By Mary Wade Burnside
FAIRMONT — Dr. David Tingler’s route to a career in cardiology was a circuitous one that included a stint in the U.S. Navy after high school and a pre-pharmacy major at Glenville State College, which put him in an emergency room for a rotation.
“I ended up shadowing in an ER and I decided I wanted to go to medical school,” said Tingler, a cardiologist with Fairmont General Hospital and an assistant professor at the West Virginia University Heart Institute. “That’s how I ended up in this career. I’m the first physician in my family. It’s kind of a new experience.”
Tingler grew up in Huttonsville, south of Elkins in Randolph County. After high school, he was in the Navy for four years, serving as a mechanical engineer. He spent most of his time in Norfolk, Va., but also had the opportunity to travel around the Mediterranean for six months to Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, France and the island of Crete.
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