James N. Kirkpatrick, MD

Research interests: echocardiography, ventricular assist and other cardiac assist devices; the use of echocardiography in developing world nations; education and the practice of cardiac palliative care, especially for patients with cardiac devices; ethical issues in the practice of cardiology ("cardioethics")

James N. Kirkpatrick, MD
Professor of Medicine
Professor, Department of Cardiology
Professor, Department of Bioethics & Humanities
Director of the Echocardiography Laboratory, UWMC

Dr. Kirkpatrick is Professor of Medicine and Bioethics and Section of Chief of Cardiac Imaging in the Division of Cardiology and director of the Echocardiography Laboratory at the UW Medical Center.  He sees patients in the general cardiology and aortopathy clinics. Dr. Kirkpatrick is one of the few ethics-trained cardiologists in the United States. He is Chair of the UWMC Ethics Committee and serves as a clinical ethics consultant. He lectures and performs research in the areas of ethics of cardiac devices, palliative cardiology, and echocardiography.  He has held multiple leadership positions in cardiovascular societies in cardiovascular genetics and cardioethics. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick strives to create active partnerships with his patients to achieve the best possible outcomes. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick graduated from Pomona College and received his M.D. from Loma Linda University. He completed internship and residency at Yale in internal medicine and clinical medical ethics and cardiology fellowships at the University of Chicago. He was on the cardiovascular and ethics faculty and co-chaired the ethics committee at the University of Pennsylvania, then joined UW cardiology and bioethics and humanities in 2015. Dr. Kirkpatrick's personal interests include reading history and travel (especially overseas medical outreach).