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A Conversation with Thomas F. Lüscher, MD, FRCP
For this issue, Dr. Bhatt talks with Thomas F. Lüscher, MD, FRCP, professor and chairman of cardiology at University Heart Center, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland; director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich; and editor in chief of the European Heart Journal.
Lüscher studied medicine at the University of Zurich and obtained his training and board certification in internal medicine, clinical pharmacology and cardiology at the University Hospital Zurich, the Mayo Clinic, and the University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland. As a clinical and interventional cardiologist, Lüscher has conducted groundbreaking research on a number of topics, including endothelial function, lipids, hypertension, atherosclerosis, ACS and HF.
Lüscher has published more than 500 original research papers, has edited textbooks including the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, has received many research awards and is one of the world’s most-cited scientists.
What are your hobbies outside of practicing medicine?
Prof. Lüscher: I write philosophical books. I write them in German because these things, you can only write in your native language. I write about topics relevant to medicine: Is medicine a science? What is the difference between recommendations and statements of fact? How can we determine optimal medicine? Should we unravel the aging genes and change aging? Also, the question of how medicine evolved, particularly in heart disease. Medicine is a discipline that has a lot to do with life, death, how we live, how we should live, what we should do, how we should help others and to what degree, and so on.
Who has had the greatest influence on your career?
Prof. Lüscher: Paul M. Vanhoutte, MD, PhD, was professor of physiology and pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic when I went to the United States. He is one of the most-cited scientists. I started my research in his lab in the mid-1980s. Ever since, I have worked on blood vessels and how they become dysfunctional in disease states such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and infarction.
Thomas F. Lüscher
Deepak L. Bhatt
What area of research in intervention interests you most right now and why?
Prof. Lüscher: Stents that are bioabsorbable. I think this is because I was always interested in coronary vasomotion. To me, it is an interesting next step to have transient caging of the coronary artery when you have a dissection and to prevent restenosis, then to lose this after a year or so to allow the coronary artery to recover and become a living organ that can dilate and contract.
What advice would you offer a student in medical school today?
Prof. Lüscher: First, you have to find out what you are really fascinated by, because you can only reach excellence if you love the field that you are working on. There is only one chance to select the right field, and it is very important that you select what you like. Then, if you do know what you like, you have to work hard, particularly in the first 10 to 15 years of your career. It is essential to learn as much as you can and be productive in science so that you can advance in your career. I think there’s no life-work balance in the first part of your career if you want to achieve something.
Have you ever been fortunate enough to witness or to have been part of medical history in the making?
Prof. Lüscher: When I was a student, Andreas Gruentzig, MD, performed the first balloon angioplasty in Zurich at our hospital in the department that I chair now. That was on Sept. 16, 1977. He happened to live in an apartment that my late mother rented out to him. On the kitchen table, he developed this balloon that later became the balloon for coronary angioplasty. Initially, there was a lot of skepticism that you could induce MI, and, in fact, you can. A lot of people were critical, but he was a fascinating door-opener. That changed cardiology because in the old days, cardiologists were mainly interested in pressures and pressure changes in the left ventricle. With this development, the profession became much more interested in vascular structure and function. This really opened the door to make cardiology a more balanced discipline that works both on the ventricles and on the vessels supplying them.