Our Providers
Roberto A. Corpus, MD
Growing up in the Southern United States as the son of immigrant parents, Dr. Roberto Corpus learned quickly how to interact with people who looked, talked and thought differently than him. But it taught him valuable lessons about people and how to build relationships.
And relationships, it turns out, are at the core of how Corpus views his role as a physician at Cardiac & Vascular Consultants of Northern Michigan (CVC), which he founded in 2023.
From a family of experienced doctors.
Corpus and his two sisters were raised by a mother and father who came from very humble beginnings in the Philippines. They immigrated to the United States in 1970 and, through hard work and perseverance, built successful medical practices in rural Kentucky. While growing up, Corpus’ parents taught him and his sisters not only the importance of hard work and discipline, but the value of humility. His parents’ success came, in part, by following the mantra: “If somebody likes you for what you are as opposed to who you are, then they’re not your friend.”
He took that to heart as he struck out to become a doctor, clinging to the adage because he would come “to view patients as people and as friends.” Establishing and maintaining these relationships with his patients is at the core of what he strives to do every day as a doctor.
“The term ‘doctor’ comes from the Latin term ‘docco,’ which means ‘to teach,’” says Corpus. “At the end of the day, that’s what physicians do. You don’t do. You teach. And to do so, you need to interact with and relate to people.
“The technical stuff is all very interesting and challenging, but my primary focus is on the person.”
Corpus did not approach the medical field like most others. He earned dual undergraduate degrees in biomedical and electrical engineering, graduating cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1992.
Only then did he enter the University of Louisville School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree in 1996. He performed his residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, followed by fellowships in Cardiology at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan and Interventional Cardiology at University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri.
After finishing his fellowships, Corpus taught for a year at the UMKC School of Medicine. He then went on to work as an Interventional Cardiologist and endovascular specialist in Traverse City for 18 years before founding CVC.
People first. Always.
He values his undergraduate degrees for helping him to understand problem-solving and physics and the forces of nature as it relates to medicine. But he continues to focus on people as a kindred force and enjoys bringing his life experiences – namely fishing and hunting – to the table to inspire conversation and build bridges with patients.
“I’m an outdoors person, which helped bring me to Northern Michigan,” he says, noting he and his two teen-aged daughters enjoy living on Long Lake west of downtown Traverse City. “I appreciate being involved in life experiences that make me relatable to the people I serve. Because that patient is my patient for life.
“The art of medicine doesn’t always exist as it used to. Medicine is not about procedures. It’s about patients. And patients are what matters.”
