Health Tech: Dr. Jorge Alvarez & Medtronic On How Their Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jorge Alvarez.

Jorge Alvarez, MD, FACC, FSCAI is Board Certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology, and he practices primarily out of the Cardiology Clinic of San Antonio’s Medical Center location. Dr. Alvarez graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) in San Antonio, Texas. Always on the leading-edge of advances in cardiovascular science and technology, Dr. Alvarez was among the first in the region to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR)- a cutting-edge procedure to replace diseased aortic heart valves in patients who are not candidates for open-heart surgery.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

My story is simple. I grew up in your typical household, mom, dad and one brother. Nothing out of the ordinary. My parents were both working parents who dedicated all their time to their children. My dad was a medical supply representative and my mother worked in a physician’s office. My brother and I tried to run them ragged by playing every sport possible.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I have two interesting stories. One from the perspective of a physician and the other from the perspective of a son.

My wife is a big runner, and it was on her bucket list to run the Boston Marathon by the time she reached her 40s. At that time, I had frequently volunteered for the Rock and Roll Marathon here in San Antonio. When she had officially qualified for the Boston Marathon, I reached out and said I would be available to work since I had experience volunteering at these types of events for several years. This was the year of the Boston Marathon bombing.

I was on the finish line and got to take care of people firsthand that had a traumatic experience, something that was out of the realm of what I would normally do on a daily basis. Yet, that caring aspect of wanting to do what’s best for people at that point in time stuck out to me. That’s where my medical profession really kicked in, my reflexes on what to do and how I want to care for all people.

In regard to what I do now, the most interesting story happened recently and hit close to home. My niece graduated from high school recently and my parents, who are now retired and live out of town, came back for the graduation. I noticed my dad’s movements were slower. He looked like he was short of breath. I’d asked him if he had been feeling well, and he said he’d been doing fine. I’d asked him, “Has your primary doctor talked to you, is he checking things out?” He goes, “Yeah, I just had a visit with him a month and a half ago, he told me I’m doing fine.”

I decided to watch him a little bit closer. I saw him try to get up out of a chair and it looked like he had gotten dizzy. I asked him, “Did you just get dizzy?” He goes, “Oh, yeah, it’s been happening a lot more.” I asked him to let me listen to his heart. I listened to him and said, “Dad, you have a bad valve. Has the doctor told you about this?” He tells me, “No, he hasn’t said a word.”

Fast forward, about two weeks later, we ended up replacing his heart valve. One of my partners did it for me. To me that brought the “here I am” and “this is what I do”. This is one of the technologies I was able to bring to this area of the United States, and Texas, and be somewhat of an authority on it. My dad was in front of me, suffering, and not getting the care he should have gotten. This event opened my eyes to the lack of awareness certain people have.

He’s now a month out, and my mom is upset he’s doing so well, because he won’t leave her alone. They’re moving around, taking daily walks and enjoying retirement. Before, he was not enjoying what was going on and he thought it was him getting older, which is a common misconception. It’s what people accept. ‘Oh, I’m just getting older,’ but there’s a true pathologic problem that can be readily fixed.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My parents were always big supporters of my brother and me. They continue to support what I do and the dedication I have towards wanting to be a good provider, a good physician and care for the people that live in Texas. My parents raised me to aspire for the stars, to try and do my best and to just be an all-around good person. That’s what I do most of the time. It takes a lot of time and a lot of commitment. With a strong upbringing and the continued support of my wife, who has been my backbone, allows me to do the things I’m able to do. She’s very supportive.

I used to play high school football and I had opportunities to play in college but had a career ending injury. I ended up working at a car wash at the end of my senior year of high school until my intern year of residency. I worked all through college and medical school. The gentleman let me work there so I could make extra money; he called it the car wash scholarship because he paid for my books and tuition. I had to work weekends and he worked around my school schedule. When I had exams, he let me take extra time off, but also gave me a lot of different life lessons.

I can’t point to one person but the background and backbone of who I am now is from my family, including my wife, and the other people that influenced me. It takes a village to make someone; to make me who I am now.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Growing up, my life lesson quote was one my parents would tell me, ‘You can never do anything about the cards that are dealt to you, it’s just how you play your hand.’ Even if it’s not the opportunity or the answer you want, you can’t do anything about that. It’s just how you react and how you take care of things in an unfiltered way.

A prime example was the injury I received. I wasn’t able to play college football. Being a teenager and not being able to do that, I could have just shut down, worked at the carwash and never aspired to do anything else. However, I made the best of that opportunity. I continued to reach for my goals and aspirations.

I think I use that quite a lot with patients. They can’t do anything about the fact they have severe aortic stenosis (AS) or they had a heart attack. It’s what you do afterwards, how you respond to the challenge and how you respond to what’s going on that makes a difference.

The other important one is, ‘You only see what you look for, and you only look for what you know.’ That one keeps me continuing to want to learn. It’s that, ‘You’ll miss things if you don’t continue to learn.’ What we do in AS now is one of those prime examples, if I took what I learned and didn’t learn anything else from medical school, then we wouldn’t be in this position we are in right now. It’s a constantly evolving field of medicine. You have to continue to want to learn because that’s how you see things in a different way.

You are a successful healthcare leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

One of them is being imaginative, being able to think outside the box. When complex things come our way or it’s not obvious what we need to do, I say, “Okay, we’re going to do this too. This is what we’re going to do and we’re going to MacGyver this thing together.” You take the tools you have with you, and your abilities, and piece things together to make them work out. If you’re not imaginative, you’re potentially risking not coming up with the ‘how to’ to solve these problems.

Driven, is another one. I want to have the people I care for here in San Antonio, in the region, receiving the best medical care possible. I am driven to improve access to care; irrespective of race, gender, whatever it may be, in trying to do the outreach and lessen the gaps of disparity of the care we have. I think it’s very important.

The other part is I’m pretty obsessive. Once I get started on something, I know what I need to do, and I will continue on that pathway until it is done. Usually, I don’t rest. I think that’s why I only sleep about three hours a day.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the technology or medical devices that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

I think as an interventional cardiologist, there are many aspects of what we get to do. However, dealing mostly with the structural heart aspects, particularly focused on the battle of heart disease, it’s one that affects so many people. For example, I have a patient named Julia. She is a 74-year-old Hispanic woman who conquered Aortic Stenosis (AS) through self-advocacy and the transformative Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure.

Without Julia being a strong advocate for herself, she may not have had the outcome she did, and she probably wouldn’t be here right now.

We know with severe symptomatic AS, if left untreated, mortality at one year is about 68% to 70%. We’ve changed her life physically, but it’s all by her own words and her story. Being able to get her message out there speaks volumes. Particularly, providing that kind of care for the Hispanic population, or any population.

The disparities in minority care are prevalent and there are multiple aspects. Some of it is awareness within the community. Within the Hispanic population, it’s very prevalent. A lot of it stems from them accepting how they are feeling and not knowing what treatment options are available. Being able to have access to treatment can prolong life and improve the quality of life, which is very important, especially with Hispanic Heritage Month upon us.

How do you think your technology can address this?

I think TAVR is one of those technologies we used to say was new, but we’ve been doing it now for over 10 years, and now the guidelines have changed for who can receive TAVR. Initially, it was for the extreme risk, kind of inoperable patient. Then it went to high risk, intermediate, and now it’s open to low-risk patient populations. When you compare TAVR to surgery, it’s been more beneficial. Being able to get the word out and to let people know there are options for them is so vital.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

My own father was suffering from AS and he was starting to become symptomatic. Therefore, if you take the statistics, 68% of these patients passed away within a year. It’s daunting to know that had I not recognized my father’s AS, things may have been different. It’s an awareness not only within the community, but within the medical community, to make people aware. It still surprises me that some people are just shocked we’re able to do these procedures. You come in one day, get the procedure, go home the next day. That’s it. It’s amazing to be able to do something like that.

How do you think this might change the world?

Answered above.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

Not applicable to this health technology.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

The things you need to know about TAVR is first of all the availability. It is readily available. There is commitment, not only from the medical community, which needs to be aware of who’s available to have this procedure and when they’re able to have this procedure, but the general population as well, irrespective of who it is.

They need to understand, a lot of the time they think their symptoms are just supposed to be what happens when you turn 70 and it’s not true, especially with our aging population. With our baby boomers now starting to come into this age range, it’s a very large portion of the population that needs to become aware that some of these symptoms are not just because they are quote-on-quote getting older. There’s a physical reason for this and it needs to be discussed, it needs to be shared.

The other part of it is self-advocacy. If you don’t feel well, you need to talk to someone about it. Talk to your physician and get an answer, continue to move down that pathway. Whenever they say, “Well, there’s nothing that can be done.” I would challenge that.

Julia did. She was not happy with the answers she received, and she went for another opinion. That’s really what has been my driving factor in wanting to bring this technology to the forefront. Everyone has grandparents and I just remember early on when we didn’t have this technology it was hard to sit there and tell somebody, “Look, you’re 90, there’s really nothing we can do for you,” because the open-heart surgery procedure would have been too traumatic for them.

The oldest patient we’ve done TAVR with was 102 years old when we did her surgery. She’s now 105 and doing great! Ten years ago, she wouldn’t be here anymore. We’ve been able to help people, not only with longevity, but improving quality of life. Being open and wanting to get care is very important.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

What’s important is you find something you’re passionate about. It doesn’t have to be on a grand scale, it just has to be important to you. If it’s important to you, then it’s probably important to a whole lot of other people too.

You have to make a difference within yourself and within the community you are in. I started off with the hospital community I worked at. You start to make a difference there and then you start to have a halo effect. Your impact starts to be present at other hospitals, moves to the city, the region, and then statewide.

That’s how you make a difference, be passionate. It’s what will drive you to continue to want to make a difference.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

If I had to have breakfast with somebody, I would say Blake Shelton.

I don’t watch a whole lot of TV. I do listen to Audible and podcasts while I work. However, I think the one TV show I do watch is The Voice with my wife.

Blake Shelton cracks me up. I also think he and I are a lot alike. I’m from Texas, so people will make fun of me because I wear cowboy boots with my scrubs. Everyone always knows when I’m walking by because they can hear my boots in the morning when I’m making my rounds.

I think he’s just a good old boy who enjoys life. You hear stories about him just doing good things we don’t get to see. One of the things my dad used to tell me was always do the right thing when no one else is looking. I feel like Blake is that way. He’s a big superstar and you hear about him pulling over to help people change tires and things like that. I just think it’s really cool. That’s what I would do too.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Yes, please take the time to follow and visit the following online platforms to learn more.

• Twitter: Methodist Physicians
• Facebook: Methodist Hospital System & Jorge Alvarez
• Medtronic TAVR Website

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

About The Interviewer: David Leichner is a veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry with significant experience in the areas of cyber and security, enterprise software and communications. At Cybellum, a leading provider of Product Security Lifecycle Management, David is responsible for creating and executing the marketing strategy and managing the global marketing team that forms the foundation for Cybellum’s product and market penetration. Prior to Cybellum, David was CMO at SQream and VP Sales and Marketing at endpoint protection vendor, Cynet. David is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Technology College. He holds a BA in Information Systems Management and an MBA in International Business from the City University of New York.