Dr. Jiwon Kim, a cardiologist, is an associate professor of medicine and of medicine in radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. As director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Program and director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship, Dr. Kim leads clinical care and research programs that use innovative imaging tools to detect heart problems that were once difficult to diagnose and assess. She has special expertise in treating conditions in the heart’s right ventricle and heart valves, with a particular focus on cardiac disease in women.
Dr. Kim was a recipient of the prestigious Bruce B. Lerman, M.D. Clinical Scholar Award, named after the former chief of the Weill Cornell Medicine Division of Cardiology.
In what ways do women and men differ in how they experience heart disease?
Heart attacks in women, for example, can present with different symptoms from men. Women may not experience crushing chest pain or have that feeling of an elephant sitting on their chest. They may have more subtle or vague symptoms, such as fatigue, which can sometimes lead to underdiagnosis. Also, women’s hearts are smaller, presenting different issues in how heart disease is detected and treated.
Tell us about your cardiac research.
Much of my research focuses on tricuspid regurgitation, a problem with a valve on the right side of the heart. We have discovered that this condition is more common in women than in men, but for many years doctors thought it was a minor or secondary issue and didn’t study it closely. We now know it can be very serious. Tricuspid regurgitation can raise the risk of heart failure and death, so understanding and treating it better is an important priority.
How are you and your colleagues working to improve the way valve disease is detected and treated in women?
Because we are especially interested in the early detection and treatment of tricuspid regurgitation, our lab is investigating how best to detect the disease, assess its severity and how—and when—it's best to treat patients.
Until recently we’ve tended to treat women based on male patterns and research models. Women are different. This is particularly true in a valvular disease like tricuspid regurgitation. Women tend to be diagnosed much later with this condition, and some data suggest that women receive intervention much less frequently because we are using older models of care. We might be getting to many of these women too late—or even when the disease has become irreversible.
Additionally, my colleagues and I are working with large data sets as well as imaging and other advanced technologies to study potential sex-specific biomarkers that can detect heart diseases earlier in women, when there’s greater hope for positive outcomes.
Why should women consider coming to Weill Cornell Medicine for their cardiac care?
At Weill Cornell Medicine, there’s an awareness of the unique needs of women across the health spectrum. We understand that female patients may sometimes require a different approach, and we are committed to developing and utilizing sex-specific guidelines that help women earlier and better.
Weill Cornell does an extraordinary job in attracting and recruiting really talented and driven people who want to do their best for their patients. We push each other to do our finest work. There’s just so much discovery and innovation happening in cardiology, imaging and other fields here.
What is the role of philanthropy in the work you do?
Philanthropy is essential. It’s helped me build and sustain our research in ways that traditional funding from the government can't support alone. As a grateful recipient of the Bruce B. Lerman, M.D. Clinical Scholar Award, which helps early- to mid-level physician-scientists, I’ve experienced firsthand how support from private donors can help researchers obtain preliminary data and run the pilot projects needed to obtain public funding and get excellent data. I think philanthropy gives us the flexibility to explore new directions and new ideas that we need to get to the next level.
So, I'm incredibly grateful for private support. Philanthropy really does directly translate into better science and, ultimately, better care for our patients.
