Dr. Reed Shnider is the Change of Heart program founder and medical director. He is board certified in cardiology and internal medicine. Mass. Dr. Shnider holds an MD from Georgetown University Medical School, and completed his residency and fellowships at George Washington University Medical Center. His special interest is in preventive cardiology, nutrition, fitness and stress reduction. Having a coronary disease can be a really lonely thing.
People can feel very isolated when they have cardiac events.
They find out they have coronary artery disease, and the issues that develop can create further isolation. The idea of getting patients more intensively involved in their own health, providing an on-going framework for dramatic changes, involving them in groups, and creating a community where thoughts and issues can be discussed and explored is a concept that I have pursued periodically over the last ten or eleven years. I have been practicing cardiology for about 15 years now, so my perspective is that of a general cardiologist. I do stress tests, office visits, take care of people in the coronary care unit, and do diagnostic catheterization. Afterwards, I may refer them to surgeons and to cardiac rehab.