Dr. Ryan McDonough has joined the Alaska Heart and Vascular Institute after a 14 year career in the United States Army. After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 2001 with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, he served as an intelligence officer for U.S. Army Alaska. While serving in this capacity he met and married his wife and best friend, Beth, in 2003. In 2007, he received his medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and was promoted to the rank of Captain. He went on to complete his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. He continued his training in San Antonio, TX completing his fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center in 2013. In 2014, Dr. McDonough completed his Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He spent the next five years teaching medical students as a clinical associate professor at Texas Tech University, Army physician assistant students, and internal medicine residents at William Beaumont Army Medical Center In El Paso, TX. While there, he also served as director of the cardiac catheterization lab and the Officer In Charge (OIC) of the Cardiovascular Technician’s program responsible for training over 50% of the Army’s cardiovascular technicians. As one of the founding members of the BorderRAC, he was also instrumental in improving the delivery of emergency cardiovascular care throughout the El Paso region. After being appointed Chief of Cardiology in 2016, Dr. McDonough started the first structural heart program in western Texas implanting the first Trans Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) in El Paso, TX. He completed his military career and now returns to Alaska accompanied by his wife and three children.