Even in his early years as a cardiologist, Dr. James Dove had a vision for excellence in patient care.

“I wanted to create a practice large enough to provide the latest advances in cardiac treatment and provide a significant volume of personal care,” Dove recalled sharing with colleagues at the Springfield Clinic in Illinois, where his practice first began. “They told me it wouldn’t work.”

They were wrong. Dove went on to found Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants Ltd, a non-profit, self-funded research foundation established in 1982, and today he serves as president emeritus of the 45-member group of cardiologists.

“It has allowed me to do the special things I was trained to do,” he explained. “We have the ability to develop partnerships with 1,600 primary care physicians, and that brings a huge advantage.”

Dove was also instrumental in forming Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s Hospital in the early 1990s, and he is credited with creating the largest heart program in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation. Such innovative thinking coupled with his commitment to patient care and teaching recently earned him the presidency of the American College of Cardiology.

“I’ve had tremendous partners – we are a large dynamic group and have the same pattern of caring. We constantly learn from each other,” Dove said. “No one has been trained at the same institution, and each brings different ideas.” He added that the partners cover for each other and that has allowed him opportunities to participate in national and international events as well as continue to teach secondyear medical students using the latest technology available.

At the same time, Dove remains involved in the education of undergraduates through the Dove Scholarship, which he and nephew Rick Dove ’80 created in 2001 to provide a one-half tuition scholarship to an outstanding junior pre-med student and a pre-law student at Wittenberg.

Yet, despite his professional success, Dove said his family remains the most important to him – Carol, their daughter Laura and son Steven, and their five grandchildren. His patients’ families also count high on his list of priorities.

“Nothing beats taking care of families,” Dove said. “They come to me at a difficult time. They are scared, and they have reason to be scared. To have the trust of families, to see them through their crises, there is no greater privilege.”

—Phyllis Eberts ’00