Walter C Hargrove, MD

A veteran of the U.S. Army and the hospital operating room, Dr. Clark Hargrove strengthens and repairs the heart to boost blood flow and save lives. He performs all types of heart surgery, specializing in heart valves.
Dr. Hargrove is board-certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. A graduate of University of North Carolina, he earned his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He served as a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Würzburg, Germany. He is conversational in German and French. He completed his postgraduate training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, including fellowships in vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery.
He gained decades of experience at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital, all in Philadelphia. He also worked at Doylestown Hospital, nearby.
He has written and co-written many articles and papers and has delivered lectures throughout the country and overseas. He is passionate about teaching the next generation of physicians and has held several faculty positions. He continues to mentor younger physicians at AtlantiCare.
“I like the fact that medicine is mostly science, but there’s a lot of art to it, too,” he says. That passion even led to him earning a patent. The patent entails measuring the annuloplasty ring used in mitral valve repair, particularly when doing the procedure through small incisions. The ring stabilizes the repair and prevents recurrence of mitral regurgitation.
Dr. Hargrove is working to make cardiac surgery at AtlantiCare even better, streamlining and standardizing procedures towards the goal of building a world-class program. “AtlantiCare is an exciting place to be. We have an excellent team. My colleagues aren’t just highly skilled, they’re nice people, too and very nice to work with,” he says