Adam Shpigel, MD, FACC

Meet Adam Shpigel, MD, FACC, from BJC Medical Group Cardiology.


Talk about your background and education.

I grew up in northern New Jersey in the suburbs of New York City. I went to medical school at Vanderbilt University, which is in Nashville, Tennessee. I did my internal medicine training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, and then I did cardiology and interventional cardiology training right here at Washington University. I did a one-year valve and structural heart disease fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Why did you go into medicine?

Growing up, we had some illnesses in family members, and I saw the amazing things that modern medicine could do to extend life and improve quality of life. When I was in college, I sort of caught the bug. I did a lot of shadowing of physicians, and I really became even more interested in science and the science of medicine.

Why did you choose to specialize in interventional cardiology?

Medicine and cardiology, in particular, are just extremely interesting on an intellectual level. Technologically, we have new advances in medicine and devices and procedural techniques that come out every year. We have amazing advances in the field, especially in the last 10-15 years. I think part of it is just being part of the cutting edge and learning new things as we go along is just very interesting to me. Every day is exciting at this point.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I have a wife, and I have a 20-month-old son so spending time with them is obviously of paramount importance. I take my job as a dad as seriously as I take my job as a physician. I love them beyond anything else. We like exploring the outdoors. We live in St. Louis city, and we like exploring the city. We like trying new restaurants and trying out new places. I’ve always been a big reader, and I try to squeeze at least a little bit of non-medical reading into my life every day. Those are some of the things I really enjoy doing.