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A Conversation with Christopher J. White, MD, MSCAI, FACC, FAHA, FESC
In this issue, Dr. Bhatt talks with Christopher J. White, MD, MSCAI, FACC, FAHA, FESC, a member of the Cardiology Today’s Intervention Editorial Board. Currently, White is chairman of the department of medicine and cardiology and chief of medical services at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.
White graduated from Case Western Reserve Medical School in 1978 as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He served 10 years in the Army during which he completed his residency and cardiology fellowship at Letterman Army Medical Center. White was director of the cath lab and cardiovascular research at Letterman and Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1983 to 1988. He then directed the cath lab at Ochsner Clinic from 1988 to 1994 before moving to Glasgow, Scotland, where he was director of invasive cardiology at HCI Medical Center. He returned to Ochsner in 1997.
For a decade, White was editor-in-chief of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. To date, he has published more than 250 manuscripts and presented more than 100 abstracts on topics in interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular diseases. Currently, White is associate editor of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions and editor of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases as he remains active in practicing interventional cardiology and endovascular interventions.
Who has had the greatest influence on your career?
Dr. White: My first role model was Edward Chester, MD, a man with unquenchable curiosity. He was an internist cardiologist at Case Western Reserve University when I was in medical school. He started his career before there were catheters and stents, so he would ask us to teach him things. He had no compunction about getting right down on our level. My second role model was Herman L. Price, MD, COL, MC, FACC, chief of medicine at Letterman Army Medical Center. He taught me on multiple occasions never to ask someone to do something that you are not willing to do yourself. My colleagues and I were assigned unpleasant administrative tasks irrelevant to our clinical duties. I set out to confront Dr. Price for assigning me a task on top of my busy schedule. There on his desk were five assignments. It was such a lesson to me that before feeling victimized, there are two sides to every question. He was quite the mentor.
What has been the greatest challenge in your professional career thus far?
Dr. White: As a leader, my greatest challenge has been transitioning my team from volume-based care to value-based care. Ten years ago, volume was what defined success in an interventional program. We now must realign our priorities to be more efficient and reduce waste. That means selecting the right procedure for the right patient at the right time. I’m constantly trying to incentivize my folks to see the future. You’re either part of the future or you’re trailing behind forever.
What area of research in intervention interests you right now?
Dr. White: My group has been involved in acute stroke intervention and stroke prevention with carotid stenting. Cardiologists are well-trained, high-value individuals who work in a delicate environment and can easily adapt to working in the brain and carotid arteries. The future of health care is to have everyone practice at the top of their license. I can tell you that stroke care is very rewarding. Dramatic improvements happen with stroke reperfusion, and patients along with their families are so grateful. As a clinician, it’s why I’m in this business.
What advice would you offer to a student in medical school?
Dr. White: Pursue your passion. I see young people struggle with picking a pathway. They are often clouded by time off, compensation and so many other extraneous issues. If they just knew what their passion was then everything else would fall into place. I would tell them to look for whatever it is that excites them the most — a passion that teaches them something new every day. You can never learn enough.
Have you ever been fortunate enough to witness or to have been a part of medical history in the making?
Dr. White: I helped develop one of the first coronary stents. Dominik Wiktor, an electrical engineer, received a graft to repair an aortic aneurysm he developed. Displeased with the graft’s design, Wiktor innovated the graft with a coil of metal. A company that Wiktor pitched the graft to suggested that he meet with me. For 3 years, Stephen R. Ramee, MD, and I worked with Wiktor on constructing a device cardiologists could use to keep arteries open. Wiktor tweaked prototypes in his basement and returned them to us every 2 weeks. It was such an iterative process. Finally after a successful series of animal testing, Wiktor was able to sell the device to Medtronic. It became commercialized as the Wiktor stent.