27 and youngest still in high school. She enjoys traveling to see them, spending time with friends, reading, hiking and biking, and trying to beat her children at board games.
The family also has a 100-acre farm in Oldham County, where they have a few cows and goats. Someday, she said they would like to move there full time and perhaps add chickens to the mix. It would be a fitting return to her roots.
The little girl who once dissected chickens because she was fascinated by the organs inside them has spent her life studying one of the body’ s most vital organs. Yet after all these years, it is not simply the mechanics of the heart that continue to hold her attention. It is the person behind it.
She knows medicine can be difficult. The challenges are real, and leadership brings its own frustrations. There are bad days. But she has learned that she does not have to carry those days alone.
“ I have an amazing support system in our staff,” she said.“ So when I’ m feeling low or frustrated, they help lift me up. I have capable, caring partners who are all invested in the work of caring for patients. It is great to be on their team.”
Her patients do the same thing.
“ I can have a really bad day, and a patient will come in and they’ re just so encouraging, and they bless me so much, but will never know,” she said.
After more than two decades in medicine, she still believes deeply
in the work. She wants to continue practicing cardiology for as long as she can do it well and enjoy it. Retirement may eventually bring a long list of new adventures, but for now, she is exactly where she wants to be.
“ I still really think medicine is a great place to be,” she said.“ I enjoy it. There will always be challenges, but I think the patients are great. It’ s what keeps us going.”
Perhaps that is the clearest thread running through her story.
She entered medicine because she was fascinated by what was inside the human body. She chose cardiology because it allowed her to combine procedures and imaging with relationships. Her mission work showed her that a heart sounds the same no matter where in the world she encounters it. And her faith reminds her that the person carrying that heart is sacred.
So she keeps listening. Not just for murmurs or rhythms or signs of disease, but for the people behind them.
Because for Dr. McFarland, medicine is ultimately about more than fixing hearts. It is about honoring the people who have been entrusted to her care, and helping them become healthy enough to go live the lives they were made to live.
Kathryn Vance is the Communications Manager at the Greater Louisville Medical Society.
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