America has a shortage of cardiologists, which is a problem because heart disease kills more people in the United States than anything else.

A $5 million gift announced by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF) is helping to change that.

Minneapolis Heart Institute cardiologist Jonathan Urbach had a great mentor growing up in his father.

“He came home every night, happy with what he did,” Urbach said.

He went to med school at Boston University, started residency at Harvard, finished at Abbott Northwestern and became a cardiologist after a fellowship at Minneapolis Heart.

“…that really helped to solidify my decision to go into medicine as a career,” said Urbach.

His services are badly needed.

“Well, I know that every year, more cardiologists retire than there are cardiologists who entered the field,” Urbach said.

According to the American College of Cardiology, there are about 32,000 cardiologists in the U.S. right now, but they’re getting older, and about 2,000 retire each year. Only 1,450 are entering the workforce, which leaves a deficit of almost 550 cardiologists each year.

“It’s hard to get appointments with us here,” Urbach said. “It’s frustrating to get into clinic, and that problem is only going to increase.”

A $5 million gift from Armand and Mary Brachman will allow MHIF to train even more cardiologists to meet the demand.

“So it is our goal to grow more cardiologists to bring more people into our programs to increase our reach and motivate them to not only practice medicine but practice cardiology,” said Kristine Fortman, the CEO of MHIF.

“I want to say thank you,” Fortman said when asked what she would like to say to the Brahmans. “They are making such a difference in so many individuals’ future. Not only the students and the future doctors, but the patients that those people will impact.”

Paige Carlson is an associate research coordinator who could become one of those new cardiologists.”So what I’ve been researching is a new therapy for heart attacks, which is called supersaturated oxygen therapy.”

After interning for two years at MHIF, she’s going to med school in the fall.

“I think everyone can think of someone in their life that is impacted by heart disease in some way,” Carlson said. “And so to be able to have a positive impact on that and maybe lessen the burden on some people in the future is definitely something that’s really inspiring to me.”

“Gifts like this… they are transformative,” Urbach said. “They help turn a program that’s already successful into something that is even more; it opens up more doors and allows more people to be inspired by medicine, go into the field than otherwise would. So it’s absolutely gonna help with the problem.”

If the trends continue, the U.S. will have 5,500 fewer cardiologists than we do today by 2035, and this as our population ages and the need increases.