Every year, we ask a few of Seattle’s Top Doctors what led them to medicine, what they wish patients knew, and how healthcare is changing. These interviews are part of Seattle magazine’s annual Top Doctors feature, created with Castle Connolly. None of the doctors paid to be included—all are nominated by their peers.

What led you into a career in medicine?

I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of science and human connection. Cardiology captivated me because the heart is both mechanically fascinating and deeply symbolic. It’s literally what keeps people alive. Early on, I realized I wanted a career where the stakes were real, and the impact was immediate. There’s nothing quite like helping someone walk out of a hospital after a cardiac event they wouldn’t have survived a generation ago.

What is the most diffi cult part of your job?

Delivering difficult news—telling a patient or their family that the heart disease has progressed beyond what we can fully reverse, or that lifestyle changes needed to happen years ago. We have extraordinary tools now, but we can’t undo decades of damage overnight. That weight never really gets easier, nor should it.

What is one piece of advice you wish every patient would follow?

Move your body every single day. It doesn’t have to be a gym workout. A 30-minute brisk walk is genuinely powerful medicine for your cardiovascular system. Physical inactivity is one of the most underappreciated risk factors I see, and one of the most modifiable.

What is your advice for people interested in longevity?

Focus on the fundamentals relentlessly: don’t smoke, manage your blood pressure, keep your low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in check, stay physically active, and prioritize sleep. Most people chase the latest biohacking trends when the evidence-based basics would add a decade to their lives. Also, know your numbers. Blood pressure and cholesterol are silent killers. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Seeing a patient six months after a major intervention—maybe a bypass or a stent—and watching them tell me they went on a hike with their grandkids. That’s it. That’s the whole job in a single moment. Being part of someone getting their life back is a privilege I don’t take lightly.

How has technology changed your field since you entered the profession?

Perhaps the most transformative shift on the horizon—and already underway—is artificial intelligence. AI is beginning to read electrocardiograms (ECGs) and echocardiograms with remarkable accuracy, sometimes catching findings that might be easy to overlook on a busy day. Predictive algorithms are helping us identify high-risk patients before they ever have an event, allowing us to intervene earlier and more precisely than ever.

On the clinical side, ambient listening technology has been a genuine game-changer for how I practice day to day. Rather than typing notes during a visit or dictating afterward, AI now listens to my patient conversations in real time and automatically generates accurate clinical documentation. That means I can be fully present with my patient—making eye contact, actually listening—instead of being heads-down at a keyboard. It has given me back something that medicine was at risk of losing: the human connection at the center of the patient encounter.