From the June 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Although the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology has existed for over twenty years and the organization is well-respected, this year was the first in which HealthCare Business News had an opportunity to speak with the society’s leadership. Dr. David Wolinsky, current president of the society, was very welcoming and shared a little bit of his history as well as news about ASNC in what HCBN predicts will be just the first of many interviews conducted in the years to come.

HCBN: What inspired you to get involved in medicine?
DW: I loved pharmacology and physiology. But while in college, I also realized I loved the patient interaction and realized that pure science wasn’t going to be something that was satisfying in the long run. When I finished medical school, I thought I would become a gastroenterologist. But a cardiologist, Dr. Miles Schwartz became a personal mentor and got me excited about cardiology.


I’m a very clinically-focused person. I take the literature and apply it to determine what’s right for an individual. When you do a diagnostic test in your specialty, you can help define both long-term and short-term management. That is what attracted me to nuclear cardiology.

Today, though, this skill is also a lot harder to learn as clinicians get overwhelmed with computers and screens. So you have to be able to go from what’s high-tech to what’s right for the patient, and I continue to be able to do that in my field.

HCBN: How did you get involved and get to where you are today in the ASNC?
DW: I was very involved with the New England Nuclear Cardiology Working Group. We’d get together about four times a year. From that, nuclear cardiology grew really in a relationship between academics and clinicians. Quality, research, and education were fostered within a lot of the private practices that often rivaled the academic centers. ASNC grew out of these regional working groups under the vision of regional and national leaders.

As president of ASNC I bring a slightly different perspective and focus from the last few presidents. The previous presidents were a nuclear medicine physician and before that an academic nuclear cardiologist and before that an imaging professional at an academic institution. Although we all have different visions, the strength of ASNC is its ability to continue these projects after a president completes his term.

HCBN: What have been the top accomplishments during your time as president?
DW: We have developed the Image- Guide Registry. Along with others, I have been a champion for this initiative since the second half of last year. It’s the first sub-specialty registry to collect data on all aspects of its field. It delivers three key benefits. First and foremost, it helps with quality initiatives for labs. Second, it helps define the quality of the field as we deal with insurers, payors and government entities. Third, the data can form a foundation promoting research.

June 2015 Magazine

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