Local cardiologist makes his own rules
Blog an opportunity to share tips, knowledge from more than half a century in medicine
When Dr. Paul D. Thompson, stepped down from his position at Hartford Hospital, those who know him understood that his “retirement” didn’t mean taking it easy.
At 76, Thompson, now chief of cardiology emeritus with Hartford Hospital, shares the wealth of knowledge from his 50-plus years in medicine. He teaches resident physicians and fellows, and is cataloging his thoughts and observations through snippets of wisdom intended to help other heart doctors.
Thompson calls his catalog of tips his “500 Rules of Cardiology” although he admits to not having that many. “I’m working towards it,” he said.
Self-described as a very hard worker, Thompson appears to not take himself too seriously in the larger scheme of life. His sense of humor is obvious and his positive attitude is infectious, those who know him say.
He considers his Pollyannaish optimism a key contributor to his good health.
Living a long, healthful life is heavily influenced by “picking the right parents,” Thompson quips, but for people without the perfect genes for optimal heart health, he adds, “you have to work with the genetic material you have.”
“If you don’t keep a reasonable body weight, that puts stress on your joints, which means that you can’t be as active, and that means you don’t have as good muscle tone and muscle development. Exercise helps with your heart, blood pressure and glucose. People should stand more and sit less,” Thompson said.
Starting young: Thompson got into medicine as a runner, inspired as a child by watching the 1960 Olympics on TV, he said.
He said he became fascinated by human performance and pushing it to its limits. Starting out as a young doctor, he ran to work just about every day – about 6 miles – and then back at the end of the day, which sometimes turned out to be 11 at night.
“I wanted to try to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials. I knew I wasn’t good enough to go to the Olympics, but I wanted to be invited to the trials,” he said. Just for fun.
He qualified in 1972.
Later, Thompson, a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine, was doing studies on sudden death in athletes. For instance, someone who dies in the middle of the Boston Marathon. One of his articles showed up in the New York Times and created a snowball effect.
Having run the Boston Mara
thon himself, “I think it’s been 27 times,” Thompson was called to serve as a television medical commentator for two Boston and five New York City marathons. He became NBC’s sports medicine analyst at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea and served similarly for ABC’s coverage of the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba, and he’s been a guest on Good Morning America nine times.
Improving medical care: The media work was fun, but Thompson said it was also a distraction from his “real work.” He co-edited a three-volume set of books called “Exercise and Sports Cardiology,” and authored literally hundreds of scientific articles, many of which were focused on athletes and heart health.
“Writing, for me, is education because when you put your work on paper, and you have to write words for other people to look at and criticize, you have to learn it better yourself. I find it intellectually interesting. And I think I have the gift, and therefore the responsibility, to do it,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s 500 Rules of Cardiology can be found as a free subscription on the mobile app and blogging platform Substack. It’s very clinical in nature; he calls them “helpful principles.” His audience is mainly comprised of other cardiologists and new physicians.
“I believe I can improve medical care by being a good educator,” he explains.
Lifelong learning is an important aspect of Thompson’s approach to healthy aging, he said.
Thompson and his wife of 50 years recently returned from a six-week trip to Seville where they completed an immersive Spanish language educational program. During that trip, he made time for some hiking, and presented a lecture via Zoom to a group of doctors in South Africa. “Yeah, I do that,” he said, matter of factly.
Now he’s back home in Simsbury and cataloging his “500 Rules of Cardiology.”
One rule stems from the first time he inadvertently discovered a melanoma skin cancer on a patient’s back during an exam, now encouraging other cardiologists to look at a patient’s back when appropriate.
“I’ve found 11 melanomas in the last 20 years. People can’t see what’s on their back, so why not take a look?” he said.
Thompson said he continues to work because it gives him a sense of purpose.
“I feel like I’m doing something useful. I’m making other people’s lives a little better, which makes my life a little better,” he said.
Longevity, he said, is not just about living a long time, but living happily. Happiness, purpose and social support are incredibly important, but even happy people go through tough times. It’s being resilient to deal with those tough times, and having hope, he said.
“It’s about finding the good in people and being optimistic,” Thompson said.