Dr. Stephen Scheidt, an esteemed cardiologist who spent his entire career of nearly 40 years at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, passed away this summer. Dr. Scheidt was a brilliant clinician and research scientist who helped pioneer the field of cardiac psychology, exploring such areas as the link between mood and heart attack.
Dr. Scheidt held various posts throughout his career at Weill Cornell Medical College, including director of the Cardiology Training Program, assistant dean for Continuing Medical Education and associate dean for Student Affairs. He was also a former member of the Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield board of directors and a one-time vice president of the American Heart Association.
"Steve often spoke of Cornell as being his second family, and one that he truly loved," said his colleague and friend Dr. Peter Okin, the director of Clinical Affairs in the Greenberg Division of Cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. "If our children are our greatest legacy, then Steve's is particularly rich having left nearly 200 of us who he raised and trained to be outstanding cardiologists."
Dr. Scheidt received a B.A. from Princeton University and attended the University of Wurzburg, Germany, as a Fulbright Fellow in Biochemistry. He earned his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He also co-directed the Salzburg-Cornell seminars for the American Austrian Foundation Inc., an organization that fosters a relationship between the U.S. and Austria rooted in medicine, communications, science and the arts. From 1993 to 2007, Dr. Scheidt conducted 15 seminars and other symposia for the foundation. The first of those seminars took place in July 1993, shortly after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Dr. Ken Stein, a cardiac electrophysiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Medical College, said of his friend and colleague: "Dr. Scheidt noted that patients from all walks of life sat together in the waiting room—he was proud not that everyone was treated equally, regardless of circumstance, but in particular he was proud that everyone was treated equally well."
Photography by Robin Holland.