Former Temple Cardiology Chief Dr. Alfred Bove Honored with Portrait Ceremony

Friends and colleagues past and present gathered to honor Alfred Bove, MD, PhD, at his portrait unveiling on March 27. Dr. Bove is Professor Emeritus and two-time Section Chief of Cardiology at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM) and Temple University Hospital (TUH).

Dr. Bove has spent almost his entire professional career at Temple, interrupted only by a seven-year detour to the Mayo Clinic. He earned both his medical degree and doctoral degrees at Temple and completed his residency at TUH. His list of accomplishments is long, including service as President of the American College of Cardiology, an impressive research portfolio, 33 years as a Navy reservist, team physician for the 76ers, and a world leader in undersea medicine – a specialty of his for more than 30 years.

Speakers at the portrait unveiling lauded Dr. Bove’s many professional achievements but spent an equal amount of time talking about his character.

“I’m here today more as a student of Fred Bove than a colleague,” said Steven Houser, PhD, a former research fellow of Dr. Bove and the current Chair of Physiology and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at Temple.

“Over the years, I have watched highly successful people and tried to determine what made them successful. One requirement is that you have to be a good multitasker. Fred could do seven things at the same time – I’ve seen him eat lunch while talking on the phone and reading a paper. He never lost his train of consciousness and always had a forward-thinking mentality. He truly leads by example.”

Paul Mather, MD, Director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Center at the Jefferson Heart Institute, recalled his days as a young cardiology Fellow at Temple and the impact Dr. Bove had on him.

“At his core, Fred is a teacher and one of the most human human beings I have ever met,” he said. “I have two children and they got tired of hearing Fred’s name, that’s how much I talked about him. It’s also worth noting that, at one point, all four heart transplant directors in Philadelphia – at Temple, Penn, Jefferson and Hahnemann – were trained by Fred.”

Dr. Bove’s pioneering work in using the internet in medicine was lauded by Larry Kaiser, MD, Dean of TUSM and President & CEO of Temple University Health System.

“Since the early 1990s, Dr. Bove was an early adopter and advocate of using the internet for the management of heart failure and cardiovascular risk factors,” he said. “He was doing telemedicine before the term was even coined.”

When it was his turn to speak, Dr. Bove reminisced about the recently demolished Old Medical School Building and the many people he’s known over the years who were taught and practiced there.

“I’ve had the chance to learn and contribute at Temple,” he said. “I like to compare what I do to jumpstarting a car – I get to jumpstart people into their careers. I’ve had a good time here, and I’m not done yet.”