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 Sandra
J. Lewis, MD, FACC
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, Oregon
1981–82 ACCF/Merck Fellow
“My year as a ACCF/Merck Fellow was an
opportunity to work with one of the fathers of molecular cardiology.
It was a magical time in cardiology.”
— Dr. Lewis
In 1981, Dr. Sandra Lewis was, in her words,
a wide-eyed fellow. She was finishing up her medical training
at Stanford University, surrounded by scientists who were
conducting research that would dramatically affect patient
care for decades to come. When news came that she had been
selected as one of just six young cardiologists who would
receive a new fellowship award, her first reaction was relief.
The ACCF/Merck Fellowship Awards were brand-new, but she knew
hers would enable her to be part of something special.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, yes!
I’m going to have this wonderful year to do research!”
she recalls. And, so, with little fanfare — this was
before the days when ACCF/Merck Fellows were acknowledged
on the stage at the ACC Annual Convocation — Dr. Lewis
got to work on a project that examined the beta-receptors
of hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Her mentor was Dr. Mike Bristow,
a pioneer in molecular cardiology who was advocating for the
use of beta-blockers in heart failure patients. Nearly two
decades later, such treatment has become the standard of care.
It was at Stanford that she came to understand
“the continuum from basic science to clinical implementation
and how connected they are.” This lesson turned out
to be invaluable, as it set her on the path to becoming a
translational researcher before the term had even been coined.
For the past 19 years, she has been both clinician
and scientist at Oregon Health and Science University and
Northwest Cardiovascular Institute in Portland. Her responsibilities
as a clinical associate professor of medicine allow her to
experience on a day-to-day basis the best of both worlds.
“The very best is when a patient comes in really, really
sick — with a heart attack or bad heart failure —
and you jump in and go from the brink of death to life with
quality,” she explains, “but there is also a wonderful
sense of satisfaction that comes from questioning and putting
the puzzle pieces together that will take us to the next question.”
Dr. Lewis likens that satisfaction to a true
appreciation of the process, or the search, for getting to
a destination. “The search can be much more interesting
than getting there,” she notes, “and the complexities
of cardiovascular disease are such that every time we get
a little bit better, we realize how far we have to go.”
These days, Dr. Lewis is deeply immersed in
the search for answers to the burning questions in cardiology.
She is the principal investigator on at least a dozen ongoing
clinical trials, including the Jupitor trial and the Illuminate
trial. She has been honored for the outstanding performance
of her site on the CARE trial, and her excellence as a clinician
has been recognized by several Portland organizations.
When she looks back on the early-’80s,
when the ACCF/Merck Awards were introduced, Dr. Lewis remembers
a magical time in cardiology. At the time, she wasn’t
aware that over the next 24 years more than 100 young physician-scientists
would follow in her footsteps as ACCF/Merck Fellows. “I
hope there are another 24 years ahead,” she says, “because
we really have such wonderful opportunities in cardiovascular
medicine now.”
Dr. Lewis’s
Honors at a Glance
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant, University of Connecticut
School of Medicine
CARE Trial Outstanding Performance of a Clinical Site
Business Journal of Portland Women in Business Award
Wistar Morris Society “Treasure of Good Samaritan Award”
Top Cardiac Doctors for Women, Good Housekeeping Magazine
Portland’s Best Doctors Featured in Portland Monthly
Magazine
America’s Best Doctors Castle Connolly |
