Jay N. Cohn, M.D., is a professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Dr. Cohn received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical School in 1956 and completed his internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He served as a fellow in cardiovascular research and as a clinical investigator at the Veterans Affairs Hospital and Georgetown University in 1960-65, chief of hypertension and clinical hemodynamics at the Veterans Affairs Hospital as well as professor of medicine at Georgetown University in 1965-74. Dr. Cohn was head of the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Minnesota 1974-96 and is currently director of the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.
Dr. Cohn is internationally recognized for his contributions to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and for his leadership in designing and carrying out clinical trials to document efficacy of new interventions for heart failure. He has pioneered an assessment of cardiovascular function in patients with hypertension, shock, acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. He was the first to advocate vasodilator therapy for heart failure, including nitroprusside, nitrates with hydralazine and converting enzyme inhibitors. He organized and chaired the first long-term trials in heart failure, the Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Program on vasodilator therapy of heart failure (V-HeFT). He was among the first to advocate bedside hemodynamic monitoring in acutely ill individuals and was the first to identify the syndrome of right ventricular infarction. He was among the first to identify neurohormonal activation as a key contributor to the progression of heart failure and to set the stage for neurohormonal inhibiting therapy. His animal and clinical studies have established the importance of structural remodeling of the left ventricle as the basis for the progression of heart failure and for the therapeutic response to drugs that prolong life and reduce long-term morbidity. In recent years he has focused on early identification of cardiovascular disease in order to initiate therapy before organ system disease develops. His innovative efforts at early detection have included screening to diagnose stiffening of the small arteries, utilizing a methodology he developed at the University of Minnesota which is now FDA-approved and marketed worldwide.
Dr. Cohn is the founder of the Heart Failure Society of America and served as its first president. It is now the premier organization in the world of health professionals dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. He also founded and served as editor-in-chief of the first journal dedicated to heart failure, the Journal of Cardiac Failure, which is now one of the most frequently cited cardiovascular journals. He is the author of more than 700 scientific publications and has written extensively on circulatory physiology, hypertension, congestive heart failure and its treatment, nervous system control mechanisms in heart failure, and vascular compliance. He holds a number of patents, including those related to pulsewave analysis for the measurement of arterial elasticity and use of hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate for the treatment of heart failure. He serves on the editorial boards of many of the major journals in the field and is co-editor of the cardiology text, "Cardiovascular Medicine," and editor of the textbook, "Drug Treatment of Heart Failure."
Dr. Cohn is a master of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation as well as many other professional societies. He is a past president of the Heart Failure Society of America, the International Society of Hypertension and the American Society of Hypertension and has served as an officer of the American Heart Association and the American Federation for Clinical Research. He is currently president of the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy. He served as chairman of the Cardiorenal Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration and has served on a number of government boards and committees.
Dr. Cohn has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the James B. Herrick Award of the American Heart Association (AHA), the Distinguished Service Award (AHA), the AHA Scientific Councils' Distinguished Achievement Award, the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American College of Cardiology, the Novartis Award of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Heart Failure Society of America, the William S. Harvey Award, the Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton Award, the Arrigo Recordati International Prize for Scientific Research: Lifetime Achievement in Heart Failure, the Henry Ford Heart & Vascular Institute’s Lifetime Research Achievement Award, and the Cornell Weill Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction. He is a member of the Academic Health Center’s Academy for Excellence in Health Research at the University of Minnesota and received the Clinical Scholar Award for 2006 of the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He has presented numerous honorary lectures around the world and has served as visiting professor at many universities in the United States and abroad.
Jay N. Cohn, M.D., is a professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Dr. Cohn received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical School in 1956 and completed his internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He served as a fellow in cardiovascular research and as a clinical investigator at the Veterans Affairs Hospital and Georgetown University in 1960-65, chief of hypertension and clinical hemodynamics at the Veterans Affairs Hospital as well as professor of medicine at Georgetown University in 1965-74. Dr. Cohn was head of the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Minnesota 1974-96 and is currently director of the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.
Dr. Cohn is internationally recognized for his contributions to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and for his leadership in designing and carrying out clinical trials to document efficacy of new interventions for heart failure. He has pioneered an assessment of cardiovascular function in patients with hypertension, shock, acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. He was the first to advocate vasodilator therapy for heart failure, including nitroprusside, nitrates with hydralazine and converting enzyme inhibitors. He organized and chaired the first long-term trials in heart failure, the Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Program on vasodilator therapy of heart failure (V-HeFT). He was among the first to advocate bedside hemodynamic monitoring in acutely ill individuals and was the first to identify the syndrome of right ventricular infarction. He was among the first to identify neurohormonal activation as a key contributor to the progression of heart failure and to set the stage for neurohormonal inhibiting therapy. His animal and clinical studies have established the importance of structural remodeling of the left ventricle as the basis for the progression of heart failure and for the therapeutic response to drugs that prolong life and reduce long-term morbidity. In recent years he has focused on early identification of cardiovascular disease in order to initiate therapy before organ system disease develops. His innovative efforts at early detection have included screening to diagnose stiffening of the small arteries, utilizing a methodology he developed at the University of Minnesota which is now FDA-approved and marketed worldwide.
Dr. Cohn is the founder of the Heart Failure Society of America and served as its first president. It is now the premier organization in the world of health professionals dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. He also founded and served as editor-in-chief of the first journal dedicated to heart failure, the Journal of Cardiac Failure, which is now one of the most frequently cited cardiovascular journals. He is the author of more than 700 scientific publications and has written extensively on circulatory physiology, hypertension, congestive heart failure and its treatment, nervous system control mechanisms in heart failure, and vascular compliance. He holds a number of patents, including those related to pulsewave analysis for the measurement of arterial elasticity and use of hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate for the treatment of heart failure. He serves on the editorial boards of many of the major journals in the field and is co-editor of the cardiology text, "Cardiovascular Medicine," and editor of the textbook, "Drug Treatment of Heart Failure."
Dr. Cohn is a master of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation as well as many other professional societies. He is a past president of the Heart Failure Society of America, the International Society of Hypertension and the American Society of Hypertension and has served as an officer of the American Heart Association and the American Federation for Clinical Research. He is currently president of the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy. He served as chairman of the Cardiorenal Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration and has served on a number of government boards and committees.
Dr. Cohn has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the James B. Herrick Award of the American Heart Association (AHA), the Distinguished Service Award (AHA), the AHA Scientific Councils' Distinguished Achievement Award, the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American College of Cardiology, the Novartis Award of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Heart Failure Society of America, the William S. Harvey Award, the Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton Award, the Arrigo Recordati International Prize for Scientific Research: Lifetime Achievement in Heart Failure, the Henry Ford Heart & Vascular Institute’s Lifetime Research Achievement Award, and the Cornell Weill Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction. He is a member of the Academic Health Center’s Academy for Excellence in Health Research at the University of Minnesota and received the Clinical Scholar Award for 2006 of the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He has presented numerous honorary lectures around the world and has served as visiting professor at many universities in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Criqui is professor and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He is also professor in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, and is director of the Preventive Cardiology Academic Award Program.
Dr. Criqui received his medical degree and completed residency training at the University of California, San Francisco, and received a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is board certified in general preventive medicine by the American College of Preventive Medicine.
He is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and is a fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Preventive Medicine, American College of Epidemiology, Society for Vascular Medicine, the Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease of the AHA, and the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention of the AHA, for which he served as chair. He is immediate past chair of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Prevention of the AHA and currently chairs the International Peripheral Arterial Disease Working Group for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study. He has also served on committees for the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine. He serves on the editorial board for several journals, and is senior consultant to the editorial board for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Criqui is an active and productive investigator in cardiovascular epidemiology and preventive cardiology, and has made seminal contributions in the fields of peripheral arterial disease, subclinical atherosclerosis and peripheral venous disease. He has published more than 385 manuscripts and book chapters and has been an invited lecturer at numerous national and international meetings. He has received several national/international awards, including the Joseph E. Stokes III Preventive Cardiology Award (2001), the Frederick H. Epstein Memorial Lecture Award (2002), the AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Special Recognition Award (2004) and the Distinguished Achievement Award of the AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention (2008).
Henry Halperin is David J. Carver Professor of Medicine and professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Halperin received a B.S degree in physics with highest distinction from Purdue University in 1971, and received an M.A. degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972. He received an M.D. degree from Louisiana State University, New Orleans in 1977. He was a fellow in cardiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital 1981-84. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an Established Investigator and Fellow of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, a McClure Fellow of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics laboratory, and an Eagle Scout. He is the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Cardiovascular Imaging Center, and director of Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a past chair of the AHA Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Subcommittee and a past member of the Emergency Cardiac Care Committee.
Dr. Halperin has done extensive research in CPR. In studies that included computer modeling and advanced imaging, he investigated hemodynamic and airway mechanisms operative during CPR. These findings were instrumental in developing AHA recommendations for optimizing the chest compression rate and depth during CPR. In addition, these studies clarified the contribution of airway collapse, air-flow and air?trapping to generation of intrathoracic pressure during chest compression. He also did studies showing that improving blood flow during CPR could increase survival. He then developed methods and devices, most of which are clinically available, for monitoring and improving chest compression, while avoiding interruptions in chest compression. He developed (1) an accelerometer-based chest-displacement-measuring technology enabling real-time feedback on the quality of chest compression and its effect on outcomes, (2) a system for markedly reducing the chest-compression-induced artifact in the ECG, allowing correct interpretation of the ECG without interrupting chest compression, and (3) automatic mechanical chest-compression devices for improving blood flow.
Dr. Halperin has also done extensive research in electrophysiology. He invented ways of combining the anatomic information from real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with catheter ablation, to determine, through direct visualization, if complete ablations are present; and if not, to complete such ablations. He is one of the key pioneers studying interactions between MRI and cardiac rhythm devices. MRI is generally denied to patients with implanted devices, due to potential safety concerns. He showed, however, that modern devices can be MRI safe, because of improved technology. The clinical utility is substantial since more than 90 percent of diagnostic questions are answered with MRI, compared with only 20 percent with conventional imaging. Other centers are using these data to start their imaging programs, and the algorithm for safe MRI scanning has been adopted by the AHA. Dr. Halperin also introduced MRI in the study of mechanisms of arrhythmias, and this approach has been adopted by many research groups. Among other findings, he showed that a major substrate for ventricular tachycardia is scar, sometimes mixed with normal tissue, which can be imaged with MRI, and which are ideal targets for ablation.
Ten of his students have received young investigator awards from the American Heart Association and Heart Rhythm Society, and he has had continuous support from the National Institutes of Health for his research programs. He has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and more than 25 patents issued.
David Harrison is the Bernard Marcus Professor of Medicine at Emory University. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1974 and then received internal medicine and cardiology training at Duke University. He performed a research fellowship at the University of Iowa Cardiovascular Center in 1980-82. In 1982, he joined the faculty at Iowa, where he remained until 1990, when he moved to Emory University.
Dr. Harrison’s research has focused on understanding how diseases like hypertension and hypercholesterolemia alter vascular function, and he has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1982. He was among the first to show that common diseases such as hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis alter endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. In 1987, he and his colleagues published the first paper showing that endothelial function could be improved by dietary correction of hypercholesterolemia. He subsequently showed that a major cause of altered vascular function in diseases such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and diabetes is an increase in vascular superoxide production. His group initially characterized the NADPH oxidase as a source of radicals in hypertension. He subsequently has shown that the NADPH oxidase can stimulate other radical generating enzymes to generate reactive oxygen species. Recently, he and his colleagues made the seminal discovery that the adaptive immune system plays an important role in the genesis of experimental hypertension.
Dr. Harrison has previously served as chairman of the American Heart Association Circulation Council and the Council on Basic Science and he has chaired the NIH Experimental Cardiovascular Sciences study section. Dr. Harrison is a past president of the Association of University Cardiologists and a member of the American Association of Physicians. He has served on the editorial boards of various journals, including Circulation Research, Hypertension, ATVB and Circulation.
Dr. Harrison delivered the George Brown Memorial Lecture to the 1995 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, the Sir George Pickering Lecture to the British Hypertension Society in 2001, the Robert Furchgott Lecture at the International symposium on Mechanisms of Vasodilatation in 2002 and the Robert M. Berne Distinguished Lecture to the Experimental Biology Meeting in 2002. In 2003, he received the Basic Science Award from the Basic Science Council of the American Heart Association. He received the Novartis Award from the High Blood Pressure Council of the AHA for outstanding hypertension research in 2004 and was awarded the Carl J. Wiggers Award of the Cardiovascular Section of the American Physiological Society in 2010.
Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., S.M., FAHA, is a pioneer in the field of outcomes research. His scholarship at the interface of medicine, epidemiology, statistics, management sciences and economics has profoundly influenced clinical practice and healthcare policy.
The themes of effectiveness, efficiency, equity, safety, timeliness and patient-centeredness of healthcare prevention and clinical care form the core of his research efforts.
Dr. Krumholz’ research team has advanced the science of measurement in clinical care. He leads initiatives for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop national measures for public reporting of hospital performance. His ongoing work in this area includes six outcomes measures that are reported on Hospital Compare and several others in development. Prior research supported the development and refinement of the publicly reported core process measures. These assays have enabled many studies of quality of care. He has led measure development committees for the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Joint Commission. He has also led consensus statements to set standards for measures on behalf of organizations including the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the National Quality Forum.
Dr. Krumholz is a national leader in quality improvement. His research team introduced the use of mixed methods in the evaluation of determinants of performance, and developed the use of positive deviance to discover key strategies that could be disseminated to improve care. Notable among these efforts was the Door-To-Balloon Alliance, a national campaign to reduce delays in the treatment of patients with heart attacks that included participation of more than 1,000 hospitals. The team’s efforts over the past decade have also focused on characterizing and reducing readmission rates. Dr. Krumholz leads a joint effort by the American College of Cardiology and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to reduce readmission rates nationwide.
Dr. Krumholz’ research focus on disparities in health care established a new conceptual model for interpreting research on this topic. His contributions have refined targets for intervention, illuminated the complexity surrounding differences in treatment and potential remedies, and contributed to the reduction in racial disparity in door-to-balloon times. He has also worked to expand studies of women with heart disease, identifying biological, clinical and psychosocial factors that influence care and outcomes.
Dr. Krumholz is an advocate for transparency and professionalism in research and clinical care. His scholarship revealed questionable practices in the promotion of Vioxx and has prompted calls to end ghostwriting and guest authorship in the medical literature. His research was cited in testimony that led to the development of the Sunshine Act within the health reform bill.
A graduate of Yale College, Dr. Krumholz completed his medical degree at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency and chief residency at the University of California at San Francisco and a fellowship in cardiology at Beth Israel Hospital of Harvard Medical School. During his fellowship, he earned a master of health policy and management from Harvard’s School of Public Health. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, Association of American Physicians, and American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Krumholz is director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University School of Medicine, and director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
