Ellestad, Myrvin H. 1921- (Myrvin Ellestad)

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Ellestad, Myrvin H. 1921- (Myrvin Ellestad)

PERSONAL:

Born August 17, 1921, in Santa Maria, CA; son of Melvin (a teacher) and Myrtle (a teacher) Ellestad; married Lera Cotter; children: Bonney, Steven, Cynthia, Cheryl, Warren, Roger, Guy, Debbie. Ethnicity: "Norwegian." Education: University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1943; University of Louisville, M.D., 1946. Politics: Conservative. Religion: "Atheist."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Long Beach, CA. Office—2801 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90801. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, NJ, intern, 1946-47, resident, 1949-50; Seaside Memorial Hospital, Long Beach, CA, resident, 1950-51; San Francisco County Hospital, fellow in pathology and U.S. public health cancer trainee, 1951-52; Memorial Hospital, Long Beach, staff member at Children's Diagnostic Heart Clinic, 1952-70, senior attending physician at hospital, 1954—, director of division of clinical physiology, 1957-80, chief of department of medicine, 1962-63, and division of cardiology at Medical Center, 1962—, vice chief of staff at Medical Center, 1976-77, chief of staff, 1977-80, member of board of trustees, 1981—. University of California, Los Angeles, assistant clinical professor, 1955-63; University of California, Irvine, associate clinical professor, 1963-73, clinical professor, 1973—. Certified by American Board of Internal Medicine, 1955, and Sub-Specialty Board for Cardiovascular Disease, 1971; Harbor General Hospital, attending physician and member of cardiac catheterization team, 1955-63, chief of staff, 1961; U.S. Naval Hospital, Long Beach, cardiology consultant, 1966—; Federal Aviation Administration, cardiology consultant to Federal Air Surgeon, 1971—; consultant to Johnson Space Center and National Institute of Biological Sciences. Member of editorial board, Clinical Cardiology, Journal of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Annals of Sports Medicine, American Journal of Cardiology, and American Journal of Noninvasive Cardiology. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, active duty in Medical Corps, 1947-49; served in Cuba; became lieutenant junior grade.

MEMBER:

American College of Cardiology (fellow), American Heart Association (fellow of Council of Clinical Cardiology), American Academy of Sports Physicians (member of board of governors, 1980), American College of Sports Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians (fellow), American Physiological Society, Royal Society of Medicine (fellow), California Society of Internal Medicine, Long Beach Society of Internal Medicine (president, 1954), Long Beach Heart Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Honors Achievement Award, Angiology Research Foundation, 1969.

WRITINGS:

(Compiler) Stress Testing: Principles and Practice, F.A. Davis (Philadelphia, PA), 1975, 5th edition, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

The World and Its Animals (juvenile), illustrated by Joyce Robinson, Rivercross Publishing (Orlando, FL), 1998.

(Editor, with Ezra Amsterdam) Exercise Testing: Current Concepts and Recent Advances, Kluwer Academic (Boston, MA), 2001.

(Under name Myrvin Ellestad) A Romance with the Heart: An Intimate Look at the Life and Work of a Pioneer in Heart Medicine, Cedar Vista Books (Beverly Hills, CA), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Noninvasive Cardiovascular Diagnosis: Current Concepts, edited by E.B. Diethrich, University Park Press (Baltimore, MD), 1978; and Coronary Heart Surgery, edited by Raskamm and Schmuziger, Springer-Verlag (Berlin, Germany), 1979. Contributor of more than 150 articles to medical journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Myrvin H. Ellestad once commented: "I grew up in Auburn, California, a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. As a child I spent time in the woods hiking and fishing, and in the winter skiing. My mother and father were both school-teachers who encouraged me to pursue an education.

"As a child I was diagnosed as having rheumatic heart disease. When a new doctor came to town, he reassured my parents that my heart was normal. Dr. Dunovitz became a lifelong friend and mentor. Because of him I went to medical school. Although I have been in the private practice of cardiology for nearly fifty years, I have been active in a good deal of research and teaching, and I served as chief of a cardiology department at a large teaching hospital for many years.

"I started writing research papers early on, and then medical books. Since taking anthropology in college at Berkeley, I have always avidly followed the developments in both anthropology and archaeology. I have supplemented this knowledge by traveling to many famous anthropological locations, such as Egypt, Israel, Easter Island, and the Galapagos Islands. When my very bright granddaughter started asking many questions about life, I decided to write a children's book on evolution. My good friend, Joyce Robinson, who is an accomplished artist, agreed to illustrate the book.

"I believe it is important for books on science to be introduced to bright children early, so that they will become interested in the world around them, not just in the social whirl that so many young people believe is the center of the universe."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Ellestad, Myrvin, A Romance with the Heart: An Intimate Look at the Life and Work of a Pioneer in Heart Medicine, Cedar Vista Books (Beverly Hills, CA), 2006.