Out of the White Coat: Dr. Stephen Fedec

When asked how they chose medicine as a career, doctors will often say they were science geeks from an early age. Not so for Dr. Stephen Fedec.

“It was my ninth-grade biology teacher who piqued my interest,” he says.

Once piqued, though, that interest fell on naturally fertile ground.

“We do have a lot of medicine in the family,” the board-certified, fellowship-trained interventional cardiologist, who joined Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists last fall, says with a laugh. Both pharmacists, his parents owned a pharmacy in downtown Philadelphia for 20 years. While his mother continued running the pharmacy to support the family, his father, at age 42, went to medical school and afterward practiced family medicine till the end of his life. One of his sisters is a doctor, the other a cardiac technician.

At the Heart of Medicine

Dr. Fedec, a Philadelphia native, earned his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. For his first few years in practice, he was a primary care physician like his father, but cardiology had always been an interest and in time it became his specialty.

“The heart is an incredible organ!” he marvels. “When you think of the work it does, how many times it has to pump!”

But it’s not the heart’s anatomy that he likes best about cardiology.

“When you see a patient coming into the cath lab, they’re having a heart attack — we call it an acute STEMI — and we bring them in and they’re having chest pain,” he says. “Then, when they leave the cath lab, the majority of the time they’re feeling much better, and their chest pain goes away. It is rewarding to help somebody like that.”

Read More: Your Mighty Heart

Stress Relief

Rewarding as it is, Interventional cardiology is a high-stress specialty, no question about it. Fortunately, Dr. Fedec knows how to manage the stress: All his life he’s been physically active.

“I was very athletic in high school and played a lot of sports,” he says, adding that he also swam for Penn State, where he received his bachelor’s degree in biology.

In recent years, however, it’s fair to say he’s taken fitness to a whole new level. During his decade of practice in Fort Myers, Florida, a general surgeon friend sparked his interest in triathlons.

“I graduated into it,” Dr. Fedec recalls. “I went back into swimming and began biking and running.”

He started with sprint triathlons, then moved on to Olympic-distance events and eventually the Half Ironman, which requires swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 and running 13.1.

“I've done multiple Halfs,” says the now-seasoned triathlete, by any standard an exemplar of healthy living for his patients. This year he completed his first full marathon.

“This is my stress relief,” he says.

Read More: 4 Ways to Take Charge of Your Heart Health

Taking to the Skies

It was after medical residency that he followed up on another interest dating from high school and got a private pilot’s license. Over the years Dr. Fedec picked up instrument, commercial and multi-engine ratings, no small achievement, and his wife, Teresa, earned a pilot’s license as well.

“I always wanted to have access to the coast but didn’t have a lot of time off,” he says. “So I decided to shorten the distance.”

He purchased a used single-engine four-seater for family trips.

“We’d put the kids in the plane, take the dog and fly to either visit family or explore the beaches up the coast.”

The cardiologist has his parents to thank for his love of travel.

“To get away from Northeast winters, we took a lot of trips to tropical places where it was warm,” he says. “We did Venezuela, the Caribbean. I have so many fond memories of those trips.”

When he and Teresa had children of their own, they continued the tradition, and travel has been an important part of their family life.

This past summer, the Fedecs moved into the house they’d built in a community South of the Broad River. So, while travel has often been a fulfilling pastime, these days the Fedecs enjoy gathering with their kids — a son and a daughter, both now young adults — in this new place that already feels like home.

It’s the small things about life in the Lowcountry he has come to appreciate — the change of seasons after living in Florida, the water’s sweep on his morning drive to the hospital.

“I love the drive,” he says, “because I can go over those bridges.”

Dr. Fedec and the other cardiologists at Beaufort Memorial can help improve your heart health. Call 843-770-4550 to schedule an appointment.