Dr. Linker is director of the Inpatient Cardiology Consultation Service at UWMC, and a UW associate professor of medicine and bioengineering. In addition to general cardiology, he is an expert in congenital heart disease and echocardiography.
He also conducts research on new methods for cost-effective diagnosis of asymptomatic atrial fibrillation to prevent stroke. In addition, he has helped make the Seattle Heart Failure Model a practical tool to help physicians and patients understand the potential benefits of therapies.
Dr. Linker earned his bachelor’s and M.D. degrees from Stanford University, as well as a master’s in bioengineering from the University of Washington. He first came to the UW as a resident in internal medicine and then pediatrics before completing a fellowship in cardiology. He also completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Stanford University.
He has 30 years of experience in cardiology. His first position was at the Regional Hospital and Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim, Norway, where he was for over 6 years. He then spent two years at the Thoraxcentre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as director of the echocardiography laboratory, before returning to the University of Washington in 1993. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology and pediatrics. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Society of Cardiology. Dr. Linker's personal interests include skiing, hiking, mountaineering, reading, and computer programming.
