Woman of Vision: Dr. Anne Gillis

There is a powerful four-letter word, which in the field of medicine is sometimes elusive. But if you asked Dr. Anne Gillis what her vision is, that four-letter word springs from her lips.

“This is one of those areas of medicine where we actually have an opportunity to cure patients of their problem,” Gillis says.

Finding a cure, and ending suffering and sudden death from heart rhythm disorders, has been the focus of Gillis’ work since she embarked on a career in cardiovascular medicine more than 30 years ago. Today, as an accomplished cardiologist and a professor of medicine at the University of Calgary and Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, she is implementing that vision.

Gillis was instrumental in establishing a remote monitoring clinic at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. Patients, with life-saving devices such as implanted defibrillators and pacemakers, can be monitored electronically when a trip to the doctor is too difficult. “We were the first centre to introduce it outside the U.S. because of a real need. A third of our patients, who have implanted defibrillators, drive over 100 kilometres to come and see me, and often they’re elderly and sometimes they’re not able to drive because of their heart condition.”

That clinic is now monitoring more than 1,000 people in southern Alberta and parts of eastern B.C.

Gillis has also been a pioneer as a female in her field, acting as a mentor and successfully encouraging more women to pursue a career, which this proud Cape Bretoner describes as exciting. “We are seeing more and more women enter the specialty, not enough. The city of Calgary probably has more female cardiologists per population base than any other city in Canada.”

Establishing a process to monitor patients’ heart arrhythmia from a distance, and encouraging more women to enter the field, have been priorities for Gillis, but so has chasing that sometimes elusive four-letter word — cure. She is on the forefront of doing that after establishing, with colleagues, an ablation program at Foothills.

Doctors can diagnose an abnormal heart rhythm and then perform what’s called an ablation procedure. “We identify the electrical circuit that contributes to the heart rhythm problem; we cauterize it and cure the patient of their arrhythmia. Success rates for most ablation procedures are in the range of 95 to 98 per cent, so very high success rate with a low risk of complication.”

Next January, Gillis will head to Auckland, New Zealand, for a year-long sabbatical doing collaborative research, all part of her efforts to continue making a difference. “Throughout my career I have wanted to do whatever I can, to either cure people of their heart rhythm problems or treat them, so that they can live normal lives.”

And while you might imagine that the life of a research scientist, physician, academic leader and administrator all rolled into one might be stressful, Gillis says she is able to maintain a work-life balance. That includes making time to work on her golf game while she’s in New Zealand. “That’s why you go on sabbaticals, to sometimes rediscover that balance,” Gillis adds with a smile.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I certainly have enjoyed all the different people that I’ve met in my field throughout my career . . . and it’s been incredibly rewarding.”