States to offer coronary angioplasty in his laboratory. Since then, he has maintained an active career, serving as president of the American Heart Association; president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions; and currently as the president-elect of the Vascular Disease Foundation.

What was the defining moment that led you to your field?

I would say without a question that it was in 1978 when I was at the AHA meeting and went to a poster presentation by a young Swiss physician named Andreas Gruentzig, MD, who was presenting a dog study. He had put a stenosis in the left anterior descending artery of a dog and then put a balloon catheter in the coronary artery and blew it up and restored flow, demonstrating the feasibility of balloon angioplasty for coronary disease. It was an astounding moment because previously it was taught that you don’t stick anything into the coronary artery intentionally because you’re going to cause great harm. That was pretty exciting.

Subsequently, I went to his second course in 1979, and around that time 30 angioplasties had been done worldwide. So that was a remarkable time and period for cardiology and was a defining moment that led me to become an interventional cardiologist, which I’ve considered myself ever since.

Who has had the greatest influence on your career?

I think it has really been Thomas Ryan, MD, who I view as my mentor. He was my chief of cardiology [at Boston University] when I was training and we’ve been long friends ever since. He’s helped direct my career and given me sage advice over the years.

What advice would you offer a student in medical school today?

There are two things I would and do say to them. One: Do what you like, not what is necessarily popular, or where there’s peer pressure or more job security. It’s much more important to choose what you find exciting and interesting because you’re going to spend the rest of your life doing it. I find that students often make decisions based upon job availability, and that’s always a very bad decision.

The second piece of advice is to get a mentor, and get one early. A mentor is not an adviser specifically. It is not a superior, nor a program director. It is somebody who has your interests in mind, is unbiased and wants to help you, and someone you can confide in. It is an incredibly important person to help guide you through the rest of your career. A lot of students feel uncomfortable talking to somebody or getting advice about what the important decisions in their lives. I think everybody needs a mentor.

Have you ever been fortunate enough to witness or to have been part of medical history in the making?

Aside from the Gruentzig experience, in the early 1970s I was fortunate enough to have the chance to work with Harry Gavras, MD. At this time I had finished my training and he was investigating the renin-angiotensin system and wanted to test out a new drug, a chemical compound that had been extracted from a South African snake. The snake venom inhibited the renin-angiotensin system, through inhibition of ACE. It had been studied in hypertension, but we studied it in a patient with congestive HF. That was the first demonstration that ACE inhibitors improve congestive HF. Now, of course, it is the standard of care. It was a pretty exciting moment.

What do you enjoy doing to relax?

I would say sitting on the beach and looking at the waves with a drink in my hand and listening to a little jazz.