Renowned cardiologist John Boehmer ’82 treats some of the most health-challenged people imaginable, working to find remedies to lethal ailments. But, despite having made numerous contributions in the field of cardiology, he tends to take a broader perspective as he reflects on why he goes to work each day.
"When you take on the role of a physician, you step into a person’s life, and they let you into their life in a very unique way," he says. "It’s a privilege to be thrust into the aspects of a person’s life and what it is that’s affecting them."
Boehmer, a professor at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center since 1992, dreamed as a child of becoming a doctor, but little did he know where that ambition would take him.
Originally from Pottstown, Pa., he started his Bucknell career as a biology major. He shifted to chemistry, where he constantly found himself juggling the pressures of an intense course study with varsity football, lettering for four years.
Boehmer says the extra work helped him focus on what mattered. "I was constantly running from lab to practice," he says. "The priorities were always clear — if you need to be in lab, you had to be in lab. That was it."
After studying orthopedic surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, he moved to internal medicine in his post-graduate work at the university’s Medical Center and then went on to his true calling: training in cardiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
His work at Penn State-Hershey has contributed to the development of numerous advancements in cardiology, including new heart-assist and other cardiac devices and long-term treatments. Boehmer became a full-tenured professor at Penn State last July, where, along with his clinical and administrative duties at the hospital, he also serves as chair of the university’s planning committee.
A widely published academic author, he says one of his most gratifying accomplishments has been working with his students on professional articles.
Boehmer lives in Hershey with his wife, Rebecca Kiker Boehmer ’82, and their three children.
In a constantly changing industry, where news headlines tend to focus on rising healthcare costs and the latest "wonder drug," his focus remains the same. "The reason I’m here isn’t the tool, it’s the patient," he says. "When you step into the room with a patient and close the door, the patient is all that matters — that part hasn’t changed."
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