A Doctor With Heart

Winter Haven Hospital’s Bolanos Pivotal to Growing Cardiac Electrophysiology Field

That’s when Winter Haven Hospital is scheduled to open a new renovation and expansion of the Bostick Heart Center, which will give more space to all heartrelated areas, including Bolanos’ growing specialty: cardiac electrophysiology.

“This is one of the things I am most proud of,” says Balanos, who started the electrophysiology program at Winter Haven Hospital five years ago. “We are able to deliver state-of-the-art care close to home. Our patients will not find better care in Orlando or Tampa, they can stay closer to home.”

This is a culmination of sorts for Bolanos, whose journey to Winter Haven Hospital included an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida, a medical degree from the University of Miami, w it h residencies at UNC-Chapel Hill and Cornell.

In fact, it was during his time at New York Hospital through Cornell that he began his journey toward cardiac electrophysiology, which studies and treats heart rhythm issues.

“While in New York, there were several faculty members I looked up to that suggested this specialization,” says Balanos. “I liked the fact that with electrophysiology, I could fix the heart, I could cure the things that were going wrong for the patient.”

Bolanos got a glimpse of the medical field early. His father was an ear, nose, and throat specialist in Miami.

“He was always proud, but didn’t nudge any of us to go into medicine,” says Bolanos, who, as the youngest of six children, is the only sibling to pursue medicine. “This was something early on that interested me and when I got into school, I decided to pursue it.”