Member Spotlight: Pamela B. Morris, MD, FNLA

Pamela Morris, MD, is currently an associate professor at the Medical University of South Carolina where she serves as director of the Seinsheimer Cardiovascular Health Program and co- director of Women’s Heart Care. She is also the chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Leadership Council and Section.

When asked about the best part of her occupation, Dr. Morris said that she is very fortunate to have a career that is ever-changing and dynamic. “Just when I think I understand my areas of interest, I blink and everything is new again,” Morris explains. “Exciting new science to inform my clinical practice; new opportunities for education of my students, residents, and fellows; and informative discussions and challenging debates with my colleagues in prevention and lipidology.”

Dr. Morris’s interest in lipidology came unexpectedly. She says she was on a path to the animal lab studying angiogenesis factors during her cardiology fellowship, and as she neared the end of her training she was asked to become the medical director of the Duke University Preventive Approach to Cardiology (DUPAC) — Duke’s robust cardiac rehabilitation and prevention program. “Perhaps one too many rat infarction procedures made me jump at the offer and the rest is history,” said Morris. Together with her endocrinology colleague, Dr. Fred Dunn, Dr. Morris started the first joint lipid clinic at Duke. “We were just beginning to enjoy the benefits of the first statin for cardiovascular risk reduction and it’s been a wild ride since then!”

No two days are ever the same for Dr. Morris, which keeps her engaged and enthusiastic to meet each day’s challenges. Dr. Morris spends her days in her busy clinical practice in CVD prevention and management of complex dyslipidemias, women’s heart care, and some general cardiology. Weekly nuclear cardiology and cardiac CTA reading sessions, ECG interpretation, and cardiac rehabilitation  supervision fill some of her non-clinic hours. Dr. Morris is also a Master Clinical Skills Instructor at MUSC, and teaches weekly Physical Diagnosis sessions to enthusiastic second-year students. On top of all that, for three months each year, Dr. Morris supervises the Inpatient Cardiology Consult Service that provides general cardiology consultations for other services throughout the hospital system.

Dr. Morris became involved in the NLA when she relocated from the frigid winters of Minnesota to Charleston, S.C. in the mid-1990s and joined the Southeast Lipid Association. “SELA gave a name (clinical lipidology) to my career passion, gave me a ‘professional home’ with colleagues who shared my interests, and provided exposure to brilliant minds in the field who have never ceased to amaze me with their insights and discoveries,” she says.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Dr. Morris says that her favorite part of the NLA is the people that she has met and the relationships she has gained. “The NLA staff works tirelessly and joyfully to promote the mission of the association, to help make the rest of us look good and effectively do our jobs in support of the organization, and to make membership in the NLA truly a ‘five-star’ experience.” Dr. Morris also went on to say that the professional and personal relationships she has established as an NLA member have shaped and enriched her career and the friendships will be lifelong.

As a cardiologist, Dr. Morris would like to see preventive cardiology/clinical lipidology recognized as a subspecialty. She says that it continues to be somewhat frustrating as her colleagues say things like “I have the patient on a statin, what more do you want?” Dr. Morris believes that there is a gross underestimation of the value of prevention and the expertise of clinical lipidologists in ASCVD risk reduction.

When Dr. Morris is not hard at work in a professional setting, she enjoys spending her time scuba-diving. She says her hobby blends her love of the ocean, wildlife, photography, and remote travel destinations. Dr. Morris says that she can be happy anywhere there is a boat and a tank of Nitrox. Also, if you are in need of a drink, Dr. Morris says she can make a mean cocktail with only the finest ingredients.

Written by Membership and Marketing Coordinator Nichole Vanderpool.