MATTERS OF THE HEART

Dr. Sears helps patients learn to cope with the emotional and behavioral changes that can come from living with heart disease. (Photo by Jay Clark)

DR. SAM SEARS

Dr. Sam Sears, professor of psychology and cardiovascular sciences, specializes in cardiac psychology, the emotional and behavioral changes in patients and families triggered by heart disease. Sears aids patients coping with the anxiety and stresses of heart disease and implantable heart devices while they pursue a desirable quality of life.

He received the UNC System’s 2013 Oliver Max Gardner Award for his contributions to the welfare of mankind and is among the most published authors in the world on cardiac psychology.

The moment that shaped his career:

“Being a witness to the courage of patients needing heart transplants changed the way I think about health and medicine. Their clinical situation leaves them at the cliff of life and death that represents a psychological paradox of safety and threat.

“My junior year of college, I experienced a career-ending football injury. After that, I became interested in how people overcome medical problems that interfere with their life goals. That personal struggle prompted me to look more closely at people dealing with those problems, which led me to heart patients. I eventually became interested in resilience and the psychology of hardiness — that idea comes from the plant world and explores what adverse conditions a plant can grow in: the thought that your leaves may turn brown, but your core stays strong.

“The defining moments that shaped my career are layered — the blend of the personal challenge of losing my athletic career and my exposure to heart transplant patients who could lose their lives. The understanding and clarity of those two things had a catalytic effect and merged in my mind, leading me toward my research and care of patients whose health problems interfere with their hopes and dreams.”

-by Spaine Stephens

Erika Taylor, left, a licensed marriage and family therapist and a clinical faculty member in the Brody School of Medicine’s Division of Behavioral Medicine, works with a couple at ECU’s Family Medicine Center. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

ERIKA TAYLOR

Erika Taylor is a licensed marriage and family therapist and clinical faculty member in the Division of Behavioral Medicine at ECU’s Family Medicine Center.

The moment that shaped her career:

“I’ve known since I was 6 years old that I wanted to help families stay together, having come from a home impacted by divorce. It wasn’t until I was assigned a school project in seventh grade, which asked me to research and present on a profession I thought I might want to pursue in adulthood, that I was able to link my passion with a profession.

“During my research for the assignment, I ran across the description of a ‘marriage and family therapist’ and, after reading the description, knew it was the profession I was destined to pursue. To this day, I frequently thank the seventh-grade social studies teacher for enlightening my path toward a future I now get to call my present.

“In a setting where family medicine providers help treat physical wounds, I help treat wounds of the mind and heart. I work alongside dieticians, physicians, nursing and medical staff, pharmacologists and others to assist patients in finding hope over hurt, provision over problems, and healing over pain. Every moment that I am afforded the honor and opportunity to journey alongside someone seeking to heal from the devastating wounds (internal or external) life has dealt them, is a moment that has, and will forever continue to, shape me and the essence of my career. These experiences empower me to be stronger, braver and more committed to creating light and harmony in a world where love and light can feel so out of reach.”

-by Rob Spahr

Tracy Cole greets a student at the ECU Community School. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

TRACY COLE

Tracy Cole is the principal of the ECU Community School, one of five laboratory schools in North Carolina used to train teachers and administrators from ECU’s College of Education. She began working at the school in 2018 and has seen it expand from 50 students to the current total of 117.

The moment that shaped her career:

“A moment that helped shape my career was to observe the love and care that my parents exhibited as educators. My father, Ralph Cole Sr., is a retired school administrator. My mother, Joyce Cole, is a retired teacher. Day in and day out, I watched them pour into the lives of children, parents, school employees and the community at large. My parents taught me the importance of hard work and the need to show love and compassion for all. Based on their interactions, I decided that I wanted to be an educator so that one day, I, too, can pour into others and positively impact the world.”

-by Kristen Martin

Dr. Williams, left, talks with a guest during a reception at the ECHI in January 2019.
(Photo by Rhett Butler)

DR. MARK WILLIAMS

Dr. Mark Williams is a cardiothoracic surgeon and professor at the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU who has performed more than 6,000 open-heart surgeries. He completed his cardiac training at Duke.

The moment that shaped his career:

“My interest in cardiac surgery began as a first-year medical student at Duke. I had the opportunity to see an operation on a young woman disabled by repetitive fast heartbeats from a condition called Wolf Parkinson White syndrome. Dr. Will Sealy was the Duke surgeon who pioneered the surgery to correct this problem, dividing an electrical pathway that caused the recurrent fast heart rhythms. The operation cured this young woman and returned her to a normal quality of life. The potential to help others from disabling heart conditions was the stimulus for me to begin a career in cardiac surgery.”

-by Erin Shaw

Dr. Edwards performs surgery. (Contributed photo)

DR. AMBER EDWARDS

Dr. Amber Edwards graduated from ECU in 2009 and the Brody School of Medicine in 2012. Post-med school, she completed six years of residency as an integrated cardiothoracic surgery intern at the University of Rochester. She recently became the first female cardiac surgeon at Saint Thomas Heart hospital in Nashville.

The moment that shaped her career:

“Initially, my love of cardiac physiology made me want to be a heart surgeon. Any medical student who has taken physiology (usually an early course) can understand what is happening in the cardiac surgery operating room. It is basic physiology in action, and this drew me in early in my medical school career.

“Fortunately, I was in the right place at the right time and was able to be mentored in an exceptional cardiac surgery department at East Carolina under Dr. Chitwood, Dr. Nifong, Dr. Rodriguez, and many others. This is in combination with the unique relationship that all surgeons have with their patients. This relationship is one that involves immense trust and intimacy, as the meat of our work happens while the patient is unconscious.

“Finally, I enjoy the team sport of cardiac surgery. At any given time in the cardiac surgery OR (operating room) there are at least six people, and often more — cardiac anesthesiologist and their team, the cardiac surgeon and their assistant(s), the perfusionist, circulating nurse, and scrub nurse or tech. We all have to work together using our different strengths for the one patient that is undergoing surgery, and I find this kind of collaborative work very fulfilling.”

-by Erin Shaw

Dr. Sang performed pre-surgery medical evaluations and post-operative care of two young boys from Uganda who needed lifesaving surgeries in 2016. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

DR. CHARLIE SANG

The walls of Dr. Charlie Sang’s office in the East Carolina Heart Institute are filled with the faces of 38 children from Mongolia, Kosovo, Uganda, Honduras and Bolivia who he helped get needed heart surgery through the Samaritan’s Purse Children’s Heart Project.

The program ran for 15 years at ECU, and forged friendships among local volunteers and the families here for surgery. Sang said the experience taught many adults and teenagers to appreciate what they had and to share with others.

Sang is division chief and professor of pediatrics in the Brody School of Medicine at ECU, where he has worked for 20 years. He is board certified in pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease.

Growing up in a small Mississippi town, Sang shadowed a local doctor during the summers when he was home from college. Those summers solidified his decision to pursue medicine.

The moment that shaped his career:

“Life has many moments that shape the pathway of life. There are always choices you have to make; easy or hard, right or wrong.

“Mine happened very early. In my junior year in college, I met with the pre-med advisor on campus. After looking over my records and talking to me, he told me that I was unlikely to get into medical school and needed to change majors. After I left his office, I was full of doubt and despair. With guidance from my parents and much prayer to the Almighty, I pushed forward and completed all the prerequisites for medical school, took the MCAT and applied to two medical schools (in-state and out-of-state). I was accepted to both! If one has a goal and tries his best, anything is achievable.”

-by Crystal Baity