Michael Melucci, MD, FACC is Board Certified in Cardiovascular Disease and practices with South Texas Cardiovascular Consultants.
He spent ten years as an internist before he realized that for him, the most fascinating part of practicing medicine was diagnosing and treating illnesses of the heart. After completing a fellowship in Philadelphia, Dr. Melucci moved to San Antonio to fulfill his commitment to the Air Force as a staff cardiologist at Lackland AFB. After obtaining his board certification in cardiology and completing his commitment with the Air Force, Dr. Melucci began practicing cardiology in Kerrville, where he has lived since 2000.
Dr. Melucci's enthusiasm for his chosen profession is obvious. “The good thing about cardiology is that it is a field where you can make a difference,” he explains. “Transesophageal echos and heart catheterizations provide instant answers. You have a specific question, you do the test, you have an answer and you know exactly what to do after that. If you can see your path clearly, it is very rewarding for you and the patient. Yet despite all the tools available to cardiologists to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease, I think the most important advances in the field of cardiology have been in preventive care. Primary prevention with lipid-lowering agents, exercise and nutrition makes the biggest difference.”
Even more exciting to Dr. Melucci are the prospects for cardiology in the future. “The biggest break is going to come from genetics and genomics,” he predicts. Today, in the field of regenerative medicine, blood stem cells are being tested in clinical trials for growing new blood vessels to repair damage from heart attacks.
Dr. Melucci sees patients in Kerrville and Fredericksburg as well as at Methodist Hospital.