When a heart valve patient isn’t eligible for traditional surgery, they may face limited options for treatment. That’s when many turn to Matthew Summers, an interventional cardiologist at Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

As program director for the structural heart team, Summers sees patients with heart valve problems, congenital heart defects, and a variety of other heart conditions. At the center, they receive treatment through traditional open-heart surgery, as well as the newer minimally invasive methods that are a specialty of the 2007 University of Richmond grad.

Summers is also an active researcher, testing new device therapies on patients who don’t qualify for existing surgeries and treatment options. He works with device manufacturers on early feasibility studies to evaluate the devices’ functionality and preliminary safety, as well as large-scale clinical trials in which they are implemented at centers across the country. Summers is currently the principal investigator on 35 device trials, exploring new pathways for aortic valve replacement, mitral valve repair, and other valve replacements.

As one of the nation’s largest heart centers, Sentara Heart Hospital is a top destination for both manufacturers and patients in the mid-Atlantic. Summers is responsible for discussing the new devices with patients, performing the procedures, and following patients for up to five years.

“It’s my job to get patients in the right clinical trial with the device that I think is going to work the best, and then deliver a good result,” he said. “Then we study the device and the procedure, as well as its efficacy against things like traditional open-heart surgery.”

In one trial, Summers is testing a non-surgical valve replacement used to treat severe aortic regurgitation. The condition occurs when the heart’s aortic valve doesn’t close tightly and blood leaks back into the heart chamber, leading to fatigue and shortness of breath. Summers completed the first four procedures in Virginia.

Summers credits Richmond with setting him on the path to implementing these groundbreaking therapies. The summer after his first year, he worked in chemistry professor Emma Goldman's research lab. His sophomore and junior years, he worked with chemistry professor Michelle Hamm.

“That’s really where I got interested in research,” Summers said. He calls Hamm “an incredible mentor. She taught us about scientific inquiry and how to answer questions from a scientific basis, which is fundamentally what we’re doing in clinical medicine.”

He said the early exposure to research laid the groundwork for him to secure a position working at the NIH National Cancer Institute, where he planned to pursue oncology research. However, as a student at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, he connected with a leader in interventional cardiology and his interests shifted. His training continued with an internal residency at Duke University and cardiovascular fellowships with the Cleveland Clinic.

“Four years out of training, I’m in a unique position — being in charge of a valve center,” he said. “The experience I got at Richmond made me very competitive in medical school and at Mayo, and then for residencies and fellowships. It all started with understanding the scientific process and rigorous study, and learning how to navigate intense academic environments. All of that was foundational.”