Sometimes, innovation occurs without the inventor even
being aware of what he or she is creating. That’s exactly
what happened to William C. Roberts, MD, pathologist
and executive director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular
Institute (BHVI), editor-in-chief of The American Journal
of Cardiology and Baylor University Medical Center
Proceedings and dean of the A. Webb Roberts Center for
Continuing Medical Education.
“One day I was walking down the hall in the hospital,
past the cardiac catheterization waiting room, and a man
stopped me and asked, ‘Hey, aren’t you Dr. Roberts?’ I
said, ‘yes,’ and then he told me that he had received a heart
transplant at Baylor Dallas 10 years earlier. The next words
out of his mouth surprised me. ‘I understand you have
my old heart and I’d like to see it.’ I thought for a minute
and then told him to come to the hospital the following
Monday at 1 p.m. for our weekly conference that all of the
physicians and residents attend.”
Baylor Dallas is fortunate to have a storage area where all
of the original hearts removed from transplant patients are
kept, Dr. Roberts explains. He found the man’s heart and
prepared it for him to view. At the weekly conference, the
transplant patient and the conference attendees watched
in amazement as Dr. Roberts showed the man his old
diseased heart and explained to him why the heart had
quit working. Just like that, an innovative, only one-of-its-
kind-in-the-world program had been born – the Hea rt-to-
Heart program.
“Heart transplant patients form a bond and soon the man
had told other transplant patients about his experience,”
Dr. Roberts explained. “They began calling me wanting
to see their old hearts. Often, the patients bring their
spouses, children and extended family to see their heart.
I decided to use this as a critical teaching moment, so I
explain to the patient how his or her lifestyle choices had
contributed to their heart disease. I tell them they’d better
cherish and care for their new heart because only 2,300
people in the world receive a new heart each year.”
One of the most meaningful moments of the entire
experience is when the transplant patient is able to hold
his or her old heart. “I’ve only had one patient cry, a young
Mexican man, who had his life turned upside down in
only two months. He was active and healthy one minute
and the next he was diagnosed with sudden heart failure.
Within weeks he had a heart transplant and just a few
weeks later he was holding his old heart in his hands. He
was overwhelmed.”
Heart-to-Heart: The Story of a One-of-a-Kind Program
In fiscal year 2017, the 80th heart “viewing” occurred
and the transplant patient was able to see and get to know
his old diseased heart. And the beat goes on as interest
continues to build in this innovative service to those
with a new lease on life – thanks to their new heart. “The
man who originally asked to see his old heart is now 14
years post-transplant,” explains Dr. Roberts. “In the first
decade after his transplant, he became a grandfather five
times over. Without the transplant he wouldn’t have been
around to enjoy them.”
William C. Roberts, MD, MACC,
Executive Director, Baylor Heart and
Vascular Institute; Editor-in-Chief,
The American Journal of Cardiology;
Editor-in-Chief, Baylor University
Medical Center Proceedings; Dean, A.
Webb Roberts Center for Continuing
Medical Education; Lifetime Achievement Award,
American College of Cardiology
Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease
focus was on coronary artery disease, its treatment and
its prevention. A distinguished faculty of nationally and
internationally recognized experts in cardiac disease
presented a wide range of topics, including The New
Paradigm in the Treatment of Heart Failure, Transcatheter
Aortic Valve Replacement, The Effect of Kidney Disease
on the Heart, and Vice Versa: Role of Metabolic Factors.
The Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease will be
held again in December 2017 for the 44th time.
Dr. Roberts’ interest in educating his colleagues and
students about heart disease continued in fiscal year
2017 with the 43rd annual Williamsburg Conference
on Heart Disease. Dr. Roberts founded the program
when he was at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Cardiology specialists from across the country attend the
conference each year. The program, held in December
2016, explored the physiologic and structural bases for
cardiac dysfunction and ischemia, and therapeutic means
to reverse them or to slow their progress. The primary
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