On The Up: Waikato cardiologist Martin Stiles acknowledged for research that helped Olympians

NZME’s On The Up is a national campaign showcasing amazing stories of inspiration, success, courage and possibilities. As part of this, Waikato Herald reporter Malisha Kumar spoke to Hamilton cardiologist Professor Martin Stiles who has just been acknowledged by the University of Auckland for the impact of his research.

Martin Stiles had no idea what he wanted to do when he graduated from Hamilton’s Hillcrest High in 1989, although engineering sounded like a safe bet because his dad was one.

Fast forward to 2025, it’s safe to say Stiles not only found, but excelled in his true calling: he’s been a cardiologist for more than two decades and has helped fix the hearts of Olympic gold medal winners, including Waikato rower Rob Waddell, and Gisborne kayaker Alicia Hoskin.

Stiles has also undertaken world-leading research into cardiac electrophysiology, atrial fibrillation (AF), and sudden cardiac arrests.

Recently, this research saw him honoured with the highest academic accolade when he was made a University of Auckland professor of medicine.

He’s teaching at Waikato Hospital, as the university’s first professor of medicine.

Stiles told the Waikato Herald he was “very pleased” with the recognition, saying it was a significant achievement for him and the hospital.

“There is a professor of anaesthesia, and [there] has been a professor of psychiatry, but never a professor of medicine,” he said.

Martin Stiles is the University of Auckland's first-ever Professor of Medicine at the Waikato Hospital. Photo / Tamlyn Field

Apart from helping teach 170 students a year, Stiles is one of 20 cardiologists at Waikato Hospital delivering complex heart care to about 950,000 people referred from the mid-North Island region.

He said it was a full circle moment for him, being born at the hospital in 1972, training there in the early ’90s, and returning to work there in 2008.

But when he graduated from high school, he initially didn’t think he would be a cardiologist.

Stiles said he thought about engineering but then decided to follow a friend who did a “medical intermediate” at the University of Waikato, before attending the University of Otago’s medical school in Dunedin.

It was there that he realised what he wanted to be: “I wanted to be a physician.

“I preferred cardiology because you could treat people like a physician with medications, but you could also do things,” he said.

“In my case, ablations [medical procedure used to fix rapid or irregular heartbeats] and [other] procedures. So it was a nice balance for me between the procedural and a clinic-based specialty.”

Stiles qualified as a cardiologist in 2003, aged 31, before working in Adelaide, Australia, for three years. He also completed a PhD in electrophysiology, which studies the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues.

Additionally, he trained in ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) using specialised equipment.

When doing his AF research there, he looked at “different hearts during the procedure, and comparing them to people having similar procedures, but without AF”.

Martin Stiles has spent almost his entire career at Waikato Hospital. Photo / Mark Forster-King

For the procedure, doctors insert thin catheters through a vein to create tiny scars in the heart tissue. These scars target the abnormal electrical signals, helping the patient’s heart return to a normal rhythm.

When watching the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on TV at home, he realised how important the specialised equipment for AF was.

He was watching the rowing, a best-of-three between Rob Waddell and Mahé Drysdale, when Waddell suffered from AF and dropped pace in the race.

“It was really apparent to me that I should try and do something about this.”

Stiles said he had two options: to be the ninth electrophysiologist in New Zealand or the ninth electrophysiologist in Adelaide.

“I knew where I could make a bigger difference, so it was always my intention to come back to New Zealand,” he said.

Dr Martin Stiles and Rob Waddell discuss the operation in 2009. Photo / Chris Skelton

He contacted a Hamilton colleague, an AF unit was brought in at Waikato Hospital, and his flights were booked back to his hometown in 2008.

A year later, Stiles performed Waddell’s ablation at Waikato Hospital.

Sportspeople – rowers, cyclists and endurance athletes - are more likely to develop atrial fibrillation, Stiles said.

In addition to clinical work and teaching, Stiles’ research on atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest has been key to his promotion to professor. 

“As a doctor, you are used to treating patients one by one, and sometimes you might treat a family, but research allows you to influence the treatment of large numbers of people.” 

He often runs into patients when he’s out and about in Hamilton.

“I remember bumping into [Rob Waddell’s wife, Sonia] at the supermarket [years after treating him]. When I was walking away, I heard her saying to her children, ‘that’s the man who fixed Daddy’s heart’.” 

Aside from being a heart doctor and his newly appointed professor role, he’s also the chair of the NZ Division of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ).

The Waikato Herald asked Stiles how he stays positive throughout a stressful job.

“I think you’re always trying to strive to do the best for your patients. In some ways, your patients keep you going because you want to do the best for them.”

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.