Doctor to Olympians wins research gold  

His clinical work has helped the hearts of Olympic gold-medal winners; now cardiologist Professor Martin Stiles has been acknowledged by the University of Auckland for the impact of his research.

Stiles is a newly minted professor and presented his inaugural lecture at Waikato Hospital on 3 April, which is where he works delivering complex heart care, teaching, researching and leading professional organisations. 

Most of his illustrious career has taken place in a very small geographical area. 

In his lecture, he showed a map of Hamilton, particularly Hillcrest, where his primary school is, also his intermediate school, high school, and the hospital in which he works and teaches.  

He knows the area well: “Apart from six years overseas and training at Otago, I have pretty much spent my entire career here.” 

Stiles worked for three years in Adelaide, completing a PhD and specialising in electrophysiology – the electrics in the heart that govern its rhythm. While there, he trained in ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation using specialised equipment.

Cardiac ablation is a medical procedure used to fix rapid or irregular heartbeats, known as ‘arrhythmias’. Doctors use thin catheters introduced through a vein to create tiny scars in the heart tissue. These scars target the abnormal electrical signals that cause the problem, helping the patient’s heart return to normal rhythm.

Stiles’ return to the Waikato depended on gaining assurance the hospital would first get the necessary equipment for ablations. 

“I can still remember walking down North Terrace in Adelaide and getting a phone call from the manager at Waikato Hospital saying, ‘your equipment has arrived.’ And I said, ‘Great, I'm booking my flights.’” 

That was 2008 and since then the technology (assisted by The Heart Trust) has cured heartbeat irregularities all over the North Island, including the one that belonged to local athlete Rob Waddell who won rowing gold in the single sculls at the 2000 Olympics – and who had suffered for a long time from atrial fibrillation. 

“Rob and Mahé Drysdale rowed off for the one spot at the Beijing 2008 games, and it was a ‘best of three’ race, and they were one-all. In the decider, Rob got atrial fibrillation and quickly dropped off the pace.  

I remember watching that from Adelaide, and contacting my colleague here in Hamilton, saying, “We've got to ablate this guy.” 

A year later they did so, which proved to be curative treatment. 

Sportspeople – rowers, cyclists and endurance athletes - are more likely to develop atrial fibrillation, Stiles says.

Olympic rower in 1972, Wybo Veldman, is another of Stiles’ patients and coincidentally was ablated within a week of Waddell.

In an ideal world, Stiles would like to work preventively, as he did in 2017 for Gisborne kayaker Alicia Hoskin. 

As a teenager, Hoskin was entering the high-performance sport programme when a routine health check picked up signs of heart disease, which was diagnosed as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a congenital condition. 

Stiles performed Hoskin’s cardiac ablation in 2017 when she was 17 years old.

She went on to win two gold medals, rowing with Lisa Carrington, at the Paris Olympics in 2024. 

Stiles teaches medical students from Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland on the University’s Waikato campus, based in the hospital, which hosts around 170 students a year on clinical placements or training in specialties. 

In addition to clinical work and teaching, Stiles’ research on atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest, has been key to his promotion to professor. 

“As a doctor, you are used to treating patients one by one, and sometimes you might treat a family, but research allows you to influence the treatment of large numbers of people.” 

Stiles has also chaired international expert reports, which determine best practice globally.  

One advised on the best way to programme implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, which are designed to monitor heart rhythm and correct life-threatening irregular beats.  

Another major report offered guidance on how to diagnose patients with unexplained cardiac arrest.  

“We have come up with a set of investigations that, if you systematically follow these steps, you are more likely to diagnose the condition that caused the cardiac arrest. We gave recommendations on when to test the genes to look for variants that might be causing the cardiac arrest.  

“The idea is that, if you diagnose somebody with a condition they didn't know they had, you can improve their outcomes long term by preventing their cardiac arrest from happening again. Not only that, but if you diagnose a familial condition, you can help their brothers and sisters, parents and children from having the same issues that they've had.” 

Stiles is Chair of the NZ Division of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) and is the first New Zealander to chair the CSANZ Scientific Committee and sits on the executive board of the Asia-Pacific Heart Rhythm Society. 

Having co-led a major project on genetic heart disease in Māori, he says he is a student when it comes to learning about his Ngai Tahu heritage and te ao Māori.  

What does he do to unwind?  He enjoys cycling to and from work and holidaying at the family bach in Whangamatā, skiing at Ruapehu and travel. 

“Hamilton is a really great city to live in, but there are also these wonderful options all within shooting distance,” he says. 

All this with the satisfaction of working at a tertiary hospital that provides care to almost one million patients from across the centre of the island. 

Living in Hamilton, he often runs into patients when he’s out and about. Stiles reaches millions of patients through his research, but interactions like that, he says, that bring him right back to what it’s all about – the patient. 

“I went to school with Rob Waddell’s wife, Sonia, and I remember bumping into her at the supermarket. When I was walking away, I heard her saying to her children, ‘that’s the man who fixed Daddy’s heart.”