Getting to the Heart of Dr. Robert Hall

Robert Hall, M.D., had already been a player on the world stage when he came to the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in 1969. He had been, after all, the cardiologist for former President Dwight Eisenhower, the principal architect of the Allied victory in World War II.

Yes, when news accounts told of Eisenhower’s battle with heart disease, it didn’t matter whether you lived in Peoria, London, Madrid or Moscow, you learned about the prognosis through Col. Robert J. Hall, chief of cardiology at the famed Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

So how did this New York native who retired from the military after 21 years, who received the Legion of Merit and the "A" Prefix in Cardiology, the highest award for professional accomplishment within the army, end up in Houston?

Denton A. Cooley, M.D.

"He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse," Hall says, laughing as he sits in his office on the third floor of St. Luke’s.

Cooley, who founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962, wanted Hall to help him create an organization that would become the world leader in study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Hall, long known as a brilliant educator as well as a cardiologist, knew of the heart surgeon’s work – how in ’56 he was the first to successfully clear out a blockage in the carotid artery, and in ’58 was the first to use cardiopulmonary bypass in the excision of a left ventricular aneurysm. And, of course, Hall knew how Cooley performed the first successful, U.S. heart transplant in ’68 and how he electrified the world in ’69 by successfully implanting a man-made heart in Haskell Karp as a bridge to transplant.

"I realized I would have a chance to be part of something awesome in the battle against cardiovascular disease," says Hall, who signed on as medical director at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke’s. Today, he serves as director of cardiology education at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke’s. "We have been able to train some of the best cardiologists and surgeons in the world. I couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments of the team."

Each year, 100 young men and women participate in fellowships and residencies at the Texas Heart Institute. The institute’s postdoctoral programs have trained more than 2,100 specialists from 44 states and 47 countries.

Hall has been a key architect of the institute’s educational thrust, which includes conferences, symposia, publication of scientific and clinical findings, and training materials. Continuing medical education symposia are attended each year by nearly 1,000 physicians from across the United States and around the world. Ongoing weekly conferences – 13 in all – provide new knowledge and discoveries to thousands of physicians throughout the Texas Medical Center. The institute’s scientific publication, the Texas Heart Institute Journal, of which Hall is editor in chief, is published quarterly and distributed to 30,000 physicians and medical schools worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital has been named one of the top 10 cardiovascular centers in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

You can go as far away as Amman, Jordan, and find a specialist who has been trained in Texas Heart Institute’s latest techniques. It is that kind of educational reach, Hall says, that has helped make his 32-year affiliation with the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s continually rewarding.

"How can you not be in love with your work when you know it is paving the way for new breakthroughs in the battle against heart disease?" he asks.

Hall says he has been honored to work with many of the world’s leading physicians and researchers at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s.

"What we have accomplished during the last 32 years has been awesome," he says. "I have a feeling that what happens in the next 25 years, with gene therapy perhaps promoting the growth of new blood vessels and new heart muscles, will be astounding ... I am confident the Texas Heart Institute will endure because it is truly a place of excellence devoted to research and care of heart disease. Dr. Cooley’s dream will come true – the Texas Heart Institute will live on forever, just like the Mayo Clinic."

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