Associate Professor of Medicine, HMS; Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Our research is focused on neural, behavioral, and environmental triggers of sudden cardiac death and arrhythmias. The laboratory specializes in computerized analysis of electrocardiographic markers, especially T-wave alternans, a beat-to-beat fluctuation in the area and form of the T-wave of the ECG. We demonstrated that T-wave alternans provides an index of vulnerability to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias as well as a means to identify individuals at risk and to measure the efficacy of pharmacologic therapy. Current investigations include neural triggers of sudden death during ischemia, anger, REM sleep, and exposure to environmental air particles. Our research has led to a novel technique for selective delivery of angiogenic and myogenic factors to the heart via the pericardial sac. This technology provides a natural interface between molecular and integrative biology.

Ph.D., 1969, University of Virginia