Heart for Hearts
Cardiologist Linda Calhoun wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Wilmington cardiologist LINDA CALHOUN, recipient of this year’s Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award, always knew she wanted to be a heart doctor.
“I remember doing a class presentation when I was 10 years old. I was so excited telling everyone that I wanted to learn about the heart … and fix people’s hearts,” she says.
Born in Philadelphia, her parents, both physicians, moved to Washington, D.C., home base for their Filipino American family of seven.
“To be a doctor was all they could think about,” she says of her mother, an anesthesiologist, and her father, a cardiologist. “My father would take me along on rounds, and I helped in his office.”
Her mother was incredibly influential, Calhoun says. Starting out as an OB/GYN resident and transitioning to anesthesiology as she raised five children, she became an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Georgetown University. Calhoun’s mother, who died during her sophomore year of college, was insightful, hardworking, religious and spiritual.
“My mother was my superhero. She said everything was directed by God,” Calhoun recalls.
She attended medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Calhoun gained advanced expertise through her cardiovascular fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, where she conducted research in hypertension and coronary artery disease, presenting regularly at the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association national meetings. “What gave me the biggest reward, however, was working with patients, making diagnoses and establishing relationships,” she says.
In 1992, Calhoun came to New Hanover Regional Medical Center. At that time, nuclear stress test studies were only done in a hospital and usually required a one-month wait. “There was no way to prioritize a patient unless admitted to the hospital,” Calhoun says. “That was not great for patient access and quality of care.”
Calhoun started the first outpatient nuclear medicine lab and also fueled the evolution of the echocardiography and transesophageal program at the hospital, a critical resource in treating heart conditions.
Calhoun is credited with contributing to the formation of Wilmington’s first Chest Pain Center, Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute’s Heart Failure Clinic and the collaborative Coronary CT Angiography and Structural Heart programs.
“Working with our advanced practice providers, we started the Heart Strong Clinic to provide more frequent, tailored care, pushing forward guideline-directed medical therapy and inpatient/outpatient protocols to educate and improve patient outcomes and reduce mortality,” she says.
Calhoun says she is encouraged when patients respond to the changes.
“It gives me joy to see people who had struggled find their way to exercise, lose weight, control their blood pressure and take their meds consistently,” she says. “I love making sure patients can really feel in charge and empowered.”
Calhoun is transparent when talking about the challenges of her journey. She was one of 20 female students among 150 medical school students. “It was hard,” she says. “When traveling to Philadelphia to interview for my fellowship, a professor asked me why I was studying cardiology. Did I not want to get married and start a family? Well, I was not going to sit around and wait for that.”
Calhoun leaned on mentor MARY WALSH, cardiologist, associate professor, American College of Cardiology past president and founder of the Women in Cardiology Council for the ACC. “She had such a good understanding of group dynamics and was a great person who helped me through my journey,” Calhoun says.
Balancing family and work could be difficult. “There was no maternity leave policy when I came to Wilmington,” she says. “I remember sitting with my cardiology partners asking that we please work together so we can attend our kids’ events, be good parents. Everyone agreed this was as important as having a career in medicine.”
Calhoun subsequently helped write the maternity leave policy for her practice so that “others behind me could have it in place.” Calhoun attended her son’s piano lessons and soccer games. “It was all on my calendar, just like workday activities. That was so important to me,” she says.
Also important is Calhoun’s strong support system. “It gave me the ability to have a career,” she says. “I have a wonderful, funny, supportive husband, TIMOTHY. We are so blessed with one son, DAVID. We had a wonderful nanny. She was my Girl Friday. Having a son was great. He taught me how to rollerblade, fish and body surf.” David works as a biomedical engineer for DaVita Dialysis in Wilson.
While she has stepped away from an active role in the Women in Cardiology chapter of North Carolina/South Carolina ACC, which she started as a chapter councilor, Calhoun still attends state and national meetings. The group seeks to attract and promote women in the cardiology profession and improve both satisfaction and success through mentorship and networking.
“My work is being carried on,” she says. “I am very proud of that.”
To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.
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