At the heart of it Susan Graham By Jennifer Wettlaufer; photo by kc kratt Happily winding her way around two dogs, a couple of cats, and a flock of chickens, Susan Graham, M.D., enjoys life in Amherst. She and her husband, internal medicine physician Jon Kucera, are parents to two sons and live in a 120-year-old house. “We remodeled it a few years ago, but I like old houses that have stood the test of time,” says Graham. Graham first met Kucera when they were both in residency in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The two moved to Buffalo in 1989, following Graham’s cardiology training in Richmond, Virginia. “After I finished my fellowship training, I needed a job, and that’s what got us here,” says Graham. Now, as head of the Heart Failure Center at Buffalo General Hospital, a Kaleida Health facility, Graham gets to exercise her passion for helping patients step up to take great care of themselves. According to the Heart Failure Center’s website at kaleidahealth.org, heart failure doesn’t mean the heart has stopped working, but that the heart’s pumping power is weaker than normal. Under Graham’s guidance, the center dedicates itself not only to the diagnosis of heart failure, but also to helping each patient follow through with treatments. Graham stays busy as a clinical professor in UB’s department of cardiology and medicine, too. “I am hospital-based, so I lead this funny life of being primarily employed by Kaleida, based at Buffalo General, but I am also part of a teaching program for interns and residents in the internal medicine program,” she says. Graham’s optimism about heart disease springs from success in her own family. Her great-grandfather lived only until the age of forty-six, and her grandfather, fifty-one. Yet, her father lived until the age of seventy-one. “So, yes, they all died,” says Graham. “They all died of heart attacks and vascular diseases, but because my father worked really hard and took care of himself, he lived twenty years longer than his father. That’s an accomplishment. My encouragement to people is, if you make an effort, it pays off.” Though you can’t change your parents, she says, the right medicine, maybe losing five pounds, or whatever a person can do to get things like blood pressure and cholesterol balanced, can make all the difference. “And then there’s a third element, of things that are outside of your immediate control, like air pollution,” says Graham. “Yep, cities that have high air pollution have a higher heart attack rate, and more asthma as well. It turns out, sadly, that Buffalo air is quite polluted. So although you and I as private citizens can’t specifically make a change there, we can become involved in our communities and advocate for clean air.” For exercise, Graham enthuses over walking. “I like it, and I like to recommend it, because you usually don’t hurt yourself,” she says with a chuckle. “Find something you like to do, and go do it. If you like to swim, fabulous. Exercise, go to the gym … it doesn’t really matter what you do, just increasing physical activity is key.” For healthy eating, Graham raves about her favorite dish. “We eat a lot of plain pasta with salad and balsamic dressing that my husband makes. It’s a good Buffalo answer, I think. It’s quick, it’s easy, and the emphasis is, if you make it at home, if you make your own food, you save money, and it’s much healthier. And then almost everything made at home has less salt and less fat than purchased food.” And yes, Graham does mean the salad and pasta are mixed together. “The funny thing is, when my son went to college, all of his friends laughed at us. They couldn’t believe we ate that way. It’s kind of a family joke.” “We go to the symphony, we go to the museums, we love Buffalo,” says Graham. “It’s a great place to live. Before we lived in Minnesota, we lived in Houston. I grew up in Washington, D.C. We have some comparison. We’ve lived elsewhere, but we really like it here.” And the chickens? “That’s my husband’s project,” Graham says enthusiastically. “He doesn’t even like eggs, so it’s more for having the animals in the coop.” Happy to share, they give the eggs away. Jennifer Wettlaufer is a regular contributor to Buffalo Spree magazine. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top