Cardiologist Dr Dion Stub says he usually treats his patients' heart attacks by opening the main artery on the underside of their forearms (the radial artery) and running a catheter through to the heart artery.
Through this catheter, he inserts a wire into the heart's blocked artery to suck away clots. He also inserts a balloon and stent to push back dangerous plaque, and the stent remains implanted like mini-scaffolding to keep the artery open.
"That treats the problem and, within 30 minutes, you have opened an artery and protected someone's heart muscle," he says.
Stub is an interventional cardiologist and clinical researcher. Three days per week, he's either on-call or on-site at the Alfred Hospital, Western Health Cardiology and Cabrini Hospital, responding to cardiac emergencies or helping prevent general cardiology problems. The rest of the week he spends in clinical research at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, investigating ways to treat heart attacks and cardiac arrest and examining technological advances in the treatment of heart disease.
Stubs gets much satisfaction from helping people improve their health but at the end of the day, his job is to save lives and that's what he loves.
"On the one hand, I get to see patients in the clinic and manage their high blood pressure and cholesterol, in the hope of preventing them ever having a cardiac emergency such as a heart attack, but the other incredibly satisfying part of the job is that I treat patients who have life-threatening heart attacks."
Stub graduated in medicine at Monash University in 2003 and subsequently trained in cardiology at the Alfred Hospital. In 2013 he completed a PhD, conducting research at Baker IDI and the Alfred to establish Australia's first treatment pathway for patients with refractory cardiac arrest.
This year, he returned to Australia after spending two years in the US and Canada as a post-doctorate fellow researching cardiac emergency care.
The cardiac ward Stub works in at the Alfred is slated for a redevelopment, supported by the Alfred's forthcoming Father's Day fundraising appeal, which focuses on raising awareness of men's health issues.
"This is really transforming an area of cardiology that will have a massive implication for patients' recovery and getting them back into the community," says Stub. "The new ward is incredibly important to improve access and ongoing growth." Stub is the present recipient of four years' part-time research funding through the National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship, and for the foreseeable future, he says, he's focusing on working hard to consolidate his current roles in research and clinical medicine.
"I'm very much enjoying my co-joint role at Western Health, and being able to provide good cardio service to people in Melbourne."
