King of hearts.

• Author: Martel, Judy
• Position: Dr. William Nasser

One of America's early open-heart surgery patients now leads Indiana's largest cardiology practice.

"Visionary" is the word most often used as employees of Dr. William Nasser describe their boss.

But the man who became the first cardiologist at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis 20 years ago didn't have a vision of creating the largest cardiology practice in the state, with 250 employees and offices in seven other Indiana cities.

"I never had any idea I'd be working this hard," Nasser says. "The things that we're doing now were not even thought of 20 years ago."

Nasser, Smith & Pinkerton Cardiology Inc. began in 1973 when St. Vincent asked Nasser to start up a practice. He was the only cardiologist on staff at the time.

From those humble beginnings, the practice has grown phenomenally with a new 45,000-square-foot main office. It focuses on all aspects of heart care.

During the past year, Nasser, Smith & Pinkerton had 75,000 patient visits, performed 5,629 echocardiograms, ran 6,826 treadmill tests and did 3,783 catheterizations. On a recent day, 120 patients were seen at Nasser's Indianapolis office. "We couldn't have seen this many patients in one day in the old building," Nasser says.

Building on its own impressive size, Nasser joined with neighboring Northside Cardiology and St. Vincent to form the Indiana Heart Alliance, which captures a large market share of patients and ranks high nationally among cardiology groups. Open-heart surgery is performed at the hospital while all other aspects of cardiac care--from prevention to follow-up--take place in the offices of the two cardiology groups.

Size has its advantages. By recruiting top cardiologists, Nasser has become a pioneer in the use of the coronary stent, a small wire spring that is inserted into the artery to keep it open.

Bloomington's Cook Inc. approached the Heart Alliance in 1990 to be one of the test centers of the coronary stent. The procedure earned official FDA approval in 1993, but as a test site Nasser implanted hundreds of stents in patients at no cost. The procedure allowed the patients to avoid bypass surgery.

The state's first angioplasty also was performed at Nasser, Smith & Pinkerton 15 years ago, according to Nasser. "We have set the pace," he says. Angioplasty is a procedure that involves inflating the arteries with a catheter. This presses blockage to the sides of the arteries, allowing the blood to flow freely through them.

Also, Dr. Cass Pinkerton was among...