Astronaut Aspirations, Cardiac Innovations

If the intricacies of the human heart don’t seem to faze Dr. James Pinney, it might have something to do with his first love in the sciences: space. As a child, he saw the cosmos as holding mysteries and a sense of scale that overwhelmed him with the knowledge of how small he was—a rare feeling to come by for someone who would grow to almost six and a half feet tall. 

In pursuit of his astronaut dreams, Dr. Pinney turned to bioengineering—reasoning that someone who understood the engineering and mechanics of the human body could be handy on, say, a manned NASA mission to Mars. But he quickly came to see other reasons why it was a meaningful field to pursue: what started in the lab as a research project could end up vastly improving the quality of a person’s life, and could even make the difference between life or death. 

He entered a rigorous MD/PhD program at the University of California, San Francisco. From there, he completed a residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. After 14 years of some of the most prestigious medical education and training in the country, Dr. Pinney became a MLK Community Medical Group cardiologist. He has been serving our patients in South LA for more than two years. 

In that time, Dr. Pinney has seen firsthand how the most common issues he sees in our community—obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes—are linked to heart health. It is, as cardiologists like to joke, one of the reasons why they’ll never be out of a job. But the scale of cardiovascular issues in South LA is highly acute. Patients in the community experience heart failure at 1.5 times the state average. In many cases, they arrive at Dr. Pinney’s exam room through an initial visit to MLKCH’s emergency department. Often, their cardiovascular issues have already reached advanced stages—high risk for a heart attack, or complete heart failure.  

Through the MLK health system, they’re able to access continuous, follow-up care, with the same doctors they just saw in the hospital. The continuity of care that extends from emergency to primary care physician to a specialist like Dr. Pinney is essential to ensuring that patients get the care they need. 

“It can be hard for patients to figure out who to see, to figure out referrals and wait times,” says Dr. Pinney. “But if you can say, ‘Come see me at the clinic at the other end of the parking lot,’ they’re a lot more likely to follow up.”

Daily, he sees patients who are motivated to improve their health, but who often haven’t been offered the resources and education. “People get motivated when you offer ways to help quit smoking, or weight control and diet control programs. They haven’t been offered the tools before, but when they see doctors meeting them halfway, they know they have the support.” 

Developing the personal relationships that motivate patients takes building trust—and that takes time. Dr. Pinney typically spends 30-40 minutes with each of his patients, double what’s allotted for typical visits in other healthcare systems. It’s time that allows for translation services to be set up properly, to speak with family members, and to engage in a little small talk. Says Dr. Pinney, “[Taking your time] shapes how patients interact with you. You’re not just giving them a pill and letting them go.” In a community with a long history of distrust in healthcare systems, those extra minutes give doctors a chance to show their partnership in their patients’ care. 

Dr. Pinney’s dreams of becoming an astronaut haven’t entirely faded. He still tries to see past Los Angeles’ light-polluted night skies for glimpses of his favorite constellations. But the scale of the problems he’s fighting are now firmly grounded on Earth: The urgent need for cardiovascular resources in South LA keeps growing. The physician shortage means that the community is missing as many as 1,500 doctors. Two cardiologists manage the clinic’s case load, but Dr. Pinney dreams of the department growing to include additional cardiologists, cardiac nurse practitioners, electrophysiologists who can work with pacemakers, cardiac pharmacists who can assist with medication check-ins, and more. 

A recently opened interventional radiology/cardiac catheterization lab have helped relieve some of the burden, allowing patients to receive diagnostic tests on-site. But more resources are needed. 

For Dr. Pinney, the draw of deep space was always the feeling that, “I’m just a tiny piece of a bigger thing.” Perhaps the same can be said of his role taking care of patients’ hearts and advocating for quality healthcare for South LA.