Meet Tina Zhu: Cardiologist and Founder at Silver Nodes

Tina Zhu is a Cardiologist and CEO at Silver Nodes. Silver Nodes is an online community that helps to coordinate local social events and support services for seniors.

Tina Zhu, Cardiologist and Founder at Silver Nodes. (Picture courtesy of Tina Zhu)

Tell me about yourself.

My name is Tina Zhu, I’m a cardiologist. I just finished my training in June and I’ll be starting my practice in Kingston from August. I am currently working on a startup called Silver Nodes, it’s an online community which serves to connect seniors and their care providers. And so, as seniors get older what happens is their social circle gets smaller and they become more isolated which has a negative impact on their health. Not only that but they also have more health care needs that are often not met by the health care system. I want to create a social networking platform to connect seniors to other seniors so they have more of a supportive environment but also a marketplace platform where they can connect to service providers and pair that with telemedicine.

What made you want to become a cardiologist?

The heart is a fascinating organ and Cardiology is a field that is constantly growing. For me, I really liked the combination of very fast pace and high acuity of in-hospital Cardiology with the more relaxing and predictable outpatient clinics. When we work in the hospital, we will often see very sick patients who range from those who have just survived a cardiac arrest to those dependent on a ventilator to help with their breathing because their lungs have filled with fluid from poor heart function. You never know what will come through the doors on those days. But if I have to do that everyday, I would be exhausted. So it’s nice to have days when we are in the outpatient clinics looking after often more stable patients, and I get to see how my patients responded to the treatments that I’ve prescribed. It is a very rewarding job.

What made you want to go from cardiologist to founder.

Many things, for one I see the need for a company like Silver Nodes through my work with seniors. I’ve seen seniors come into the hospital because they have fallen at home and there is no one there to pick them up, and they lay there for six or ten hours which has made things so much worse for them. I also see seniors where I cannot discharge them because there is no one at home to look after them and it is not safe for them to go home alone. I can really see the negative impact of isolation. There is a need for more support services at home for seniors. Actually, many seniors have said that the public system is not enough to provide all the support that they need. And so, I am passionate about their health and their care.

What is it like being a woman in Cardiology?

More and more females are getting into med school and so often there is a 50/50 breakdown in the med school class. However, there is no 50/50 breakdown when you get to the specialist stage like cardiology. Because of that, there is not a lot of female role models. It is hard to get someone to help you and guide you into more specialized fields as a woman. Another thing is, patients always think of you as a nurse. Even after introducing yourself as their doctor and after an hour of talking they will ask “So, when is my doctor coming?”. It is actually really common for the older population to think of you as their nurse and not their doctor. So there's a certain type of discrimination.

Thanks so much! That is all the questions I have.