David Markham, MD, MSc
David Markham, MD, MSc—an associate professor of medicine in the Emory University Division of Cardiology—has worked at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Deschapelles, Haiti for the past 13 years, helping to research and treat patients affected by peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). He recently visited HAS to work on the PPCM project. Through this collaborative project with HAS, he has treated hundreds of patients with PPCM, worked on the wards and in the clinic, and presented a number of lectures to the hospital’s faculty and staff.
PPCM is a disorder in which a pregnant woman’s heart becomes weakened and enlarged. This prevents the heart from pumping well. The cause of the disorder is unknown, but it typically begins toward the end of pregnancy or after delivery. The disease affects women around the world, and it can lead to heart failure and infant deaths.
X-ray scan of a Haitian PPCM patient’s enlarged heart
While PPCM is relatively rare, Haitian women have the highest incidence in the world—occurring in approximately one out of every 200 women. For Haiti, a developing country that places strong cultural emphasis on maternal/family ties, the impact of this disease is compounded by the fact that families can be left without their mothers, wives, sisters, and children.
Countryside in the Artibonite River Valley, where Haiti’s cholera epidemic started after the 2010 earthquake
This problem with PPCM was recognized many years ago at Schweitzer. An important hospital for the Haitian people, Schweitzer has had a particularly profound impact after the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. The hospital has made research and treatment of PPCM a top priority, and they emphasize the significance of early detection to help prevent maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity.
When asked about his experience abroad, Dr. Markham said, “It has been a real honor and a privilege to work at an amazing place like Schweitzer. Bolstering women’s health in impoverished and medically underserved places like the Artibonite River Valley not only helps women, but also the whole community.” There is ongoing research at HAS on PPCM, and Dr. Markham hopes that the future will bring more knowledge about the disease and its causes.
More about David Markham, MD, MSc
Dr. Markham is currently the medical director of the Emory Heart Failure Clinic at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. He is an experienced heart failure and transplant cardiologist and has performed groundbreaking work in the area of assist device physiology. He completed an internship and residency at the University of Virginia, a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical and molecular cardiology at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and a fellowship in cardiology with advanced training in heart failure and cardiac transplantation at Duke University Medical Center.
Before his return to Atlanta, Markham was medical director of the Heart Failure Clinic at Parkland Memorial Hospital and associate director of heart failure, assist devices and cardiac transplantation at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Related Links
- Emory University Department of Medicine
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Markham’s faculty bio
- Emory University Division of Cardiology
- Hôpital Albert Schweitzer
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