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August 2010

in

Susan S. Kim, MD

  • Assistant Professor of Medicine
  • Director of the Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Clinic at NMFF
  • An active member of the Heart Rhythm Society, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Association.
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What are your clinical interests?

Currently, I am working on a team of EP nurses and nurse managers to streamline the workflow in the device clinic. We are implementing and updating reporting software, optimizing the interaction of this reporting system with EPIC, and increasing the use of remote or at-home monitoring for our patients with pacemakers and defibrillators. Though I do work closely with the Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Clinic, my interests in Cardiac EP are diverse. I see patients in clinic for medical management of their heart rhythm disorders in addition to treatment with devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators. This includes device-based therapy for patients with heart failure. I also perform catheter ablation for conditions such as atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and ventricular tachycardia.

 

Tell us more about your background.

I earned my bachelor's degree at Williams College in Massachusetts, majoring in Mathematics. I spent the next two years as a junior high school math teacher in Los Angeles through the Teach For America program. Then I went on to earn my medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, followed by internal medicine internship and residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and returned to the University of Chicago Medical Center to complete fellowships in both cardiovascular disease and cardiac electrophysiology. On November 15, 2009 I moved to Northwestern University to join the cardiac electrophysiology group.

“From the time I was a first-year medical student, I was captivated by cardiac electrophysiology. From ions rushing in and out of cells to witnessing the cure of a patient plagued by atrial flutter, I was sold.”

 

What are your teaching responsibilities at Northwestern?

I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the Northwestern Faculty Foundation. I am very interested in teaching and have enjoyed working with the EP fellows, cardiology fellows, residents, and medical students. I have been impressed with the quality and caliber of the trainees here at all levels. And I find them to be much better behaved than junior high school students.