MYRVIN HAROLD ELLESTAD, MD: a conversation with the editor∗

Myrvin Ellestad is one of the best cardiologists anywhere. He was born on 17 August 1921 in Santa Maria, California, and grew up in Auburn, California, a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He graduated from the University of California in Berkeley in 1943 and from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1946. His training in internal medicine was at the Jersey City Medical Center and at Seaside Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, California. In 1952 he entered private practice in Long Beach. Despite a busy private practice for nearly 50 years, Dr. Ellestad has published 158 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, 12 chapters in various books, and he has been the sole author of “Stress Testing: Principles and Practice,” the 1st edition of which appeared in 1975 and he is now working on the 5th edition, which will probably appear next year. Myrvin Ellestad was the first to use afterload reduction as therapy for congestive heart failure. He may have been the first to have designed a computerized hospital information system. He is a world-renowned expert in exercise stress testing and has contributed enormously in this area. Since taking anthropology in college, he has continued his interest in that area, having supplemented his knowledge by travels to many famous anthropological locations such as Egypt, Israel, Easter Island, and the Galapagos Islands. Stimulated by one of his granddaughters, he published in 1998 The World and Its Animals, an 83-page book written for children but useful to all of us. Nearly 50 years after entering active practice, at age 79 Dr. Ellestad remains a prominent learner and teacher of cardiology and his enthusiasm for learning new things and for always asking questions makes him a very exciting person to be around. He’s also a great guy.