Meet Dr. Feingold

Heart Psychologist founder, Dr. Kim Feingold, is a cardiac psychologist with more than two decades of experience at top heart hospitals helping patients navigate their cardiac journey by attending to the emotions, lifestyle, and stressors of cardiac patients.  She addresses risk factor reduction, health anxiety, post-operative depression, stress management and more.  She is the founder and director of Cardiac Behavioral Medicine at the Bluhm Heart Hospital of Northwestern and serves on the faculty at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She is a top-rated clinician, educator, speaker, consultant, researcher, and media expert. 

Dr. Feingold has experience working with nearly all types of cardiac and cardiac surgery patients at various stages of their medical journey, including paients with athlerosclerosis, valve disease, electrical or rhythm disorders, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, non-cardiac chest pain, dysautonomias including POTS, connective tissue disorders, atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathies, sudden cardiac death, SCAD, takotsubo cardiomypathy, acute coronary syndrome including heart attack, adult congential heart disease, advanced heart failure, heart transplant, pulmonary hypertension, brugada syndrome, aneurysm, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and more.    

Dr. Feingold is passionate about working with patients, training students, consulting, and engaging in community outreach. She is grateful to be a part of patients' health journeys and allow them to realize their adaptability, resilience, and capacity to transform amidst challenge.

Dr. Feingold's research interests have focused on the intersection of stress, depression, and heart disease. Her research has addressed less traditional forms of stress management among cardiopulmonary patients, including acupuncture, relaxation techniques, humor, and optimism.  Her research has been published in top medical journals including The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Health Psychology, and Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care. 

After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, where she double majored in Honors Psychology and Communications, she took her maize and blue blood to the Ohio State University where she earned a Ph.D. in clinical health psychology (without ever abandoning her wolverine loyalty). Her research focused on cardiopulmonary disease as well as positive predictors of health like optimism, expectations, and humor. She completed a health psychology internship at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) in Chicago where she worked with various medical populations including cardiac, cancer, transplant, sleep disorders, and patients with physical rehabilitation needs such as stroke, spinal cord injury, orthopedic surgery, and neurological problems. In her spare time, she created a support group for patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), and collaborated with cardiology to treat patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. She saw an unmet need in cardiology and advocated to create and implement a post-doctoral psychology fellowship in cardiac psychology where she focused on several cardiac populations including preventive cardiology, advanced heart failure and transplant, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, general cardiology, pulmonary hypertension, and women’s heart disease.  Following her fellowship, she was hired as assistant professor at RUMC where she directed the Cardiac Psychology service within Cardiology for several years.

In 2004, she was hired as assistant professor at Northwestern University to create and direct a Cardiac Behavioral Medicine program at Northwestern Medicine, where she has treated cardiac and cardiac surgery patients for the past 20 years. To this day, Northwestern Medicine remains one of the only medical centers in the country to house cardiac psychologists within the division of cardiac surgery.

Dr. Feingold has consistently pushed boundaries in her career to advocate for cardiovascular care that includes the emotional and behavioral aspects of heart disease. Outside of the cardiology realm, she is passionate about teaching strategies that improve resilience, optimism, wellness, and health among young and old. She believes that healthy aging is not just about physical health, but about attitude, stress & coping, and a positive outlook.

Dr. Feingold lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.