Dr. David Gross knows when to take a risk. As an interventional cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center, both in Boston, he helps patients with structural heart disease and evaluates them for minimally invasive transcatheter interventions. He often accepts high-risk patients with conditions such as complex coronary artery disease, structural heart disease, and peripheral vascular disease who have been turned down by other heart centers.
“He performs procedures that only a handful of other physicians are capable of performing,” wrote Jaime Schneider, M.D., Ph.D., an attending physician in the Center for Thoracic Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in her letter nominating Dr. Gross for the Rising Star--Clinical Practitioner Award. Dr. Gross earned his M.S., Ph.D., and M.D. degrees at Einstein. He did postdoctoral fellowships in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at the Duke–National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School and in Cardiovascular Life Sciences at Harvard and BWH.
Dr. Gross, what interested you in Einstein’s Medical Scientist Training Program?
Dr. Gross: “I really loved chemistry and biology. I thought of becoming a synthetic organic chemist and doing drug design, but in parallel, I worked as a Spanish/English interpreter for a free clinic dealing with underserved patients and loved the patient interaction. An M.D./Ph.D. candidate told me, ‘You know, you don’t have to choose,’ and that was the first time that I heard about the M.D./Ph.D. pathway. From there, I looked around and felt especially at home at Einstein.”
What mentors at Einstein helped you in your career?
“When I met David Silver, Ph.D. [assistant professor of biochemistry], we clicked immediately. I loved the research that he was doing. When I started medical school, I thought I was going to do research in translational oncology and didn’t expect to find myself going in the direction of endocrine, GI [gastrointestinal], and cardiovascular disease. I’m happy that that’s where I ended up because the overlap of these areas is the clinical area that I am passionate about. Dr. Silver was willing to take risks, have me tackle multiple projects, and build projects in new dimensions. He helped me focus on the important parts of projects to maximize efficiency and understood how no one can operate at 150%. And I can’t leave Myles Akabas without credit. He mentors all of the MSTP students. He had this warmth about him and exuded a level of care about the students that you don’t find elsewhere.”
How did your experience at Einstein influence your career?
“I went into residency thinking about specializing in GI, but an elective on the MGH vascular medicine service opened my eyes to the cath lab. There was metabolism, physiology, basic science, interventions, clinical medicine, general cardiology, vascular medicine—an incredible blend—and I set my path towards cardiology. The cath lab also has elements of risk-taking. If we have the possibility of changing a patient’s three- to six-month life expectancy to something longer, I think it’s reasonable for the heart team to consider taking a risk. As David would say, ‘Well, this is an offshoot of our research, but why don’t we set up a pilot experiment?’ Risk taking is also in the spirit of scientific inquiry.”
How has your experience in the lab influenced your practice of medicine and your professional accomplishments?
“As a Ph.D. student, you’re extremely independent and designing things on your own. In the clinical realm, it’s a lot like the MacGyvering we do in the lab. You’re working with your hands, you’re modifying a technique or trying a new one, you’re tinkering. From the perspective of what crystallized that ability for me, it was my time in the lab. It's what really built that mindset and strengthened those neural networks in me in terms of being able to be flexible and adaptable. We did a lot of things that bridged many different areas in the lab.”
What advice would you give our current and future students at Einstein?
“When you’re told, ‘You can do research that has nothing to do with your clinical interest,’ I think that’s not necessarily optimal. You also can’t be 100% in the lab and 100% in the clinic. Trying to be more translational is part and parcel of the future. The most important thing is finding your long-term passion and the reason you’re running both marathons.”
Dr. Gross is a member of many professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Cardiology, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions, and the American Society for Echocardiography.
2024 Alumni Awardees