Soo Hyun "Esther" Kim, MD

“I love being a medical detective. I follow clues to the root cause of a patient’s symptoms, then use advanced testing to put it all together for a diagnosis. Heart disease is preventable, but when it reaches its advanced stages, we have good treatments to help patients live longer and feel better.”

Dr. Kim is board certified in internal medicine, vascular medicine and cardiovascular disease. She specializes in women’s cardiovascular health and uncommon arterial disorders, including spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD).

Dr. Kim is the director of the Center for Women’s Cardiovascular Health at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute.

She is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. She serves as vice-chair of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Council of the American Heart Association. She has served on the board of directors for the American Society of Echocardiography and chaired the Vascular Ultrasound Council. She is a member of the board of directors for the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission Vascular Testing Program. Dr. Kim was the previous director of the Arteriopathy Clinic and professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Kim is the national principal investigator for the largest multicenter SCAD registry in the United States and has published many articles on SCAD and FMD. She has also chaired or co-authored multiple societal consensus statements that standardize the care for patients with cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Kim received her undergraduate and medical degrees at Duke University and a master’s degree in public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kim completed fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and vascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

She is married with 2 children. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, shopping and being active in her church.