• Cristina Rizza-LePort, M.D. –  Fellow of the American College of Cardiology

    AMWA Member Christina Rizza-LePort, MD

  • Former assistant professor of Medicine, University of California Irvine
  • Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Genescient
  • Author of DISSECTION, a medical-political thriller
  • Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, and OCMMC and Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, both in Fountain Valley, California, as Cristina Rizza, M.D

Tell Us About Your Career Path

I was born in Bologna, Italy. After graduating Summa cum Laude from the University of Bologna medical school, I came to the USA and completed my internship and Internal Medicine residency at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.
I practiced Internal Medicine for 17 years. At that point, I wanted to get into Cardiology. After 2 years of research at UCSD and UCLA, I was accepted at the VA/UCLA cardiology fellowship program. For the past 20 years, I have been in cardiology private practice at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, and OCMMC and Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, both in Fountain Valley, California, as Cristina Rizza, M.D.

When I came from Italy to the USA after medical school, I barely spoke English, and never imagined that one day I would write novels in my second language. For the past 15 years, besides practicing cardiology, I have been writing medical thrillers. After years of hard work, I was able to acquire a literary agent and a publisher. DISSECTION, my first book and medical-political thriller was published in October 2022 by Bancroft press.

Can you cite any particular instance (s) or individuals that influenced your choices?

I decided to go into Cardiology on my birthday, at the age of 43, when my husband gave me a card saying: “This is NOT a dress rehearsal”

I decided to start writing at the age of 40 after reading “The art of fiction” by Ayn Rand.

What challenges have you faced in your medical career?

When I came from Italy to USA, I barely spoke English. Twenty years later, it took me 3 years of research (while working as an internist, including on Saturdays) to match for a cardiology fellowship. When I was on call, I would sleep on an empty patient’s room because I lived in Newport Beach and I worked in LA. I was commuting every day for 3 years. My kids were 10 and 11 and 17. They and my husband were very supportive.

Given your lived experiences, do you have any advice for women in medicine?

Cherish the doctor-patient relationship. It is the most important aspect of our profession. Being a doctor is not an 8-5 job – it is a mission.

Have you had an Ah-Ha moment? or, Is there anything else that has impacted your career trajectory or work within or outside medicine that has ben a significant influence?

My mother was denied dialysis at the age of 63, in Italy, due to rationing of care. I decided to come to the USA.
I would never have had the opportunities this country offered me.

Publications:

1) Cristina Rizza, Miguel Valderrano, Bramah Sing: Recurrent Torsade de Pointes after Sotalol therapy for symptomatic paroxismal atrial fibrillation in a patient with end stage renal disease. Case report. (J Cardiovasc Pharmacol Therapeut 4(2):129-134,1999

2) Cristina Rizza, Norbert Lettinger, Junning Yue, David J. Fisher, Dean Wang, Peggy T. Shih, Hans Lee, Gabor Tigy and Judith Berliner: Lysophosphatidic Acid as a regulator of endothelial/leucocyte interaction. (Laboratory investigation vol 79, no 10 p 1227, 1999)

3) Norbert Lettinger, Timoty Tyner, Laura Oslund, Cristina Rizza, Ganesamoorthy Subbanagounder, Hans Lee, Peggy Shih, Nigel Mackman, Gabor Tigy, Mary Territo, Judith Berliner and Devendra Vora: Structurally similar oxidized phospholipids differentially regulate endothelial binding of monocytes and neutrophils. (PNAS vol 96 no 21 p 12010-12015, 1999)

4) Ganesamoorthy Subbanagounder, Norbert Lettinger, Dawn C.. Schwenke, Jason W. Wong, Hans Lee, Cristina Rizza, Andrew D. Watson, Kym F. Faull, Alan M. Fogelman, Judith A. Berliner: Determinant of bioactivity of oxidized phospholipids. Specific oxidized fatty acyl groups at the sn-2 position. (Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. vol 20:2248-2254, 2000)

5) Norbert Lettinger, Joakim Huber, Cristina Rizza, Diana Mechteriakova, Valery Bochkov, Yuri Koshelnick, Judith A. Berliner, and Bernd R. Binder: The isoprostane 8-iso-PGF2 alpha stimulates endothelial cells to bind monocytes: differences from thromboxane-mediated endothelial activation. (The FASEB Journal, vol 15: 1254-1256, 2000)

6) K. Matsagas, D.B. Lim, M. Horwitz, C. Rizza, L.D. Mueller, and M.R.Rose*: Long-term functional side-effects of Stimulants and sedatives in Drosophila melanogaster” (Plos One, October, 2008)

7) Bryant Villeponteau1*, Kennedy Matsagas1, Amber C. Nobles3, Cristina Rizza1, Marc Horwitz1, Gregory Benford1,2, and Robin J. Mockett3 Herbal Supplement Extends Life Span Under Some Environmental Conditions and Boosts Stress Resistance ( Plos One, 2015)

8) Mark A. Phillips, Anthony D. Long, Zachary S. Greenspan, Lee F. Greer, Molly K. Burke,Bryant Villeponteau,Kennedy C. Matsagas, Cristina L. Rizza, Laurence D. Mueller,and Michael R. Rose: Genome-wide analysis of long-term evolutionarydomestication in Drosophila melanogaster