Dr. Robert J. Matthews has practiced cardiology and internal medicine in Los Angeles for over 40 years.
Dr. Matthews received a degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
He was certified in internal medicine in 1966 and in 1967 he got his nuclear license.
His postgraduate training included the following:
1) Veterans Administrations Hospital, Seattle, WA.;
2) UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.;
3) Veterans Administrations Hospitals in West Roxbury, Mass., and West Los Angeles, CA.
He studied cardiology under David Littmann, MD at the VA hospital in West Roxbury, Mass. for one year..
Dr. Matthews was an associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA Medical Center for over 30 years, teaching students in his office and taking them on hospital rounds. He was also a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and Cardiology.

Dr. Matthews developed his skill in echocardiography by attending multiple classes in the technique at various universities and buying a Hewlett Packard echocardiogram machine which he used in his office as well as at the Valley Presbiterian Hospital in Van Nuys, CA. He demonstrated and taught the transesophageal technique to other cardiologists in the intensive care unit at the Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, CA., until the hospital finally purchased their own equipment! Dr. Matthews learned the
placement of the esophageal transducer from a gastroenterologist named Melvin Schapiro, MD.

The transesophageal echocardiographic technique provided much clearer views of the heart.