CHEYENNE – Casper physician Dr. Wes Hiser has been named the Wyoming Physician of The Year by the Wyoming Medical Society this week and will receive his award during the organization’s Annual Meeting at Jackson Lake Lodge June 6.
Hiser owns a reputation as the Godfather of specialty outreach clinics in Wyoming, as well as one of the state’s top cardiologists. Hiser said he received notification of winning the award Wednesday from long-time friend and colleague Dr. Marion Smith of Torrington, who sits on the WMS Board of Directors.
“I feel my career has been very rewarding,” Hiser said. “We can go in and help people who have had heart attacks and other issues and improve their lives and their function. That has been very rewarding.”
“He personally guided the modernization of intensive care in Casper and throughout Wyoming during the same time period,” said Lanny Reimer of Newcastle, who nominated Hiser for the award. ” He taught us in Newcastle how to do intravenous thrombolysis
to treat acute myocardial infarction before the procedure was available in surrounding major hospitals.”
Hiser practices at Wyoming Cardiopulmonary Services in Casper, having practiced in the Oil City of Wyoming since 1976. In addition, Hiser has been a consulting cardiologist at hospitals in Gillette, Torrington, Douglas, Thermopolis, Buffalo,
Wheatland, Rawlins, Riverton, and Worland.
“Dr. Wes Hiser is an outstanding Wyoming physician and his CV speaks for itself. In the early 1980s he pioneered the practice of specialty outreach clinics in Wyoming. Most of his original outreach clinics are operational today and have thrived in
his path,” Reimer said.
Hiser said his time in residency at the University of Kentucky in Lexington showed him the value of outreach clinics as he watched the school do outreach into communities in the Appalachians. He said that experience, as well as his interest in building
his own program in Wyoming led him to begin the outreach efforts in the Cowboy State.
The Ohio native was born in Piqua before attending the Ohio State University for his undergraduate and medical degrees. Hiser received his undergraduate degrees for his work in pre-vet medicine animal sciences as well as zoology and pre-med.
He received his medical degree in 1966 and interned at the University of Southern California from 1966-67.
After medical school, Hiser joined the US Army and trained in Fort Bragg (NC) before spending time with the 7th Special Forces Group as well as a stint in Vietnam where he won the Bronze Star and a combat medics badge just three years out of medical school.
He went on to the University of Kentucky Medical Center for Residency and has participated in fellowships at the University of Colorado and The University of Colorado Medical Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology.
Hiser was adjunct faculty at the Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as a clinical associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah. He has been named to the Board of Wyoming Medical Center as
well as a part of the Governor’s Task Force for Emergency Services.