“Does it take a village of doctors to save a man’s life? You bet it does,” said Nancy Spencer, the wife of a USC cardiology patient, speaking at the first meeting of the USC Cardiology Council. The story of life-saving care was a highlight of the meeting Jan. 28, when over 50 attendees gathered in Aresty Auditorium.

The USC Cardiology Council was initiated by Leslie A. Saxon, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine and executive director and founder of the USC Center for Body Computing, to provide a forum for patients and other interested individuals.

“We have a visionary leader in cardiology—Leslie Saxon,” said Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito as he addressed the audience. “She’s had lots of visionary ideas, and one of them is the Cardiology Council, which I think is tremendous. My hope is that you learn more about cardiology at USC, share the excitement about it, and maybe get involved with helping move this program forward.”

The gathering featured discussions from a panel of USC Division of Cardiovascular Medicine faculty members including David Cesario, director of cardiac electrophysiology; Leonardo Clavijo, director of vascular medicine and peripheral interventions; Tasneem Z. Naqvi, director of echocardiography services; and Jerold Shinbane, director of the USC Ambulatory Arrhythmia Center.

Also joining the panel was Ray Matthews, program director of interventional cardiology, who earlier in the week had performed a new, minimally invasive procedure to replace a diseased aortic valve as part of a clinical trial.

“They have collaboratively worked to create what I am certain is the best multi-disciplinary cardiovascular care team in the city, state and western United States,” said Saxon of the cardiovascular team. She said that the multi-disciplinary collaboration increases high quality health care and satisfactory results for patients.

George Dimogiannis, a USC cardiology patient, talked about his treatment and time spent in the intensive care unit. He expressed his appreciation to the Cardiology team for making it possible for his daughter to visit him in the ICU. “I’m 60 years old and I have a five-year-old—can you imagine what it was like for me to have her there in the ICU?” he said.

Dimogiannis’ heart surgery was successful and he attributes the positive results to the surgery and cardiovascular teams at USC. “Those guys are so good; they are my heroes,” he said. “Every night before my daughter goes to bed, she says ‘Dear God, I want to thank you for keeping my heroes at USC safe because they saved my dad.’”

Nancy Spencer and her husband, patient Carlton Spencer, shared their satisfaction with the Cardiology Council. “I made several midnight phone calls to Dr. Clavijo while my husband was being treated—all of which he picked up every single time. There were many wonderful things he and his staff did to make me feel better,” Nancy Spencer said. To save a man’s life, she said, “it also takes synergy, communication and extreme care, which is what we received from the USC cardiology team.”