Cardiologists start careers together at Saint Alphonsus in Nampa

Sometimes, two people meet and form a connection. It can happen over a shared outlook, common interests or even a career path.

In the case of two Nampa cardiologists, they forged a friendship in their medical school fellowship that has not only set them on the same career path, but in the same location and same employer.

Dr. George Samaan and Dr. Ryley McPeters, both cardiologists at Saint Alphonsus Heart Care – Nampa, met when they were both students at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. They became fast friends from different worlds.

McPeters grew up in Wyoming, taking advantage of an outdoors lifestyle. While Samaan grew up in the Middle East, moving to Miami, Florida, at the age of 11. In 2020, the two met when they began their fellowship in the same class of seven at Tulane. Both stayed at Tulane for an additional year for their interventional cardiology fellowship, the only two of their initial class to do so.

Though the two became friends when they first met, their final year at Tulane brought them even closer, McPeters said. That friendship journey continued as they both started looking at employers to begin their careers in earnest.

Samaan’s wife, an ophthalmologist who grew up in Louisiana, originally came from Juneau, Alaska. The couple had a desire to start their careers somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and began looking.

“It feels sometimes like salmon trying to swim back to their streams, basically,” Samaan said. “That’s what [my wife] was drawn towards. She did some training in Oregon. She really loved it there, so initially we looked in Washington state, Oregon, Colorado, Montana. And then, out of the blue, why don’t we think about Idaho?”

Samaan admits that, initially, they didn’t know much about the Gem State and it wasn’t even on their radar of places in which to relocate.

“Then I got a call from the director of the interventional program in Saint Alphonsus, and it was probably the best recruiting call that I have ever done in my life,” he said. “Like, super open about everything, just telling it as it is.”

The director told Samaan about the speed at which the state and especially the Treasure Valley is growing, telling him about the need for people in the medical community, while touting the culture and all that Idaho has to offer. Samaan and his wife made a trip to the state in October of 2023 to see if it would be a good fit.

“All of the sudden, it’s like nothing else could measure up. I guess we just fell in love with the place, got enamored with it.”

As soon as he returned to New Orleans, Samaan went to McPeters to tell him about Idaho. He told his friend, “There’s this job, and it really fits everything that we’re sort of looking for. They actually do need a second person. At least give it a thought.”

McPeters thought it was a great idea.

“And I thought another great idea would be able to be close to the person who I’d trained with for the past four years and had become such a good friend to me,” he said.

Not only have the two doctors found a place where their colleagues are also resources, but the health system they work for is focused on giving them the tools and ability to give patients the best care possible.

“I think the health care systems here realize that there’s a huge shortage [of health care staff], and so they try to add as much support to us as physicians as possible,” Samaan said. “That way we are able to succeed and focus on the tasks that we need to be doing.”

That support, he said, comes in the form of physicians’ aides, someone to take care of time-consuming paperwork, and other tasks that can take a doctor away from seeing and treating patients.

And, McPeters said, there are a lot of patients, especially when it comes to heart health.

“I think that’s just the biggest challenge: Trying to provide care for a growing number of people in an area that’s rapidly expanding, so there’s definitely never a shortage of patients,” he said.

Both physicians are complimentary of each other, pointing out their positive traits. However, one of McPeters’ traits stands out more than anything to Samaan.

“He’s probably a saint as far as patience goes,” he said of McPeters. “I’ve never seen anybody as patient as he is. I can be patient, but I mean, he just takes it to a different level. All his patients love him. I’ve never heard one bad word about him.”

Though neither doctor is looking to find another position or move anywhere else any time soon, if an opportunity did arise, they both stated they would make sure the other knew about it to gauge interest.

“Granted, when [Saint Alphonsus] comes to negotiate with us for extensions, it’s like, well, we’re both up for extensions at the exact same time,” Samaan said.

“I’m perfectly happy where I’m at,” McPeters said. “But, if that thing were to ever come across, I’m going to let them know that they need to have two positions available.”