Blessing cardiologist retires after serving local patients for 10 years

QUINCY — Dr. Eliot Nissenbaum, invasive cardiologist at Blessing Health, retired July 12 after 10 years of service to local patients.

Nissembaum joined Blessing as its outreach cardiologist. During his career, he traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and saw more than 2,000 patients a year at area rural health clinics so they did not have to travel to Quincy for their cardiology office appointments. Most recently, Nissenbaum saw patients weekly in northeast Missouri at the Kahoka Medical Clinic and the Memphis Medical Services-Outreach Specialty Clinic, and in west central Illinois at the Hamilton Warsaw Clinic. He also covered on-call shifts at Blessing Hospital.

Nissenbaum credits Dr. Steven Krause, Blessing director of cardiology, with developing the outreach cardiology position. In a press release, Nissenbaum said, “I loved what I did. Steve Krause knew I loved to drive, cardiology and educating the public on living a longer, healthier life. We have saved an estimated one to three lives a week on average and improved the health of many other people over the past 10 years with this approach.”

Nissenbaum cared for patients in Branson, Mo., for seven years before joining Blessing.

“Midwest values fit my lifestyle,” he said. “I like fishing, target shooting and country music.”

Family role models spurred his interest in medicine. In the 1960s, Nissenbaum’s father was one of the inventors of the endoscopy procedure that looks inside the body, and his great uncle was one of the two founders of the subspecialty, pediatric cardiology. Following in their footsteps in 1982 at age 19, Nissenbaum co-developed a serum protein test that could diagnose several health conditions. It was considered to be the most accurate of its kind.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease, Nissenbaum graduated from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, completed residency at Maimonides Medical Center of the State University of New York Downstate Health System and a fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Catholic Medical Centers of Brooklyn and Queens Division.