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Carl J. Pepine, MD, talks with Cardiology Today about his career, lifestyle
Cardiology Today’s chief medical editor says the best advice he received was to never look back.
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Carl J. Pepine, MD, is stepping down this month as chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at University of Florida, Gainesville.
Although he completes his duties as chief of cardiovascular medicine this month, Pepine will still continue his clinical research, see patients and teach in the division of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Florida.
Pepine, who grew up in Pittsburgh, is an internationally recognized leader in both clinical and scientific areas of cardiology. His career-long interest has been coronary artery disease, although he spent 25 years as an interventionalist and is now veering more into stem cell therapy research.
Pepine is a graduate of both University of Pittsburgh and College of Medicine of New Jersey. He has received numerous awards and honors, and is a past president of the American College of Cardiology. He has coauthored hundreds of original contributions to scientific literature and five books. He founded the Vascular Biology Working Group.
Pepine has also been chief medical editor of Cardiology Today since its pilot issue in the Fall of 1997. Last month Cardiology Today interviewed Pepine about his career:
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Eminent Scholar, |
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not practicing medicine?
We have a place in St. Augustine, Fla., on the beach. I enjoy walking on the beach; I find that general seaside atmosphere very refreshing. I also enjoy spending time with my wife, three daughters and six grandchildren. I also enjoy golf and other outdoor activities.
If you hadn’t gone into cardiology or medicine, what would you have done?
I would have gone into architecture or engineering. My father was an architect, and I did work for him and his firm for several summers when I was in high school. But I structured my first year of classes at the University of Pittsburgh to go either way, into medicine or architecture or even engineering. In those days, architecture required long periods working at the drawing board doing hand drafting and that aspect turned me off.
The personal part of medicine, the feeling of helping people and the excitement of research and teaching, swayed me in that direction. I always had an interest in science in high school and I won several awards. As an undergraduate I did hundreds of small animal experiments working part time in a research lab, and this also helped shift me towards medicine.
In medical school I was fascinated by cardiovascular physiology. While I am certain this helped me go in that direction, I really didn’t know that I wanted to go into cardiology until I was exposed to a number of outstanding cardiologists during my residency years.
What do you consider one of your biggest successes in your specialty?
One of the things I thought was a big success was making full professor with tenure at age 38. Also, receiving continuous, peer review, federal funding for more than three decades. Those are some of the things I consider my biggest successes.
Some other successes are the clinical trials that I’ve organized and carried out. The largest and most challenging was the INVEST project. First we developed an electronic system to conduct all aspects of the trial via the internet. This allowed us to capture data from more than 800 sites in 14 countries. It also had a central IRB and drug-ordering and mail-order distribution component. We actually hold a patent on the system for doing clinical trials.
This [INVEST] was a monumental effort that we started in approximately 1996 and completed patient closeouts in 2003. We’re still analyzing data we collected and writing about what we found. I have been fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to work with some extraordinary people while at University of Florida.
What is the last book you read/art collection you saw/CD you bought? Why, and what did you think of it?
I just finished reading “1491,” by Chris Mann. This book about the Americas before Columbus, and he develops the notion that these two continents were much more fully developed and populated than anyone appreciated. He provides some evidence that several places in Central and South America were bigger with almost a million inhabitants compared with Paris, which was thought to be the biggest city in the world at that time. It’s a fascinating book if you haven’t read it.
The last CD I bought was “The Beach Boys Greatest Hits.” They were popular when I was in medical school and I used to spend my summers teaching CPR to life guards at the state beaches of New Jersey. When I saw that Brian Wilson was honored by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, I bought that album.
Who do you most admire and what would you ask that person if you had five minutes with him?
I admire my father. Unfortunately he passed away in 1996 and I don’t have that five minutes. But I always treasured spending five minutes with him, bouncing things off him and discussing things.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Don’t look back,” my dad always said. He was always one who just felt the past was done and we should move on.
Who do you consider your mentor?
Again, I would say my dad.
What kind of diet and exercise regime do you have?
My lifestyle is as active as possible and I try to carry that activity throughout the entire day. I try to walk instead of taking the elevator. At least three days a week, preferably more, I do some kind of structured exercise like vigorous walking. I just spent five days at the beach and did a lot of walking and running on the beach. I belong to the health and fitness center here but I don’t have a lot of time to get there, maybe a couple times a week. I believe in the 10,000 steps a day American Heart Association program.
As far as diet, I eat a low saturated and total fat diet low in salt, high in fiber and high in fish. I prefer some form of a Mediterranean diet if I can get it.
What do you think will have the biggest influence on cardiology in the next 10 years?
Both in terms of diagnostic use and their therapeutic use, stem cells. It’s a lot closer than people realize. In [repairing] the failing heart as well as growing new blood vessels for ischemia, it will affect cardiology tremendously. Also it has the potential to affect the peripheral vessels, for instance, where you have insufficiency of blood flow to legs; the same thing with stroke and aneurysm … there’s tremendous potential.
What is your favorite travel destination?
Europe and specifically I like Italy and Germany. I like the countryside and I like the lifestyle. Plus, I’m part Italian so I have some identity there. I like the food and certainly as far as the historical places, it can’t be beat.
What and where is your favorite restaurant?
There are just so many of them. I like to try different ones. I would favor Italian restaurants, and also seafood restaurants. — by Judith Rusk
We would like to congratulate Dr. Pepine on his many successful years as chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at University of Florida, Gainesville, and thank him for his 11 years of continuing dedication to Cardiology Today.
– The Editors
You are truly an outstanding preventive and interventional cardiologist and an amazing, productive and kind individual... Congratulations on your career!
– Roger S. Blumenthal, MD
Cardiology Today Editorial Board Member