Excellence In Practice And Research
LT Kate Love, MD, Medical Corps, USN

Dr. Kate Love grew up near Philadelphia and graduated magna cum laude from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. During her senior year of college, she had already turned in her letter of intent to the Temple University School of Medicine when the Navy Medical Corps came across her radar.

“I knew I was going to go to med school and, at that point, it was how was it going to be paid for,” she recalls.

A Navy scholarship not only paid for medical school but also gave her a monthly stipend – which meant she could concentrate on her studies instead of how she would pay for everything. She was commissioned as a Medical Officer in 2006 after receiving her medical degree.

While completing her internal medicine internship and residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., LT Love received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for her service. She earned a Resident Researcher of the Year Award for 2008–2009. And she had the chance to travel to research a dengue fever outbreak – traveling to Peru, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad.

“We have leaders in their field who do research all the time,” she humbly says.

LT Love was then selected to complete a cardiology fellowship at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. “I was lucky enough to complete my internal medicine training in three consecutive years. Then I was lucky again to get picked up for a cardiology fellowship,” she explains.

In research or practice, there’s far more than luck at work for LT Love. She’s an outstanding example of what can be accomplished in the world of Navy Medicine. And one thing she thinks others may not be aware of is just how many options there are when it comes to specialization. “All the specialties you could ever want to go into are offered,” she says.

Another thing about practicing in the Navy that LT Love personally enjoys is having extensive access to patient information and the ability to focus on patient needs.

“Patient records are usually at our fingertips, so continuity of care is easier,” she says. “You can see what other providers have said and what their plans are, rather than have to hunt down other doctors.”

She continues, “I don’t have to worry about what people can afford. I worry about what the right thing is for the patient…their lab and test work, what I would want for myself.”

Beyond offering high-quality care, Dr. Love has been published in three peer-reviewed journals, most recently Cardiology, for her work with bare metal stents and repeat major adverse cardiovascular events. She also presented research at the 2011 National Conference for the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

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