Ronald L. Walsh, MD, was exposed to the practice of medicine during his childhood years. His father was a family physician in downtown Detroit, Mich. This sparked his interest in medicine as a youth and it was further enhanced by my work experiences as a hospital orderly during high school and working as a nursing assistant in the emergency room during my college years. This gave Dr. Walsh a good idea about what a career in medicine might be like and spurred him on to take premedical curriculum in college. He was accepted into the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1973 and graduated first in his class in 1977. During medical school, Dr. Walsh was keenly interested in internal medicine and realized that my true passion was in cardiology and that a large proportion of internal medicine patients have cardiovascular problems or risks. He therefore decided to specialize in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Walsh completed my internal medicine residency at the Chicago Osteopathic Medical Centers and then went to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. to do my cardiology fellowship training in 1980 and completed it in 1982 with a special emphasis on cardiac rhythm disorders and electrophysiology.
Dr. Walsh began his cardiology practice and was appointed assistant professor in cardiology at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and its sister institution, The Olympia Fields Osteopathic Medical Center in Olympia Fields, Ill. He also was involved in developing a private practice in nearby Northwest Indiana. In 1988 Dr. Walsh made the decision to move to Florida to continue his cardiology practice. He had always wanted to eventually move to Florida. After a year in Ormond Beach, FL, he had the opportunity to join Sun Coast Internal Medicine Consultants in Largo, FL and also joined the medical staffs of Sun Coast Hospital, Largo Medical Center and Morton Plant hospital in late 1989.
Dr. Walsh has now practiced in the Largo-Clearwater area for nearly 25 years. He has continued in teaching and is now a professor of cardiology at the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine and also the program director of the cardiology fellowship program at Largo Medical Center. He has spent my entire medical career involved in teaching alongside his very busy private practice. Dr. Walsh has always put the care of my patients first in his priorities and they always know how much he cares about them and want to provide the best care possible for them. Despite all the challenges that physicians have to face in our current medical landscape, he still feels fulfilled every day after giving all of himself to his patients, his practice and residents in training. He also enjoys participating in numerous clinical research projects that run in our office practice along with my partners.
He now looks forward to a very productive and satisfying practice with The Heart Institute at Largo.