In memoriam: James Kirkpatrick
Dr. James Kirkpatrick, professor (Cardiology), received his medical degree from Loma Linda University, and completed his internship and residency at Yale, and fellowships in clinical medical ethics, echocardiology, and cardiovascular disease at the University of Chicago.
He was appointed to the cardiovascular and ethics faculty at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the University of Washington in 2015.
Patient care
Kirkpatrick served as section chief of cardiac imaging and director of the echocardiography laboratory at the UW Medical Center. Under his leadership, the Echo lab has become one of the largest programs in the region, performing over 12,000 studies per year.
In addition to transthoracic, stress, and transesophageal echocardiography, he had a particular interest and expertise in the use of echocardiography in settings with limited resources.
His clinic was based at Montlake, seeing patients with general cardiology needs. In 2023, he helped establish the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Aortic Program to provide holistic, team-based care for complex aortic disease. A team of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, clinic staff, genetic counselors, medical geneticists and vascular surgeons manage 250 to 300 patient cases annually.
He recently wrote about the Bruce Protocol, which revolutionized the way clinicians assess patients for cardiovascular disease.
Ethics
As one of the few cardiologists in the country with specific training in medical ethics, his academic interests involved ethical issues particularly in patients with cardiac assist devices, the uses of echocardiography in the developing world, and the education and practice of cardiac palliative care.
He held a joint appointment in the UW Department of Bioethics and Humanities and served on the UW Ethics Consultation Service since 2015 and as chair of the UW Ethics Committee since 2016. He was also the chair of the American College of Cardiology Ethics and Compliance Committee.
Research
A prolific and well-funded investigator with over 200 publications, he was a nationally and internationally recognized expert in diagnostic echocardiography (particularly heart failure and mechanical assist devices), the use of echocardiography in developing world nations, and cardiac palliative care, with an emphasis on patients with heart failure and cardiac devices. He was serving as the chair of the American Society of Echocardiography Foundation.
Education
As a teacher, he was considered knowledgeable, enthusiastic, supportive, stimulating, a great communicator, and generous with his time. He was also an excellent role model and mentor, mentoring over 30 trainees over the course of his career.
He directed the UW Cardiology Advance Imaging Fellowship from 2016-2021 and served as a HuBio Course Small Group Facilitator for the first-year cardiovascular block. In 2009, he received the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medicine Faculty Teaching Award.
He also hosted the UW Heart Institute’s Coffee and Cardiology Podcast.
A family affair
His father, Dr. Richard Kirkpatrick, has been an internist in Longview, Washington since 1976. He had a clinical faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine and was honored in 2017 with the UW School of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award.
His brother Scott went to the UW for medical school and received the Douglas S. Paauw Medical Student Award in 2017. Scott and their sister Christie, also a physician, work at Kirkpatrick Family Care with their father, and their brother David is a physician assistant practicing in Bend, Oregon. Their grandfather Neal practiced in Longview for nearly 60 years.
Memorial service
He is survived by his wife and three children. Details regarding a memorial service are forthcoming.