Member Spotlight: Thomas Haffey, DO, FACC, FACOI, FNLA

Dr. Thomas Haffey’s passion for lipids shows in his dedication to the field. As a practicing cardiologist, he spends his days splitting time between seeing patients — a large part of which are dealing with lipid problems — and running research projects at North Suburban Medical Center. Out of office, he dedicates his time to the field of lipidology as well. Dr. Haffey currently sits on the Quality Assurance Committee of the American College of Cardiology, the Governor’s ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Task Force in Colorado, and is president-elect of the Southwest Chapter of the National Lipid Association (NLA). He has also informally become the official photographer of the NLA. Having taken pictures at almost every meeting since 2006, he estimates to have around 14,000 pictures, which are extremely valuable to the association, members, and staff.

Dr. Haffey’s commitment to the NLA and the field of lipidology comes from a personal place. Due to a family history of heart problems, Dr. Haffey made it a point to learn more about it. As the chief fellow in cardiology at William Beaumont Hospital — one of the busiest hospitals in the world — Dr. Haffey never had to order a lipid profile. At that time, there was no therapy and not enough information. Looking back, he’s amazed when he realizes how far the field of lipidology has come.

In his “spare” time, Dr. Haffey travels the country giving lectures on heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, and hypertension. As a nationally recognized speaker, he found himself wondering what makes him standout. In 2006, Dr. Haffey became a member of the first class for the American Board of Clinical Lipidology. After passing the NLA’s first certifying exam, he became a Diplomate of Clinical Lipidology.

Dr. Haffey has also dedicated much of his time to Million Hearts, a program that sets out to reduce heart attacks and strokes by 1 million over a five-year period. They hope to do so by educating the public and focusing clinical attention on the prevention of heart attack and stroke. The Million Hearts program partners with many non-profit organizations to help ensure progress toward that goal. Dr. Haffey believes there is a wonderful opportunity to partner further with Million Hearts and have them place more focus on lipids.

His belief is that there is no such thing as a sudden heart attack. He thinks that they can be prevented, or at the very least, delayed. In order to do this, he says that the field has to migrate toward registries and large patient populations to answer questions that occur every day. He believes the current guidelines are somewhat handcuffed by their reliance on double-blind placebo controlled trials, but recognizes that the problem is not just national, but international as well.

From Maui to Milan
After listening to presentations at the NLA’s 2014 Spring Clinical Lipid Update in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Haffey became even more convinced that it is time to go international. He has seen interest in Australia, East Asia, Egypt, and especially Europe. “There’s a great interest in Europe,” he says, “and right now there is no overall body that influences or inspires people in the field of lipidology and I think the NLA could be that body.” As immediate past governor of the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Haffey has witnessed first-hand the tremendous international growth and influence in recent years. On a trip to Milan with his wife, Dr. Haffey reached out to Cesare Sirtori, MD, a well-known identifier of apoA1 Milano, who he had previously connected with at the Maui meeting. Dr. Sirtori invited them to his palace in Milan that contains gorgeous artwork, sculptures, and a ceiling Dr. Haffey compared to the Sistine Chapel.

Outside of work, Dr. Haffey is very family oriented and is extremely proud of their accomplishments. His wife, Marilyn, is a retired lieutenant colonel, black belt in taekwondo, and is a wonderful artist with a portrait hanging in the corporate headquarters of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Haffey’s daughter, Marie, works on a committee for helping people with disabilities in Colorado and his son, Thomas, Jr., holds a world record for building the largest penny pyramid in the world! The Haffey family is full of talent and bright minds.