Peter C. Block, MD: A pioneer in interventional cardiology

Editorial Board member is credited with helping create the subspecialty of structural heart disease.

Issue: September 2012

Peter C. Block, MD, has made myriad advances to the field of cardiology, from helping develop the subspecialty of structural heart disease to evolving the percutaneous treatment of valvular disease to cultivating a strong interest in transcatheter aortic valve replacement today.

Born in Baltimore, his career has spanned from his school days at Amherst College, University of Freiberg in Germany and Harvard Medical School to appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital and Oregon Health Science University. Currently, he is professor, medical director of the Clinical Trials Office and director of the Structural Heart Disease Intervention Program at Emory University School of Medicine.

Block has written hundreds of papers published in reputable medical journals, won countless awards and is a member of the editorial boards for Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions, International Journal of Cardiology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Journal of Interventional Cardiology and ACCEL. In addition, he is Section Editor of the Intervention section of the Cardiology Today Editorial Board.

Peter C. Block, MD, FACC, FSCAI, FRCP

Professor, Emory University School of Medicine
Medical Director, Clinical Trials Office, Emory University School of Medicine
Director, Structural Heart Disease Interventional Program, Emory University
Director of Interventional Research, Andreas Gruentzig Research Center
Associate Editor, American College of Cardiology's Cardiosource.org; Chief Cardiologist, Cardiosource Video Network, Cardiosource.org
Member, Intervention section of Cardiology Today's Editorial Board

Block is also a husband to wife Betsy, father to three children and grandfather to four children.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not practicing medicine?

I really enjoy turning wooden hollow forms and fly fishing. They take me away from work and serve as psychotherapy, in a way.

If you hadn’t gone into cardiology or medicine, what would you have done?

I would have become an architect, although I would probably not have been a great architect. My mother always wanted me to conduct music and ultimately lead the New York Philharmonic.

What would you consider one of your biggest successes in your specialty?

I was one of the people involved with the development of the subspecialty of structural heart disease. This started back in the 1980s when we began doing aortic and mitral balloon valvuloplasty. That subsequently led to the development and understanding of percutaneous treatment of valvular heart disease. This work still applies today, with the current development and understanding of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

I have had the opportunity to be involved in a lot of the early structural heart disease trials — the ASD and PFO closure trials, EVEREST and, of course, the ongoing PARTNER trials. Structural heart disease is now developing into a major subspecialty, and I am optimistic that future technological developments will allow transcatheter therapy in areas that today are only a dream.

What is the last book you read? Why, and what did you think of it?

I highly recommend Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester. The author described it as a “biography” of the ocean from its origins 370 million years ago.

Whom do you most admire, and what would you ask that person if you had 5 minutes with him/her?

Thomas Jefferson. I would ask him how he would fix this horrible political mess that we are in today and how to make people work together instead of apart. I will quote John F. Kennedy, who said in at a State dinner in 1962 at the White House attended by hundreds of dignitaries from around the world: “This is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Block shows off a striped bass he caught in Buzzards Bay, Mass.

Photo courtesy of: Peter C. Block, MD; reprinted with permission

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

My favorite piece of advice was from my mother, who said: “If you want to do it right, do it yourself.” I have tried to apply that advice both personally and professionally, but sometimes it isn’t possible.

Whom do you consider your mentor?

Richard Gorlin, MD, who made many advances throughout his career to the care of patients with CAD, congestive HF and valvular heart disease, among other achievements. I spent a lot of time with him when I was in my fourth year at Harvard Medical School. He is responsible for getting me to write my first paper in cardiology — “Misleading Signs in Mitral Insufficiency”, which was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1965.

What kind of diet and exercise regimen do you have?

I used to run, but now I walk as much as I can. I have a black German shepherd that I walk a couple of miles every day. I also try to follow a low-fat diet.

What do you think will have the biggest influence on cardiology in the next 10 years?

I believe we will see a shift from interventions to prevention. I also think that we will see drug companies develop new drugs that will actually significantly change the progression of CVD — at least, I hope so. This would take cardiology out of therapeutics and into prevention, which is really what we all should strive for. If we do medicine right, we will all find ourselves out of a job!

What is your favorite travel destination?

That would be where I am right now: Wareham, Massachusetts, on the north shore of Buzzards Bay. I can look out on Bourne Cove from the deck of my house there. I go here to relax.

What is your favorite restaurant?

I actually do not have a favorite restaurant. I eat out a fair amount of the time and enjoy trying new restaurants. So, I would say my favorite restaurant is somewhere I have not yet been. – by Katie Kalvaitis