Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1035803
8 t m c » p u l s e | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 8 Spotlight WILLIAM ZOGHBI, M.D., started medical school in war-torn Beirut and went on to become a leading cardiologist in Houston. Professionally, he cares for and repairs hearts while advocating for cardiovascular health. Personally, he demon- strates a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise. Chair of the department of cardiology at Houston Methodist Hospital and the Elkins Family Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Health at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Zoghbi has served as president of the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Echocardiography. Q | You were born in the small town of Ghazir, Lebanon. Can you describe your upbringing there? A | Just to set the scene: it overlooked the Mediterranean, in the mountains, at about 1,000- feet elevation. Growing up there gave me a great opportunity to love the outdoors and nature. I love the sea, fishing, hiking—just being outdoors. My father was a carpenter with a billiard factory. My mother was fluent in French, so she was his correspondent with the rest of the world. She was also a home mom—she took care of us and everything else. From my parents, I learned independence, the pursuit of excellence and the importance of education. Q | How did you know you wanted to become a cardiologist? A | I loved math, science and physics, and I was inclined to be an engineer. I had a chance encoun- ter with a medical student who graduated from my high school. We talked about how you have to be an expert not only in the medical sciences, but in the humanities, and that you have the opportu- nity to have wonderful interactions with individu- als. Interestingly, when I was 5, I would point to a toy heart and ask my mom to dissect it for me, so I learned anatomy from her and she always reminds me of that. There was a fascination with the heart that I had. There were no physicians in my family. I was the first. Q | You started medical school in Lebanon, but finished in the United States. Why did you transfer? A | I went to the American University of Beirut (AUB), where I did my pre-medical school and then medical school. During my first year of medical school was when the [Lebanese Civil] war started. We lived on the first floor for about six months, trying to be sheltered from bombs and various things. Because of the intensity of the war, I started to look at opportunities outside of Lebanon. It was very difficult to transfer because I was in the middle of medical school. Luckily, after sending about 20 or 30 letters, I found out that one school accepted my transfer. I came to Tennessee—Meharry Medical College. I'm very grateful they accepted me. Q | What did you learn from that disruption to your education? A | One thing about the adversity I was exposed to during the war is that it makes you much more adaptable. I think we have to be adaptable to different situations and try to find solutions to problems. Q | How did you meet your future wife, Huda Zoghbi, M.D. (née El-Hibri), a fellow student who would go on to become a renowned geneticist affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital? A | I think our first meeting was in anatomy class [at AUB]—not the most romantic setting. She came to the States a year earlier [than I did]. We reconnected at Meharry. At that time, there was no couples matching, but we matched in Texas. She matched at Baylor College of Medicine and me at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), then we saw each other back in Houston and the rest is history. We got married here in Houston in 1983. Q | What else drew you to Houston? A | The big name that drew me was really Dr. [Michael] DeBakey and all the history of cardio- vascular medicine that really was born in this city and at Houston Methodist and Baylor. It really is amazing how influential Houston has been in charting the major developments in cardiovascu- lar disease. It has been an honor to train alongside the giants in medicine. (continued) Many people know what is good and what is bad for them, but knowledge is not enough—you need action. How do you stimulate people and engage them to get into healthy behaviors, diets and exercises? I think this is our current challenge.