This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
A Conversation with Morton J. Kern, MD
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Deepak L. Bhatt
Morton J. Kern
In this issue, Dr. Bhatt asks five questions of Morton J. Kern, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine, and chief of cardiology at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Kern received his medical degree and completed his internship/residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, and followed that with a fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. Before joining the University of California, Irvine, in 2006, Kern was a professor of medicine at St. Louis University, where he was also director of the J.G. Mudd Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
Kern is the author of several major textbooks, including The Cardiac Catheterization Handbook, which is used nationally and internationally to train physicians in the subject, and the recently published second edition of the SCAI Interventional Cardiology Board Review. His research interests include interventional cardiology education and practice, ACS, hemodynamics and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
What are your hobbies outside of practicing medicine?
Dr. Kern: I like to play golf, which incorporates athletic activity and technical skill, as well as the ability to select the right tool for the right job, much like interventional cardiology. I enjoy reading about British naval history because it’s a whole different life from mine that takes me away from whatever I was doing. I find it interesting and fun, particularly the work of Patrick O’Brien. And, finally, I play poker, which I find a challenge because I have to become a mind reader of personalities to determine what is and is not true, much like interpreting the opinions of patients and friends. In fact, when I lived in St. Louis, I learned what playing real poker was like, testing my luck on a riverboat casino. I played Texas Hold’em no-limit poker for $1 to $3 a hand and would occasionally come out of it with a win or two. I still don’t have the stomach for high-dollar poker.
Who has had the greatest influence on your career?
Dr. Kern: I would say Richard Gorlin, MD, who was the chief of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He along with his uncle developed the formula for calculating mitral valve area in stenosis. He was the chief of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center when I was a third-year medical student, which was when I decided to go into cardiology. I presented a case of mitral stenosis to him and it was an epiphany about how much he knew and how much cardiologists could do and understand about the heart. Richard was a very important person to me. Other mentors who led me down this path were William Grossman, MD, in the cath lab and William Barry, MD, who was his partner at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They each played an integral part in me becoming an inquisitive cardiologist.
What advice would you offer a student in medical school today?
Dr. Kern: I would say find the topic in which you are most passionate, pursue it and work around it in all its aspects. In other words, once you have found your passion, you need to support it with a broad base of understanding in other specialties. I recently had this conversation with a medical resident and said once you have identified your passion as cardiology, then the remainder of your electives should be in noncardiology topics so that when you become a cardiologist, you will have a full and supported understanding rather than a narrow perspective.
Have you ever been fortunate enough to witness or to have been part of medical history in the making?
Dr. Kern: I feel like I was instrumental in helping to promote the use of coronary lesion assessment with physiologic tools. Although I didn’t develop fractional flow reserve, I was very close to the development and witnessed its growth in applications and now its incorporation into guidelines. So I feel very fortunate to have been a part of that. The other historical moment was when I finished my fellowship in 1982, angioplasty was just beginning to be widely practiced in the United States and around the world. Since that early time before interventional cardiology was a recognized specialty, I have witnessed and participated in its growth and development. I feel extremely fortunate to have been fortuitously placed in that position right after my fellowship.
What’s up next for you?
Dr. Kern: I’m continuing to be very involved with the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions leadership and the enhancement of education of my fellow interventional cardiologists and cardiology fellows. I’m once again the chair of the annual SCAI Scientific Sessions and will be making an effort to help add value by implementing new aspects to the meeting. Next year, we’ll be having a session on military medicine for our service men and women. I’m bringing in the Allied Health Group so that we can learn from them and use this education to improve the care of our patients. And I’m also trying to adapt social media to our meeting to enhance the educational experience for the attendees. Going forward, I’d like to support these goals throughout the next few years to make the meeting bigger and broader.