A Conversation with E. Magnus Ohman, MD

Issue: September/October 2013

This issue Dr. Bhatt interviews E. Magnus Ohman, MD, professor of medicine at the Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and the Kent and Siri Rawson Director of the Duke Program for Advanced Coronary Disease.

Ohman received medical degrees from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the National University of Ireland, and completed his training in cardiology at Duke University.

During his career, Ohman has published more than 450 peer-reviewed papers and three books in CV medicine, and currently holds three US patents in reperfusion therapy that noninvasively assesses whether successful reperfusion has been achieved after thrombolytic therapy using a combination of clinical and biochemical markers. His clinical and research interests include interventional cardiology and high-risk supported PCI, treatment of patients with advanced/complex coronary disease, improving patient care through the use of guidelines-based therapies and adherence, and examining global CV health.

What are your hobbies outside of practicing medicine?

Deepak L. Bhatt

E. Magnus Ohman

I have been fortunate to play golf since I was 6 years old. This is a game that is dear to my heart, and I have enjoyed playing it at many different levels, from college golf in Ireland to participating in the William Harvey Trophy (the international cardiology golf tournament). One of the most wonderful aspects is to go golfing with my family on a Sunday afternoon. All of us walk and carry our clubs for 18 holes and chat about life. There could be no better experience.

Who has had the greatest influence on your career?

It is hard to single out one person in this regard. After arriving at Duke in 1987, I had the wonderful experience to work with Robert Califf, MD, during his ascending career. He was a tremendous mentor and provided a lot of great insight as I developed my interest in investigative cardiology. It would be a shame not to mention John Horgan, MD, in Dublin, a cardiologist who piqued my interest in cardiology in the first place, and Kevin O’Malley, MD, professor in clinical pharmacology, also in Dublin, who really set me on a path for clinical pharmacology and how it relates to outcomes in medicine.

Have you ever witnessed or been part of medical history in the making?

I have had the good fortune to be part of two incredible experiences, as far as the management of STEMI goes. Firstly, I was the national coordinator for the ISIS-2 trial, which evaluated aspirin and streptokinase in MI. When these results were presented to the investigators at London Heathrow Airport in 1988, the results showed a 20% to 25% reduction in all-cause mortality. When Sir Richard Peto calculated how many lives saved this could represent worldwide, a shiver went through my spine: He estimated at the time in the late 1980s that 10,000 to 20,000 lives would be saved annually worldwide if aspirin or streptokinase was used in the setting of acute MI. It was the moment I recognized that by performing investigation in clinical medicine, not only could I save individual patients’ lives, but more importantly, I could also have a profound effect on a worldwide basis.

The second historical moment I’ve been a part of was participating as a steering committee member in the GUSTO-1 trial. This is still the largest trial for STEMI and a major effort by Eric Topol, MD, and Robert Califf, and was an incredible success for the management of STEMI, proving beyond a doubt that early reperfusion saves lives.

What do you enjoy doing to relax?

We typically spend family holidays on an island off the coast of North Carolina. This is a fairly remote island with limited Internet access and no cars! It is a wonderful place to unwind and relax. I usually bring four or five books that I enjoy reading during these vacations. These are all non-medical books on a variety of topics, but mostly with a historic twist. I have found that history is a good educator. Many of the situations that we encounter in today’s society have already been experienced by others many years ago. Therefore, history can guide us very well on how to approach our lives and challenges. I also enjoy music a great deal, ever since I worked in a record store as a teenager. I like all kinds of music, from classical and jazz, to 1960s rock. Although I don’t play an instrument, music plays a central part in my life in many ways. I enjoy listening to it when I perform procedures in the cath lab, and I also enjoy listening to it when relaxing. The creativity of music is enormous, and understanding the interplay among instruments and musicians is particularly fun.

What’s up next for you?

I will continue to build the Duke Program for Advanced Coronary Disease to try to improve outcomes for patients with the most complex coronary disease. Many of these patients have incredible challenges and it represents a real opportunity for me after many years of experience to try to help these individuals and enhance their quality of life. I am also hoping to shape the CV guidelines of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association by serving on the Guidelines Oversight Committee. Guidelines have many times been challenged, but if they provide a brief succinct message for care, they provide much more benefit to our practice than we can ever estimate.