Now he has been recognised with an OAM in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for service to medicine as a cardiologist.

Associate Professor Alford said he was extremely honoured and grateful.

"I've loved what I've done over the years and I've never wanted to be anywhere else," he said.

"I just love this community and I've been grateful for being able to serve."

Associate Professor Alford praised the support of his family and the professional team he worked with.

"If anyone should be getting an award, it should be my wife [Yvonne] and my family for putting up with the late nights and broken weekends [due to work commitments]," he said.

"Nothing I have done is without good people. The current team is the best there is."

Associate Professor Alford was the first full-time cardiologist/physician here when he arrived in Port Macquarie at the age of 29 in 1977.

He was appointed to the then Hastings District Hospital and went on to become the inaugural director of cardiology at Port Macquarie Private Hospital and Port Macquarie Base Hospital.

Associate Professor Alford founded Port Macquarie Cardiology and was a consultant cardiologist/physician there from 1977 to 2016.

He has been instrumental in the institution and expansion of cardiac medical services in the region.

Associate Professor Alford said he loved helping people through cardiology.

In 2016, he founded Kevin Alford Cardiology to focus on providing more affordable cardiology services to the Hastings and Macleay, and establish dedicated cardiological services for the Aboriginal community.

Associate Professor Alford has also taken a keen interest in teaching.

He has been a senior lecturer in medicine at the University of NSW Rural Clinical School since 2002.

Associate Professor Alford instituted Port Macquarie as a site for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians clinical exam and was the region's original examiner.

It was a role he filled for more than a decade before being appointed a member of the senior national examining panel in 2014.

Associate Professor Alford is the director of advanced physician training in Port Macquarie for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

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