Jane Locastro

Obituaries

Dr. Nicholas J. Fortuin, 69, a pioneer in the field of echocardiography, died April 11 while biking near his home in Owings Mills, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, where he taught medicine at Johns Hopkins University. The cardiologist died of a myocardial infarction, colleagues said.

At Johns Hopkins, he developed a reputation as a mentor to students and caring physician to his patients, and was a trustee for 25 years.

After an internship at Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Service in 1965, he pursued fellowship training there in cardiovascular medicine. His research involved the study of myocardial blood flow.

Dr. Fortuin was drafted into the U.S. Public Health Service and assigned to the University of North Carolina, where he conducted research on the effects of air pollution on the heart. During this time, he worked with Dr. Ernest Craige to use the emerging technique of ultrasound in the study of heart function. In 1971, Dr. Ross recruited him as the inaugural director of Johns Hopkins' echocardiography laboratory.

He became professor of medicine in 1986, and had a private practice in Baltimore. In 2008, a group of nearly 300 donors, including patients, colleagues, and health organizations, established the Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D., Professorship in Cardiology at Johns Hopkins, now held by Dr. Hugh Calkins, a cardiac electrophysiologist.

A native of Paterson, N.J., Dr. Fortuin earned an undergraduate degree in English literature from Columbia University in New York and traveled to England to study the work of William Shakespeare before pursuing a medical degree at Cornell University.

According to friends, Dr. Fortuin often quoted Shakespeare and remained a lifelong devotee, having attended a performance of “Richard II” in Washington on the eve of his death.

Dr. Fortuin is survived by his wife, Diane Hay, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and two siblings.

Dr. Morton F. Arnsdorf, whose work broke ground in the study and treatment of arrhythmias, died in a motor vehicle accident June 9. Two months shy of his 70th birthday, the University of Chicago cardiologist was heading home when his car was hit by a 17-year-old male who may have been driving under the influence of alcohol, according to initial reports.

Dr. Ansdorf, whose research in cell-to-cell communications led to an understanding of the electrophysiologic actions of antiarrhythmics, is credited with having pioneered the application of nanotechnology to the study of biomedical problems. He also earned the American Heart Association's Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award for his research on heart disease in women.

The Chicago native earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 1962 and his medical degree at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons 4 years later. His residency at the University of Chicago was followed by a cardiology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. During his military service in 1971-1973, Dr. Arnsdorf was chief of cardiology at the Air Force hospital in Elmendorf, Alaska. Upon his return, he started his long career at the University of Chicago, and served as chief of cardiology from 1981 to 1990.

In the early 1990s, he and his colleagues began to use atomic force microscopy to study gap junctions between adjoining heart muscle cells, according to the university statement.

Dr. Arnsdorf is survived by his wife Rosemary Crowley, four stepchildren, and five grandchildren.

DR. NICHOLAS J. FORTUIN

DR. MORTON F. ARNSDORF

Obituaries

Dr. Nicholas J. Fortuin, 69, a pioneer in the field of echocardiography, died April 11 while biking near his home in Owings Mills, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, where he taught medicine at Johns Hopkins University. The cardiologist died of a myocardial infarction, colleagues said.

At Johns Hopkins, he developed a reputation as a mentor to students and caring physician to his patients, and was a trustee for 25 years.

After an internship at Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Service in 1965, he pursued fellowship training there in cardiovascular medicine. His research involved the study of myocardial blood flow.

Dr. Fortuin was drafted into the U.S. Public Health Service and assigned to the University of North Carolina, where he conducted research on the effects of air pollution on the heart. During this time, he worked with Dr. Ernest Craige to use the emerging technique of ultrasound in the study of heart function. In 1971, Dr. Ross recruited him as the inaugural director of Johns Hopkins' echocardiography laboratory.

He became professor of medicine in 1986, and had a private practice in Baltimore. In 2008, a group of nearly 300 donors, including patients, colleagues, and health organizations, established the Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D., Professorship in Cardiology at Johns Hopkins, now held by Dr. Hugh Calkins, a cardiac electrophysiologist.

A native of Paterson, N.J., Dr. Fortuin earned an undergraduate degree in English literature from Columbia University in New York and traveled to England to study the work of William Shakespeare before pursuing a medical degree at Cornell University.

According to friends, Dr. Fortuin often quoted Shakespeare and remained a lifelong devotee, having attended a performance of “Richard II” in Washington on the eve of his death.

Dr. Fortuin is survived by his wife, Diane Hay, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and two siblings.

Dr. Morton F. Arnsdorf, whose work broke ground in the study and treatment of arrhythmias, died in a motor vehicle accident June 9. Two months shy of his 70th birthday, the University of Chicago cardiologist was heading home when his car was hit by a 17-year-old male who may have been driving under the influence of alcohol, according to initial reports.

Dr. Ansdorf, whose research in cell-to-cell communications led to an understanding of the electrophysiologic actions of antiarrhythmics, is credited with having pioneered the application of nanotechnology to the study of biomedical problems. He also earned the American Heart Association's Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award for his research on heart disease in women.

The Chicago native earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 1962 and his medical degree at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons 4 years later. His residency at the University of Chicago was followed by a cardiology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. During his military service in 1971-1973, Dr. Arnsdorf was chief of cardiology at the Air Force hospital in Elmendorf, Alaska. Upon his return, he started his long career at the University of Chicago, and served as chief of cardiology from 1981 to 1990.

In the early 1990s, he and his colleagues began to use atomic force microscopy to study gap junctions between adjoining heart muscle cells, according to the university statement.

Dr. Arnsdorf is survived by his wife Rosemary Crowley, four stepchildren, and five grandchildren.

DR. NICHOLAS J. FORTUIN

DR. MORTON F. ARNSDORF

Obituaries

Dr. Nicholas J. Fortuin, 69, a pioneer in the field of echocardiography, died April 11 while biking near his home in Owings Mills, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, where he taught medicine at Johns Hopkins University. The cardiologist died of a myocardial infarction, colleagues said.

At Johns Hopkins, he developed a reputation as a mentor to students and caring physician to his patients, and was a trustee for 25 years.

After an internship at Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Service in 1965, he pursued fellowship training there in cardiovascular medicine. His research involved the study of myocardial blood flow.

Dr. Fortuin was drafted into the U.S. Public Health Service and assigned to the University of North Carolina, where he conducted research on the effects of air pollution on the heart. During this time, he worked with Dr. Ernest Craige to use the emerging technique of ultrasound in the study of heart function. In 1971, Dr. Ross recruited him as the inaugural director of Johns Hopkins' echocardiography laboratory.

He became professor of medicine in 1986, and had a private practice in Baltimore. In 2008, a group of nearly 300 donors, including patients, colleagues, and health organizations, established the Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D., Professorship in Cardiology at Johns Hopkins, now held by Dr. Hugh Calkins, a cardiac electrophysiologist.

A native of Paterson, N.J., Dr. Fortuin earned an undergraduate degree in English literature from Columbia University in New York and traveled to England to study the work of William Shakespeare before pursuing a medical degree at Cornell University.

According to friends, Dr. Fortuin often quoted Shakespeare and remained a lifelong devotee, having attended a performance of “Richard II” in Washington on the eve of his death.

Dr. Fortuin is survived by his wife, Diane Hay, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and two siblings.

Dr. Morton F. Arnsdorf, whose work broke ground in the study and treatment of arrhythmias, died in a motor vehicle accident June 9. Two months shy of his 70th birthday, the University of Chicago cardiologist was heading home when his car was hit by a 17-year-old male who may have been driving under the influence of alcohol, according to initial reports.

Dr. Ansdorf, whose research in cell-to-cell communications led to an understanding of the electrophysiologic actions of antiarrhythmics, is credited with having pioneered the application of nanotechnology to the study of biomedical problems. He also earned the American Heart Association's Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award for his research on heart disease in women.

The Chicago native earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 1962 and his medical degree at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons 4 years later. His residency at the University of Chicago was followed by a cardiology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. During his military service in 1971-1973, Dr. Arnsdorf was chief of cardiology at the Air Force hospital in Elmendorf, Alaska. Upon his return, he started his long career at the University of Chicago, and served as chief of cardiology from 1981 to 1990.

In the early 1990s, he and his colleagues began to use atomic force microscopy to study gap junctions between adjoining heart muscle cells, according to the university statement.

Dr. Arnsdorf is survived by his wife Rosemary Crowley, four stepchildren, and five grandchildren.

DR. NICHOLAS J. FORTUIN

DR. MORTON F. ARNSDORF

Obituary

Dr. James Whyte Black, a Nobel laureate whose discovery of the beta-blocker propranolol was a pharmacological breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease, died March 21 after a long illness. He was 85.

The Uddingston, Scotland, native received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for his work in the development of propranolol in the early 1960s and the ulcer drug cimetidine in the 1970s.

Dr. Black was raised in Fife, Scotland, where “I coasted, daydreaming, through most of my school years,” he wrote in his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation. He won a scholarship to study medicine at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, and after graduating in 1946, married Hilary Vaughan and joined the university's physiology department, where he studied the effects of iodoacetate on blood pressure. The couple moved to Singapore in 1947, where Dr. Black lectured at the King Edward VII College of Medicine. Three years later, after returning to Scotland, he established a physiology laboratory at the University of Glasgow, where he teamed with academic surgeons to study to the effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine on gastric acid secretion, and how to improve oxygen supply in patients with narrowed coronary arteries.

By 1956, he wrote, “I had clearly formulated the aim based on [Dr. Raymond] Ahlquist's dual adrenoreceptor hypothesis, of finding a specific adrenaline receptor antagonist.” Dr. Black left academia in 1958 to work for Imperial Chemical Industries, a drug company in Alderley Park, Cheshire, where he developed propranolol, the first successful beta-blocker.

Meanwhile, he had been working on a treatment for stomach ulcers, and he pursued this research after leaving ICI in 1964 to take a position as head of biological research at Smith, Kline, and French, where he remained until 1973. He moved on to University College, London, to head the physiology department, and in 1975, his ulcer drug, cimetidine, was marketed as Tagamet.

In 1978, Dr. Black changed course again, to direct therapeutic research at the Wellcome Research Laboratory. In 1984, he took the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at University College before becoming chancellor at the University of Dundee, Scotland, where he served from 1992 to 2006.

Propranolol and cimetidine, among the most frequently prescribed drugs worldwide, are considered two of the most significant pharmacological advances of the 20th century.

The 1988 Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Dr. Black and U.S. researchers Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment,” according to the Nobel Foundation. Dr. Black received the Lasker Award in 1976 and the Artois-Baillet Latour Health Prize in 1979. In 1988, he founded the James Black Foundation, for scientists involved in new drug research. He was awarded the Order of Merit by the Queen of England in 2000, and received the Royal Medal in 2004. He was the first recipient of the University of Dundee's honorary degree of doctor of science in 2005, and in 2006, the university unveiled the Sir James Black Centre, for life sciences research.

He is survived by his second wife, Rona McLeod MacKie, and a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage. His first wife died in 1986.

Dr. Mario J. Garcia, an expert in the development and implementation of CT coronary angiography, has been appointed codirector of the Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center, chief of cardiology in the department of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, and professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York.

The medical centers and the university are located in the Bronx borough, which has a high prevalence of diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and hypertension. “We see an explosion of risk factors for heart disease coupled with a demand to practice evidence-based medicine and to lower costs,” Dr. Garcia said in a statement, adding that his goal as codirector of the heart center is to set new standards for technology, diagnosis, and treatment.

His interests in cardiac imaging include coronary artery disease diagnosis, diastolic heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and valvular heart disease.

Dr. Garcia previously was director of cardiovascular imaging and professor of medicine and radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. From 2000 to 2006, he directed the departments of echocardiography and cardiovascular imaging at the Cleveland Clinic.

Over the past 2 decades, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and industry, Dr. Garcia has explored noninvasive methods of evaluating the cardiovascular system. His methods have been used in hospitals, on manned space flights, and in the battlefield via telemedicine, according to a statement from Montefiore.

Dr. Garcia received his medical degree in 1986 from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriques Urea in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He did his cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

DR. JAMES WHYTE BLACK

DR. MARIO J. GARCIA

Obituary

Dr. James Whyte Black, a Nobel laureate whose discovery of the beta-blocker propranolol was a pharmacological breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease, died March 21 after a long illness. He was 85.

The Uddingston, Scotland, native received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for his work in the development of propranolol in the early 1960s and the ulcer drug cimetidine in the 1970s.

Dr. Black was raised in Fife, Scotland, where “I coasted, daydreaming, through most of my school years,” he wrote in his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation. He won a scholarship to study medicine at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, and after graduating in 1946, married Hilary Vaughan and joined the university's physiology department, where he studied the effects of iodoacetate on blood pressure. The couple moved to Singapore in 1947, where Dr. Black lectured at the King Edward VII College of Medicine. Three years later, after returning to Scotland, he established a physiology laboratory at the University of Glasgow, where he teamed with academic surgeons to study to the effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine on gastric acid secretion, and how to improve oxygen supply in patients with narrowed coronary arteries.

By 1956, he wrote, “I had clearly formulated the aim based on [Dr. Raymond] Ahlquist's dual adrenoreceptor hypothesis, of finding a specific adrenaline receptor antagonist.” Dr. Black left academia in 1958 to work for Imperial Chemical Industries, a drug company in Alderley Park, Cheshire, where he developed propranolol, the first successful beta-blocker.

Meanwhile, he had been working on a treatment for stomach ulcers, and he pursued this research after leaving ICI in 1964 to take a position as head of biological research at Smith, Kline, and French, where he remained until 1973. He moved on to University College, London, to head the physiology department, and in 1975, his ulcer drug, cimetidine, was marketed as Tagamet.

In 1978, Dr. Black changed course again, to direct therapeutic research at the Wellcome Research Laboratory. In 1984, he took the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at University College before becoming chancellor at the University of Dundee, Scotland, where he served from 1992 to 2006.

Propranolol and cimetidine, among the most frequently prescribed drugs worldwide, are considered two of the most significant pharmacological advances of the 20th century.

The 1988 Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Dr. Black and U.S. researchers Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment,” according to the Nobel Foundation. Dr. Black received the Lasker Award in 1976 and the Artois-Baillet Latour Health Prize in 1979. In 1988, he founded the James Black Foundation, for scientists involved in new drug research. He was awarded the Order of Merit by the Queen of England in 2000, and received the Royal Medal in 2004. He was the first recipient of the University of Dundee's honorary degree of doctor of science in 2005, and in 2006, the university unveiled the Sir James Black Centre, for life sciences research.

He is survived by his second wife, Rona McLeod MacKie, and a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage. His first wife died in 1986.

Dr. Mario J. Garcia, an expert in the development and implementation of CT coronary angiography, has been appointed codirector of the Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center, chief of cardiology in the department of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, and professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York.

The medical centers and the university are located in the Bronx borough, which has a high prevalence of diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and hypertension. “We see an explosion of risk factors for heart disease coupled with a demand to practice evidence-based medicine and to lower costs,” Dr. Garcia said in a statement, adding that his goal as codirector of the heart center is to set new standards for technology, diagnosis, and treatment.

His interests in cardiac imaging include coronary artery disease diagnosis, diastolic heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and valvular heart disease.

Dr. Garcia previously was director of cardiovascular imaging and professor of medicine and radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. From 2000 to 2006, he directed the departments of echocardiography and cardiovascular imaging at the Cleveland Clinic.

Over the past 2 decades, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and industry, Dr. Garcia has explored noninvasive methods of evaluating the cardiovascular system. His methods have been used in hospitals, on manned space flights, and in the battlefield via telemedicine, according to a statement from Montefiore.

Dr. Garcia received his medical degree in 1986 from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriques Urea in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He did his cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

DR. JAMES WHYTE BLACK

DR. MARIO J. GARCIA

Obituary

Dr. James Whyte Black, a Nobel laureate whose discovery of the beta-blocker propranolol was a pharmacological breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease, died March 21 after a long illness. He was 85.

The Uddingston, Scotland, native received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for his work in the development of propranolol in the early 1960s and the ulcer drug cimetidine in the 1970s.

Dr. Black was raised in Fife, Scotland, where “I coasted, daydreaming, through most of my school years,” he wrote in his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation. He won a scholarship to study medicine at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, and after graduating in 1946, married Hilary Vaughan and joined the university's physiology department, where he studied the effects of iodoacetate on blood pressure. The couple moved to Singapore in 1947, where Dr. Black lectured at the King Edward VII College of Medicine. Three years later, after returning to Scotland, he established a physiology laboratory at the University of Glasgow, where he teamed with academic surgeons to study to the effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine on gastric acid secretion, and how to improve oxygen supply in patients with narrowed coronary arteries.

By 1956, he wrote, “I had clearly formulated the aim based on [Dr. Raymond] Ahlquist's dual adrenoreceptor hypothesis, of finding a specific adrenaline receptor antagonist.” Dr. Black left academia in 1958 to work for Imperial Chemical Industries, a drug company in Alderley Park, Cheshire, where he developed propranolol, the first successful beta-blocker.

Meanwhile, he had been working on a treatment for stomach ulcers, and he pursued this research after leaving ICI in 1964 to take a position as head of biological research at Smith, Kline, and French, where he remained until 1973. He moved on to University College, London, to head the physiology department, and in 1975, his ulcer drug, cimetidine, was marketed as Tagamet.

In 1978, Dr. Black changed course again, to direct therapeutic research at the Wellcome Research Laboratory. In 1984, he took the chairmanship of the pharmacology department at University College before becoming chancellor at the University of Dundee, Scotland, where he served from 1992 to 2006.

Propranolol and cimetidine, among the most frequently prescribed drugs worldwide, are considered two of the most significant pharmacological advances of the 20th century.

The 1988 Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Dr. Black and U.S. researchers Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment,” according to the Nobel Foundation. Dr. Black received the Lasker Award in 1976 and the Artois-Baillet Latour Health Prize in 1979. In 1988, he founded the James Black Foundation, for scientists involved in new drug research. He was awarded the Order of Merit by the Queen of England in 2000, and received the Royal Medal in 2004. He was the first recipient of the University of Dundee's honorary degree of doctor of science in 2005, and in 2006, the university unveiled the Sir James Black Centre, for life sciences research.

He is survived by his second wife, Rona McLeod MacKie, and a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage. His first wife died in 1986.

Dr. Mario J. Garcia, an expert in the development and implementation of CT coronary angiography, has been appointed codirector of the Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center, chief of cardiology in the department of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, and professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York.

The medical centers and the university are located in the Bronx borough, which has a high prevalence of diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and hypertension. “We see an explosion of risk factors for heart disease coupled with a demand to practice evidence-based medicine and to lower costs,” Dr. Garcia said in a statement, adding that his goal as codirector of the heart center is to set new standards for technology, diagnosis, and treatment.

His interests in cardiac imaging include coronary artery disease diagnosis, diastolic heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and valvular heart disease.

Dr. Garcia previously was director of cardiovascular imaging and professor of medicine and radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. From 2000 to 2006, he directed the departments of echocardiography and cardiovascular imaging at the Cleveland Clinic.

Over the past 2 decades, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and industry, Dr. Garcia has explored noninvasive methods of evaluating the cardiovascular system. His methods have been used in hospitals, on manned space flights, and in the battlefield via telemedicine, according to a statement from Montefiore.

Dr. Garcia received his medical degree in 1986 from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriques Urea in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He did his cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

DR. JAMES WHYTE BLACK

DR. MARIO J. GARCIA

Obituary

Dr. Edwin G. Krebs, a Nobel laureate whose codiscovery of reversible phosphorylation would ultimately affect research in the fields of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and nerve disease, died Dec. 21 in Seattle. He was 91.

Dr. Krebs, who spent most of his career at Seattle's University of Washington School of Medicine (he joined the faculty in 1948, 2 years after the school opened), died of complications from progressive heart failure.

Although the Lansing, Iowa, native had designs on becoming a physician when he started his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, it was his fascination with research work that motivated him to change course after his graduation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1943.

After serving in the United States Navy during World War II as a medical officer, Dr. Krebs was recruited by the husband-and-wife team of Carl and Gerty Cori (1947 Nobel laureates for their research in carbohydrate metabolism and enzymes) to conduct postdoctoral research in biological chemistry at Washington University.

Dr. Krebs then went to Seattle to take a faculty position in the medical school at the University of Washington.

It was there that he met Dr. Edmond H. Fischer, starting a professional partnership and personal friendship that would last for 60 years.

The two made what Dr. Krebs would later describe as an accidental discovery in the early 1950s: that the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase, which affects the energy in muscle cells, was activated by a chemical reaction with phosphate, and deactivated by its removal. The process became known as reversible phosphorylation.

Subsequent research by Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer, as well as that of other scientists, led to the discovery that reversible phosphorylation affects cellular proteins, and is key in the regulation of cellular processes.

It was a breakthrough that, among other things, eventually led to the development of techniques to help prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.

In 1992, 40 years after their initial discovery, Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation, Dr. Krebs said that as a youngster, he did not aspire to a career in science, but he liked to make gunpowder using his brother's chemistry set, and “the closest that I came to expressing an interest in biology was the maintaining of a balanced aquarium.”

In 1933, when Dr. Krebs was 15, he and his siblings moved with their newly widowed mother to Urbana, Ill.

Dr. Krebs recalled being fascinated by his undergraduate research in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois, where he spent a lot of time in the laboratory. He first heard about phosphorylase while attending medical school in St. Louis, and his research there with the Coris, which involved the study of protamine with rabbit muscle phosphorylase, sealed his destiny as a biochemist, he wrote.

His long career at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he started as an assistant professor of biochemistry, was interrupted only by a stint as founding chair of the biological chemistry department at the University of California, Davis, from 1968 to 1977, after which he returned to UW to chair the department of pharmacology.

He was a recipient of an Albert Lasker Basic Medicine Research Award, a Gairdner Foundation Award from Canada, and Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, among many other honors.

Dr. Krebs is survived by his wife of 65 years, Virginia Krebs, three children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

He also is survived by Dr. Fischer, 89, who remembered him as “the epitome of a gentleman” in a statement a few days after Krebs' death. “It marks the end of an extraordinary and wonderful friendship.”

Source DR. EDWIN G. KREBS

Obituary

Dr. Edwin G. Krebs, a Nobel laureate whose codiscovery of reversible phosphorylation would ultimately affect research in the fields of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and nerve disease, died Dec. 21 in Seattle. He was 91.

Dr. Krebs, who spent most of his career at Seattle's University of Washington School of Medicine (he joined the faculty in 1948, 2 years after the school opened), died of complications from progressive heart failure.

Although the Lansing, Iowa, native had designs on becoming a physician when he started his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, it was his fascination with research work that motivated him to change course after his graduation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1943.

After serving in the United States Navy during World War II as a medical officer, Dr. Krebs was recruited by the husband-and-wife team of Carl and Gerty Cori (1947 Nobel laureates for their research in carbohydrate metabolism and enzymes) to conduct postdoctoral research in biological chemistry at Washington University.

Dr. Krebs then went to Seattle to take a faculty position in the medical school at the University of Washington.

It was there that he met Dr. Edmond H. Fischer, starting a professional partnership and personal friendship that would last for 60 years.

The two made what Dr. Krebs would later describe as an accidental discovery in the early 1950s: that the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase, which affects the energy in muscle cells, was activated by a chemical reaction with phosphate, and deactivated by its removal. The process became known as reversible phosphorylation.

Subsequent research by Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer, as well as that of other scientists, led to the discovery that reversible phosphorylation affects cellular proteins, and is key in the regulation of cellular processes.

It was a breakthrough that, among other things, eventually led to the development of techniques to help prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.

In 1992, 40 years after their initial discovery, Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation, Dr. Krebs said that as a youngster, he did not aspire to a career in science, but he liked to make gunpowder using his brother's chemistry set, and “the closest that I came to expressing an interest in biology was the maintaining of a balanced aquarium.”

In 1933, when Dr. Krebs was 15, he and his siblings moved with their newly widowed mother to Urbana, Ill.

Dr. Krebs recalled being fascinated by his undergraduate research in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois, where he spent a lot of time in the laboratory. He first heard about phosphorylase while attending medical school in St. Louis, and his research there with the Coris, which involved the study of protamine with rabbit muscle phosphorylase, sealed his destiny as a biochemist, he wrote.

His long career at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he started as an assistant professor of biochemistry, was interrupted only by a stint as founding chair of the biological chemistry department at the University of California, Davis, from 1968 to 1977, after which he returned to UW to chair the department of pharmacology.

He was a recipient of an Albert Lasker Basic Medicine Research Award, a Gairdner Foundation Award from Canada, and Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, among many other honors.

Dr. Krebs is survived by his wife of 65 years, Virginia Krebs, three children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

He also is survived by Dr. Fischer, 89, who remembered him as “the epitome of a gentleman” in a statement a few days after Krebs' death. “It marks the end of an extraordinary and wonderful friendship.”

Source DR. EDWIN G. KREBS

Obituary

Dr. Edwin G. Krebs, a Nobel laureate whose codiscovery of reversible phosphorylation would ultimately affect research in the fields of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and nerve disease, died Dec. 21 in Seattle. He was 91.

Dr. Krebs, who spent most of his career at Seattle's University of Washington School of Medicine (he joined the faculty in 1948, 2 years after the school opened), died of complications from progressive heart failure.

Although the Lansing, Iowa, native had designs on becoming a physician when he started his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, it was his fascination with research work that motivated him to change course after his graduation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1943.

After serving in the United States Navy during World War II as a medical officer, Dr. Krebs was recruited by the husband-and-wife team of Carl and Gerty Cori (1947 Nobel laureates for their research in carbohydrate metabolism and enzymes) to conduct postdoctoral research in biological chemistry at Washington University.

Dr. Krebs then went to Seattle to take a faculty position in the medical school at the University of Washington.

It was there that he met Dr. Edmond H. Fischer, starting a professional partnership and personal friendship that would last for 60 years.

The two made what Dr. Krebs would later describe as an accidental discovery in the early 1950s: that the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase, which affects the energy in muscle cells, was activated by a chemical reaction with phosphate, and deactivated by its removal. The process became known as reversible phosphorylation.

Subsequent research by Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer, as well as that of other scientists, led to the discovery that reversible phosphorylation affects cellular proteins, and is key in the regulation of cellular processes.

It was a breakthrough that, among other things, eventually led to the development of techniques to help prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.

In 1992, 40 years after their initial discovery, Dr. Krebs and Dr. Fischer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In his autobiographical notes for the Nobel Foundation, Dr. Krebs said that as a youngster, he did not aspire to a career in science, but he liked to make gunpowder using his brother's chemistry set, and “the closest that I came to expressing an interest in biology was the maintaining of a balanced aquarium.”

In 1933, when Dr. Krebs was 15, he and his siblings moved with their newly widowed mother to Urbana, Ill.

Dr. Krebs recalled being fascinated by his undergraduate research in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois, where he spent a lot of time in the laboratory. He first heard about phosphorylase while attending medical school in St. Louis, and his research there with the Coris, which involved the study of protamine with rabbit muscle phosphorylase, sealed his destiny as a biochemist, he wrote.

His long career at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he started as an assistant professor of biochemistry, was interrupted only by a stint as founding chair of the biological chemistry department at the University of California, Davis, from 1968 to 1977, after which he returned to UW to chair the department of pharmacology.

He was a recipient of an Albert Lasker Basic Medicine Research Award, a Gairdner Foundation Award from Canada, and Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, among many other honors.

Dr. Krebs is survived by his wife of 65 years, Virginia Krebs, three children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

He also is survived by Dr. Fischer, 89, who remembered him as “the epitome of a gentleman” in a statement a few days after Krebs' death. “It marks the end of an extraordinary and wonderful friendship.”

Source DR. EDWIN G. KREBS

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Roberta G. Williams is stepping down as chair of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine and will begin a yearlong sabbatical at the university April 1 to study the economics of life cycle coverage for patients with chronic childhood illnesses.

“I guess this is delayed gratification,” the pediatric cardiologist told

Dr. Williams, who is also vice president for pediatrics and academic affairs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said she will “turn over the reins” to Dr. D. Brent Polk, a researcher and pediatric gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Dr. Polk will succeed her as chair of both pediatric departments, and as vice president of academic affairs at Childrens Hospital.

Dr. Williams will be joined in her sabbatical by Dana P. Goldman, Ph.D., director of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California, and Darius N. Lakdawalla, Ph.D., associate professor at USC's School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

In addition to her interest in health policy, Dr. Williams has been involved in the field of echocardiography since the early 1970s, when she received pediatric cardiology training during a fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital. She went on to direct the hospital's echocardiography lab and became medical director of its cardiothoracic intensive care service. From there, she became chief of pediatric cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1995, she returned to her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where she had received her medical degree in 1968), to chair the pediatrics department. She joined USC in 2000.

The author of two books on echocardiography, Dr. Williams received the Gifted Teacher Award from the American College of Cardiology in 2002, and has been recognized by the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography for lifetime achievement.

Dr. Christopher U. Cates, an interventional cardiologist in Blairsville, Ga., has entered the race for the Republican nomination for Georgia's ninth Congressional district. Dr. Cates, who has run weekly clinics in Hiawassee, Blairsville, and Dahlonega, Ga., for 21 years, has closed his practice to run his political campaign.

He has been involved in the health care policy debate for 20 years, having addressed federal agencies and members of Congress on issues such as cost-effectiveness and quality of care. Dr. Cates, 53, is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship training at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. In 1995, he became the first physician to perform a carotid stent procedure in Georgia. In 2005, Dr. Cates performed the first mission rehearsal procedure in medical practice, using virtual reality simulation.

Dr. Robert Mentzer Jr., a cardiovascular transplant surgeon, has joined San Diego State University's BioScience Center, where he now serves as a research professor in the biology department.

Dr. Mentzer, who resigned last summer from his position as dean of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, will serve as director of translational research and global health initiatives. He will also fill the role of senior adviser to the San Diego State University Research Foundation.

In his position as director of translational research, Dr. Mentzer will guide the BioScience Center in bringing study findings into medical practice.

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Roberta G. Williams is stepping down as chair of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine and will begin a yearlong sabbatical at the university April 1 to study the economics of life cycle coverage for patients with chronic childhood illnesses.

“I guess this is delayed gratification,” the pediatric cardiologist told

Dr. Williams, who is also vice president for pediatrics and academic affairs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said she will “turn over the reins” to Dr. D. Brent Polk, a researcher and pediatric gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Dr. Polk will succeed her as chair of both pediatric departments, and as vice president of academic affairs at Childrens Hospital.

Dr. Williams will be joined in her sabbatical by Dana P. Goldman, Ph.D., director of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California, and Darius N. Lakdawalla, Ph.D., associate professor at USC's School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

In addition to her interest in health policy, Dr. Williams has been involved in the field of echocardiography since the early 1970s, when she received pediatric cardiology training during a fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital. She went on to direct the hospital's echocardiography lab and became medical director of its cardiothoracic intensive care service. From there, she became chief of pediatric cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1995, she returned to her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where she had received her medical degree in 1968), to chair the pediatrics department. She joined USC in 2000.

The author of two books on echocardiography, Dr. Williams received the Gifted Teacher Award from the American College of Cardiology in 2002, and has been recognized by the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography for lifetime achievement.

Dr. Christopher U. Cates, an interventional cardiologist in Blairsville, Ga., has entered the race for the Republican nomination for Georgia's ninth Congressional district. Dr. Cates, who has run weekly clinics in Hiawassee, Blairsville, and Dahlonega, Ga., for 21 years, has closed his practice to run his political campaign.

He has been involved in the health care policy debate for 20 years, having addressed federal agencies and members of Congress on issues such as cost-effectiveness and quality of care. Dr. Cates, 53, is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship training at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. In 1995, he became the first physician to perform a carotid stent procedure in Georgia. In 2005, Dr. Cates performed the first mission rehearsal procedure in medical practice, using virtual reality simulation.

Dr. Robert Mentzer Jr., a cardiovascular transplant surgeon, has joined San Diego State University's BioScience Center, where he now serves as a research professor in the biology department.

Dr. Mentzer, who resigned last summer from his position as dean of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, will serve as director of translational research and global health initiatives. He will also fill the role of senior adviser to the San Diego State University Research Foundation.

In his position as director of translational research, Dr. Mentzer will guide the BioScience Center in bringing study findings into medical practice.

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Roberta G. Williams is stepping down as chair of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine and will begin a yearlong sabbatical at the university April 1 to study the economics of life cycle coverage for patients with chronic childhood illnesses.

“I guess this is delayed gratification,” the pediatric cardiologist told

Dr. Williams, who is also vice president for pediatrics and academic affairs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said she will “turn over the reins” to Dr. D. Brent Polk, a researcher and pediatric gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Dr. Polk will succeed her as chair of both pediatric departments, and as vice president of academic affairs at Childrens Hospital.

Dr. Williams will be joined in her sabbatical by Dana P. Goldman, Ph.D., director of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California, and Darius N. Lakdawalla, Ph.D., associate professor at USC's School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

In addition to her interest in health policy, Dr. Williams has been involved in the field of echocardiography since the early 1970s, when she received pediatric cardiology training during a fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital. She went on to direct the hospital's echocardiography lab and became medical director of its cardiothoracic intensive care service. From there, she became chief of pediatric cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1995, she returned to her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where she had received her medical degree in 1968), to chair the pediatrics department. She joined USC in 2000.

The author of two books on echocardiography, Dr. Williams received the Gifted Teacher Award from the American College of Cardiology in 2002, and has been recognized by the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography for lifetime achievement.

Dr. Christopher U. Cates, an interventional cardiologist in Blairsville, Ga., has entered the race for the Republican nomination for Georgia's ninth Congressional district. Dr. Cates, who has run weekly clinics in Hiawassee, Blairsville, and Dahlonega, Ga., for 21 years, has closed his practice to run his political campaign.

He has been involved in the health care policy debate for 20 years, having addressed federal agencies and members of Congress on issues such as cost-effectiveness and quality of care. Dr. Cates, 53, is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship training at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. In 1995, he became the first physician to perform a carotid stent procedure in Georgia. In 2005, Dr. Cates performed the first mission rehearsal procedure in medical practice, using virtual reality simulation.

Dr. Robert Mentzer Jr., a cardiovascular transplant surgeon, has joined San Diego State University's BioScience Center, where he now serves as a research professor in the biology department.

Dr. Mentzer, who resigned last summer from his position as dean of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, will serve as director of translational research and global health initiatives. He will also fill the role of senior adviser to the San Diego State University Research Foundation.

In his position as director of translational research, Dr. Mentzer will guide the BioScience Center in bringing study findings into medical practice.

Leisure-time physical activity was linked to a decreased risk for type 2 diabetes in patients with vascular disease or poorly controlled risk factors, according to data from the ongoing Second Manifestations of Arterial Disease study in the Netherlands.

The benefit of physical activity was present at any level of body mass index, reported Dr. Beate G. Brouwer of University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues.

They studied the effect of leisure-time physical activity, as well as the combined effect of such activity and nonobesity, on the incidence of type 2 diabetes in 3,940 patients with arterial disease or a cardiovascular risk factor. Their mean age was 55 years; 68% were male, and 16% were obese, with a BMI of at least 30 kg/m

Most patients (65%) were not physically active (0 metabolic equivalent [MET] hr/week), 25% were sufficiently active (more than 10.5 MET hr/week), and 10% were insufficiently active (0.5-10.5 MET hr/week) (Diab. Res. Clin. Pract. 2009 [doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2009.12.001

A total of 194 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were reported during a mean follow-up of 4.7 years. Patients with sufficient physical activity had a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes than those with no physical activity. Analysis of the combined effect of leisure-time physical activity and body mass index revealed that “low-risk patients who are physically active and not obese had the lowest risk for type 2 diabetes,” they reported.

Dr. Brouwer and coauthors reported that they had no conflicts of interest related to the study.

Leisure-time physical activity was linked to a decreased risk for type 2 diabetes in patients with vascular disease or poorly controlled risk factors, according to data from the ongoing Second Manifestations of Arterial Disease study in the Netherlands.

The benefit of physical activity was present at any level of body mass index, reported Dr. Beate G. Brouwer of University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues.

They studied the effect of leisure-time physical activity, as well as the combined effect of such activity and nonobesity, on the incidence of type 2 diabetes in 3,940 patients with arterial disease or a cardiovascular risk factor. Their mean age was 55 years; 68% were male, and 16% were obese, with a BMI of at least 30 kg/m

Most patients (65%) were not physically active (0 metabolic equivalent [MET] hr/week), 25% were sufficiently active (more than 10.5 MET hr/week), and 10% were insufficiently active (0.5-10.5 MET hr/week) (Diab. Res. Clin. Pract. 2009 [doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2009.12.001

A total of 194 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were reported during a mean follow-up of 4.7 years. Patients with sufficient physical activity had a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes than those with no physical activity. Analysis of the combined effect of leisure-time physical activity and body mass index revealed that “low-risk patients who are physically active and not obese had the lowest risk for type 2 diabetes,” they reported.

Dr. Brouwer and coauthors reported that they had no conflicts of interest related to the study.

Leisure-time physical activity was linked to a decreased risk for type 2 diabetes in patients with vascular disease or poorly controlled risk factors, according to data from the ongoing Second Manifestations of Arterial Disease study in the Netherlands.

The benefit of physical activity was present at any level of body mass index, reported Dr. Beate G. Brouwer of University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues.

They studied the effect of leisure-time physical activity, as well as the combined effect of such activity and nonobesity, on the incidence of type 2 diabetes in 3,940 patients with arterial disease or a cardiovascular risk factor. Their mean age was 55 years; 68% were male, and 16% were obese, with a BMI of at least 30 kg/m

Most patients (65%) were not physically active (0 metabolic equivalent [MET] hr/week), 25% were sufficiently active (more than 10.5 MET hr/week), and 10% were insufficiently active (0.5-10.5 MET hr/week) (Diab. Res. Clin. Pract. 2009 [doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2009.12.001

A total of 194 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were reported during a mean follow-up of 4.7 years. Patients with sufficient physical activity had a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes than those with no physical activity. Analysis of the combined effect of leisure-time physical activity and body mass index revealed that “low-risk patients who are physically active and not obese had the lowest risk for type 2 diabetes,” they reported.

Dr. Brouwer and coauthors reported that they had no conflicts of interest related to the study.

Impaired kidney function was associated with increased bone loss in an analysis of data from the population-based Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study.

Among 635 study participants whose bone mineral density had been tested at baseline and at 5 years' follow-up, estimated creatinine clearance (eCCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at baseline were predictive of bone loss at the hip and spine, according to Dr. Sophie A. Jamal of the University of Toronto and her colleagues.

“One way to decrease the economic costs, morbidity, and mortality associated with fractures in patients with [chronic kidney disease] is to identify patients at high risk and target treatments to this group,” Dr. Jamal and her colleagues wrote. The investigators analyzed baseline data to calculate eCCr and eGFR in 191 men and 444 women who were aged at least 50 years.

BMD was measured with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip.

Participants also had filled out questionnaires to assess risk factors for fractures and use of medications. The study ran from 2000 to 2005.

“The primary predictor of change in BMD during 5 years was eCCr measured at baseline and stratified into quartiles. Our secondary predictor was eGFR, also stratified into quartiles,” the researchers wrote.

The quartiles represented highest to lowest eCCr (from greater than 101.2 mL/min in the first quartile to less than 68.3 mL/min in the fourth) and eGFR (from greater than 86.3 mL/min to less than 68.5 mL/min) (Am. J. Kidney Dis. 2010;55:291-9 [doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2009.10.049

“A cross-sectional analysis showed that compared with those in the first quartile, those with more impaired kidney function (in the second, third, and fourth quartiles of eCCr) had lower BMD at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip at year 5,” Dr. Jamal and her coinvestigators wrote.

Over the long term, they added, “these modest decreases result in substantial bone loss.”

Among the study's limitations were its observational design, its small sample size of all-white community dwellers, and, most importantly, the issue of competing mortality.

“To estimate longitudinal change in BMD, participants had to survive to the second measurement. It is possible that participants with the greatest impairment in kidney function had the most rapid bone loss and died before year 5, and as such, were not included in the analysis,” the researchers wrote.

The authors stated they had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Impaired kidney function was associated with increased bone loss in an analysis of data from the population-based Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study.

Among 635 study participants whose bone mineral density had been tested at baseline and at 5 years' follow-up, estimated creatinine clearance (eCCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at baseline were predictive of bone loss at the hip and spine, according to Dr. Sophie A. Jamal of the University of Toronto and her colleagues.

“One way to decrease the economic costs, morbidity, and mortality associated with fractures in patients with [chronic kidney disease] is to identify patients at high risk and target treatments to this group,” Dr. Jamal and her colleagues wrote. The investigators analyzed baseline data to calculate eCCr and eGFR in 191 men and 444 women who were aged at least 50 years.

BMD was measured with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip.

Participants also had filled out questionnaires to assess risk factors for fractures and use of medications. The study ran from 2000 to 2005.

“The primary predictor of change in BMD during 5 years was eCCr measured at baseline and stratified into quartiles. Our secondary predictor was eGFR, also stratified into quartiles,” the researchers wrote.

The quartiles represented highest to lowest eCCr (from greater than 101.2 mL/min in the first quartile to less than 68.3 mL/min in the fourth) and eGFR (from greater than 86.3 mL/min to less than 68.5 mL/min) (Am. J. Kidney Dis. 2010;55:291-9 [doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2009.10.049

“A cross-sectional analysis showed that compared with those in the first quartile, those with more impaired kidney function (in the second, third, and fourth quartiles of eCCr) had lower BMD at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip at year 5,” Dr. Jamal and her coinvestigators wrote.

Over the long term, they added, “these modest decreases result in substantial bone loss.”

Among the study's limitations were its observational design, its small sample size of all-white community dwellers, and, most importantly, the issue of competing mortality.

“To estimate longitudinal change in BMD, participants had to survive to the second measurement. It is possible that participants with the greatest impairment in kidney function had the most rapid bone loss and died before year 5, and as such, were not included in the analysis,” the researchers wrote.

The authors stated they had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Impaired kidney function was associated with increased bone loss in an analysis of data from the population-based Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study.

Among 635 study participants whose bone mineral density had been tested at baseline and at 5 years' follow-up, estimated creatinine clearance (eCCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at baseline were predictive of bone loss at the hip and spine, according to Dr. Sophie A. Jamal of the University of Toronto and her colleagues.

“One way to decrease the economic costs, morbidity, and mortality associated with fractures in patients with [chronic kidney disease] is to identify patients at high risk and target treatments to this group,” Dr. Jamal and her colleagues wrote. The investigators analyzed baseline data to calculate eCCr and eGFR in 191 men and 444 women who were aged at least 50 years.

BMD was measured with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip.

Participants also had filled out questionnaires to assess risk factors for fractures and use of medications. The study ran from 2000 to 2005.

“The primary predictor of change in BMD during 5 years was eCCr measured at baseline and stratified into quartiles. Our secondary predictor was eGFR, also stratified into quartiles,” the researchers wrote.

The quartiles represented highest to lowest eCCr (from greater than 101.2 mL/min in the first quartile to less than 68.3 mL/min in the fourth) and eGFR (from greater than 86.3 mL/min to less than 68.5 mL/min) (Am. J. Kidney Dis. 2010;55:291-9 [doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2009.10.049

“A cross-sectional analysis showed that compared with those in the first quartile, those with more impaired kidney function (in the second, third, and fourth quartiles of eCCr) had lower BMD at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip at year 5,” Dr. Jamal and her coinvestigators wrote.

Over the long term, they added, “these modest decreases result in substantial bone loss.”

Among the study's limitations were its observational design, its small sample size of all-white community dwellers, and, most importantly, the issue of competing mortality.

“To estimate longitudinal change in BMD, participants had to survive to the second measurement. It is possible that participants with the greatest impairment in kidney function had the most rapid bone loss and died before year 5, and as such, were not included in the analysis,” the researchers wrote.

The authors stated they had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Obituary

Dr. Kenneth L. Baughman, 63, director of the advanced heart disease program at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, died Nov. 16 in Orlando, after being struck by a car while he was jogging. A resident of Newton, Mass., Dr. Baughman had been in Orlando to attend the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association.

The AHA's president, Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, said in a statement that Dr. Baughman's death “saddens the cardiovascular community and leaves us with a profound sense of loss … His legacy as a scholar, investigator, clinician, and gentleman will remain.”

Friends and colleagues remembered Dr. Baughman as a cardiologist dedicated to his work, his patients, and, most importantly, his family. He died while pursuing another of his passions: running. He was an avid athlete who competed frequently in triathlons, and he had participated in the Boston Marathon with a team from BWH in 2005. The following year, he was co-captain of the hospital's team in the AHA's Boston Heart Walk.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Dr. Baughman earned his bachelor and medical degrees at the University of Missouri. In 1979, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore. He became director of the medical center's cardiology division in 1992 and was named the E. Cowles Andrus Professor of Cardiology at the school of medicine in 2001.

In 2002, Dr. Baughman took the position as director of the advanced heart disease section of the cardiovascular division at Brigham and Women's. He played a pivotal role in the creation of the hospital's state-of-the-art Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, a 136-bed, 10-story building that opened in the summer of 2008.

He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, two sons, and four grandchildren. Dr. Baughman's family released this statement: “We are heartbroken by the loss of a wonderful and loving husband, father, grandfather, and physician. Ken dedicated his life to his family and patients. His rewards from a life of caring were tremendous and his loss unfathomable.”

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, former director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, became president and CEO of Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospitals, Boston, this month. She had been elected by the unanimous vote of the board of directors, which jointly oversees the two hospitals.

The move represents a homecoming for Dr. Nabel. After she received her medical degree in 1981 from Cornell University in New York, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine, and a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The St. Paul, Minn., native went on to join the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1987, as assistant professor of medicine. She became director of the university's cardiovascular research center in 1992 and professor of medicine and physiology in 1994. Three years later, Dr. Nabel was chief of the cardiology division. During her tenure in Michigan, she became known for her work in the field of vascular biology and molecular cardiology.

In 1999, she took the position of institute scientific director of clinical research at the NHLBI. She became director of the institute in 2005, overseeing an annual budget of nearly $3 billion.

She has been active in community outreach, and has a strong interest in women's health and heart disease.

Her interest in genetic and cellular therapies for cardiovascular disease has driven much of her research. Dr. Nabel's vascular biology laboratory at the NIH has characterized the role of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors on vascular proliferation, inflammation, and progenitor cells using various genetic tools. The laboratory has published more than 200 papers, and Dr. Nabel has been mentor to more than 40 students and fellows.

A fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Nabel serves on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine, among other publications.

Dr. Nabel succeeds Dr. Gary Gottlieb, who is the new CEO and president of the Partners HealthCare, parent company of Brigham and Women's, Faulkner, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Gottlieb replaces Dr. James Mongan, who has retired.

Dr. Susan B. Shurin, who had served as deputy director for the NHLBI since February 2006, became acting director upon Dr. Nabel's departure.

Dr. Richard L. Page, president of the Hearth Rhythm Society, has joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison as chair of the medicine department. He makes the transition from the University of Washington, Seattle, where had served as head of the cardiology division and held the Robert A. Bruce Endowed Chair in cardiovascular research.

Dr. Page, whose research interests include atrial fibrillation and automated external defibrillators, took a year off from medical school at Duke University, Durham, N.C., to study electrophysiology at Columbia University in New York as a Sarnoff Fellow. He received his medical degree from Duke in 1984, and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He pursued postgraduate research as a Sarnoff Scholar and served on the faculty at Duke before going to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 1992, where he served as director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology until joining the staff at the University of Washington in 2002.

Heart Care Certification Awarded

The Joint Commission has awarded certification to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., the first organization in the United States to be recognized under the Disease-Specific Care Advanced Certification Program in Heart Failure. Developed by the Joint Commission in collaboration with the American Heart Association, the program recognizes hospitals that foster better quality of care and outcomes for heart failure patients. To be certified, organizations must meet the program's standards and performance measurement requirements; must sustain for 90 days or more at least 85% compliance with the five achievement measures of Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure, a quality improvement program of the American Heart Association; and must collect data on Joint Commission core measures for heart failure and use the data in performance improvement activities.

DR. BAUGHMAN

DR. NABEL

Obituary

Dr. Kenneth L. Baughman, 63, director of the advanced heart disease program at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, died Nov. 16 in Orlando, after being struck by a car while he was jogging. A resident of Newton, Mass., Dr. Baughman had been in Orlando to attend the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association.

The AHA's president, Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, said in a statement that Dr. Baughman's death “saddens the cardiovascular community and leaves us with a profound sense of loss … His legacy as a scholar, investigator, clinician, and gentleman will remain.”

Friends and colleagues remembered Dr. Baughman as a cardiologist dedicated to his work, his patients, and, most importantly, his family. He died while pursuing another of his passions: running. He was an avid athlete who competed frequently in triathlons, and he had participated in the Boston Marathon with a team from BWH in 2005. The following year, he was co-captain of the hospital's team in the AHA's Boston Heart Walk.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Dr. Baughman earned his bachelor and medical degrees at the University of Missouri. In 1979, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore. He became director of the medical center's cardiology division in 1992 and was named the E. Cowles Andrus Professor of Cardiology at the school of medicine in 2001.

In 2002, Dr. Baughman took the position as director of the advanced heart disease section of the cardiovascular division at Brigham and Women's. He played a pivotal role in the creation of the hospital's state-of-the-art Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, a 136-bed, 10-story building that opened in the summer of 2008.

He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, two sons, and four grandchildren. Dr. Baughman's family released this statement: “We are heartbroken by the loss of a wonderful and loving husband, father, grandfather, and physician. Ken dedicated his life to his family and patients. His rewards from a life of caring were tremendous and his loss unfathomable.”

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, former director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, became president and CEO of Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospitals, Boston, this month. She had been elected by the unanimous vote of the board of directors, which jointly oversees the two hospitals.

The move represents a homecoming for Dr. Nabel. After she received her medical degree in 1981 from Cornell University in New York, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine, and a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The St. Paul, Minn., native went on to join the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1987, as assistant professor of medicine. She became director of the university's cardiovascular research center in 1992 and professor of medicine and physiology in 1994. Three years later, Dr. Nabel was chief of the cardiology division. During her tenure in Michigan, she became known for her work in the field of vascular biology and molecular cardiology.

In 1999, she took the position of institute scientific director of clinical research at the NHLBI. She became director of the institute in 2005, overseeing an annual budget of nearly $3 billion.

She has been active in community outreach, and has a strong interest in women's health and heart disease.

Her interest in genetic and cellular therapies for cardiovascular disease has driven much of her research. Dr. Nabel's vascular biology laboratory at the NIH has characterized the role of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors on vascular proliferation, inflammation, and progenitor cells using various genetic tools. The laboratory has published more than 200 papers, and Dr. Nabel has been mentor to more than 40 students and fellows.

A fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Nabel serves on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine, among other publications.

Dr. Nabel succeeds Dr. Gary Gottlieb, who is the new CEO and president of the Partners HealthCare, parent company of Brigham and Women's, Faulkner, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Gottlieb replaces Dr. James Mongan, who has retired.

Dr. Susan B. Shurin, who had served as deputy director for the NHLBI since February 2006, became acting director upon Dr. Nabel's departure.

Dr. Richard L. Page, president of the Hearth Rhythm Society, has joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison as chair of the medicine department. He makes the transition from the University of Washington, Seattle, where had served as head of the cardiology division and held the Robert A. Bruce Endowed Chair in cardiovascular research.

Dr. Page, whose research interests include atrial fibrillation and automated external defibrillators, took a year off from medical school at Duke University, Durham, N.C., to study electrophysiology at Columbia University in New York as a Sarnoff Fellow. He received his medical degree from Duke in 1984, and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He pursued postgraduate research as a Sarnoff Scholar and served on the faculty at Duke before going to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 1992, where he served as director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology until joining the staff at the University of Washington in 2002.

Heart Care Certification Awarded

The Joint Commission has awarded certification to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., the first organization in the United States to be recognized under the Disease-Specific Care Advanced Certification Program in Heart Failure. Developed by the Joint Commission in collaboration with the American Heart Association, the program recognizes hospitals that foster better quality of care and outcomes for heart failure patients. To be certified, organizations must meet the program's standards and performance measurement requirements; must sustain for 90 days or more at least 85% compliance with the five achievement measures of Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure, a quality improvement program of the American Heart Association; and must collect data on Joint Commission core measures for heart failure and use the data in performance improvement activities.

DR. BAUGHMAN

DR. NABEL

Obituary

Dr. Kenneth L. Baughman, 63, director of the advanced heart disease program at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, died Nov. 16 in Orlando, after being struck by a car while he was jogging. A resident of Newton, Mass., Dr. Baughman had been in Orlando to attend the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association.

The AHA's president, Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, said in a statement that Dr. Baughman's death “saddens the cardiovascular community and leaves us with a profound sense of loss … His legacy as a scholar, investigator, clinician, and gentleman will remain.”

Friends and colleagues remembered Dr. Baughman as a cardiologist dedicated to his work, his patients, and, most importantly, his family. He died while pursuing another of his passions: running. He was an avid athlete who competed frequently in triathlons, and he had participated in the Boston Marathon with a team from BWH in 2005. The following year, he was co-captain of the hospital's team in the AHA's Boston Heart Walk.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Dr. Baughman earned his bachelor and medical degrees at the University of Missouri. In 1979, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore. He became director of the medical center's cardiology division in 1992 and was named the E. Cowles Andrus Professor of Cardiology at the school of medicine in 2001.

In 2002, Dr. Baughman took the position as director of the advanced heart disease section of the cardiovascular division at Brigham and Women's. He played a pivotal role in the creation of the hospital's state-of-the-art Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, a 136-bed, 10-story building that opened in the summer of 2008.

He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, two sons, and four grandchildren. Dr. Baughman's family released this statement: “We are heartbroken by the loss of a wonderful and loving husband, father, grandfather, and physician. Ken dedicated his life to his family and patients. His rewards from a life of caring were tremendous and his loss unfathomable.”

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, former director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, became president and CEO of Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospitals, Boston, this month. She had been elected by the unanimous vote of the board of directors, which jointly oversees the two hospitals.

The move represents a homecoming for Dr. Nabel. After she received her medical degree in 1981 from Cornell University in New York, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine, and a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The St. Paul, Minn., native went on to join the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1987, as assistant professor of medicine. She became director of the university's cardiovascular research center in 1992 and professor of medicine and physiology in 1994. Three years later, Dr. Nabel was chief of the cardiology division. During her tenure in Michigan, she became known for her work in the field of vascular biology and molecular cardiology.

In 1999, she took the position of institute scientific director of clinical research at the NHLBI. She became director of the institute in 2005, overseeing an annual budget of nearly $3 billion.

She has been active in community outreach, and has a strong interest in women's health and heart disease.

Her interest in genetic and cellular therapies for cardiovascular disease has driven much of her research. Dr. Nabel's vascular biology laboratory at the NIH has characterized the role of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors on vascular proliferation, inflammation, and progenitor cells using various genetic tools. The laboratory has published more than 200 papers, and Dr. Nabel has been mentor to more than 40 students and fellows.

A fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Nabel serves on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine, among other publications.

Dr. Nabel succeeds Dr. Gary Gottlieb, who is the new CEO and president of the Partners HealthCare, parent company of Brigham and Women's, Faulkner, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Gottlieb replaces Dr. James Mongan, who has retired.

Dr. Susan B. Shurin, who had served as deputy director for the NHLBI since February 2006, became acting director upon Dr. Nabel's departure.

Dr. Richard L. Page, president of the Hearth Rhythm Society, has joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison as chair of the medicine department. He makes the transition from the University of Washington, Seattle, where had served as head of the cardiology division and held the Robert A. Bruce Endowed Chair in cardiovascular research.

Dr. Page, whose research interests include atrial fibrillation and automated external defibrillators, took a year off from medical school at Duke University, Durham, N.C., to study electrophysiology at Columbia University in New York as a Sarnoff Fellow. He received his medical degree from Duke in 1984, and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He pursued postgraduate research as a Sarnoff Scholar and served on the faculty at Duke before going to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 1992, where he served as director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology until joining the staff at the University of Washington in 2002.

Heart Care Certification Awarded

The Joint Commission has awarded certification to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., the first organization in the United States to be recognized under the Disease-Specific Care Advanced Certification Program in Heart Failure. Developed by the Joint Commission in collaboration with the American Heart Association, the program recognizes hospitals that foster better quality of care and outcomes for heart failure patients. To be certified, organizations must meet the program's standards and performance measurement requirements; must sustain for 90 days or more at least 85% compliance with the five achievement measures of Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure, a quality improvement program of the American Heart Association; and must collect data on Joint Commission core measures for heart failure and use the data in performance improvement activities.

DR. BAUGHMAN

DR. NABEL

Obituaries

Dr. William Ganz, coinventer of a revolutionary pulmonary artery catheter, died Nov. 10. He was 90 years old. A Nazi labor camp survivor, Dr. Ganz died of natural causes.

In the late 1960s, while a research scientist and staff physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Ganz developed the catheter with his colleague, the late Dr. Jeremy Swan, who was chief of the medical center's cardiology division, to assess heart function in critically ill patients. In 1971, Dr. Ganz developed a new method for direct measurement of blood flow in humans, and this technique was incorporated into the Swan-Ganz catheter.

The measurement procedure, known as thermodilution, gauges the temperature difference of blood from one heart chamber to the next.

Used by more than 30 million patients since then, the balloon-tipped Swan-Ganz catheter is now standard treatment in cardiac medicine.

Inserted through a neck vein, shoulder, or groin, the device's balloon tip allows it to travel in the bloodstream. Once in place in the pulmonary artery, the catheter measures post MI effects and medication response. The device also measures cardiovascular performance of patients during heart surgery.

Born in 1919 in Kosice, Slovakia, Dr. Ganz started his medical training at Charles University in Prague. During the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia, Dr. Ganz was taken prisoner in a labor camp, but was later released and went into hiding in Budapest.

Dr. Ganz returned to Prague after World War II, completed his medical education, and specialized in cardiology. He began to develop his thermodilution method, but in 1966, he and his family emigrated to the United States to escape Communism. He was hired by Dr. Swan at Cedars-Sinai.

In 1982, Dr. Ganz joined forces with Dr. Prediman K. Shaw, the current director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute's cardiology division, to conduct studies of clot-dissolving therapy for myocardial infarction patients. Cedars-Sinai became the first medical center in the United States to test the therapy in humans.

The American College of Cardiology recognized Dr. Ganz with its distinguished scientist award in 1992.

Dr. Ganz was predeceased by his wife, Magda, in 2005. He is survived by his sons Tomas and Peter, and five grandchildren.

Dr. Donald S. Baim, an interventional cardiologist known for his work in the development of catheters and stents, died Nov. 6. He was 60 years old. His death was caused by complications of surgery for adrenal cancer.

Dr. Baim, a resident of Westwood, Mass., was chief medical and scientific officer for Boston Scientific in Natick, Mass. He had joined the company, which manufactures pacemakers, defibrillators, and other implants, in the summer of 2006.

“He was a pioneer in the development of interventional cardiology, and the many contributions he made to science, medicine, and medical technology will serve as a proud and enduring legacy,” Ray Elliott, Boston Scientific's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Born in New York and raised in Miami Beach, Dr. Baim received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1971 from the University of Chicago, and his medical degree in 1975 from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

He pursued postgraduate training in medicine and cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he worked with Dr. John Simpson to develop moveable guidewire coronary angioplasty catheters. In 1981, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and established an interventional cardiology program at Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston. The program grew to national prominence in the refinement and application of devices such as stents. In 1994, Dr. Baim became a full professor of medicine at Harvard.

In 2000, Dr. Baim moved on to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he directed the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools.

Dr. Baim specialized in the development and evaluation of new interventional cardiovascular devices. According to a statement from Boston Scientific, Dr. Baim “played a major role in developing technology strategies, including the assessment of technologies of acquisition and partnership candidates, and their integration with internal technologies.”

He was the editor of Grossman's Cardiac Catheterization, Angiography, and Intervention, and the author of more than 300 articles.

He was founder of or consultant for more than 20 companies and medical device incubators in areas of embolic protection, thrombectomy, chronic total occlusions, arterial closure, novel stent and coatings, heart failure, and percutaneous heart valves.

Dr. Baim was remembered by his colleagues as a gifted mentor, a good friend, and a visionary in his field. He is survived by wife, Caryn Paris, sons Adam and Christopher, daughters Samantha Paris and Jenifer Pruskin, and a granddaughter, as well as his mother, Jocelyn Baim, and brother, Paul.

Dr. William Ganz

Dr. Donald S. Baim

Obituaries

Dr. William Ganz, coinventer of a revolutionary pulmonary artery catheter, died Nov. 10. He was 90 years old. A Nazi labor camp survivor, Dr. Ganz died of natural causes.

In the late 1960s, while a research scientist and staff physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Ganz developed the catheter with his colleague, the late Dr. Jeremy Swan, who was chief of the medical center's cardiology division, to assess heart function in critically ill patients. In 1971, Dr. Ganz developed a new method for direct measurement of blood flow in humans, and this technique was incorporated into the Swan-Ganz catheter.

The measurement procedure, known as thermodilution, gauges the temperature difference of blood from one heart chamber to the next.

Used by more than 30 million patients since then, the balloon-tipped Swan-Ganz catheter is now standard treatment in cardiac medicine.

Inserted through a neck vein, shoulder, or groin, the device's balloon tip allows it to travel in the bloodstream. Once in place in the pulmonary artery, the catheter measures post MI effects and medication response. The device also measures cardiovascular performance of patients during heart surgery.

Born in 1919 in Kosice, Slovakia, Dr. Ganz started his medical training at Charles University in Prague. During the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia, Dr. Ganz was taken prisoner in a labor camp, but was later released and went into hiding in Budapest.

Dr. Ganz returned to Prague after World War II, completed his medical education, and specialized in cardiology. He began to develop his thermodilution method, but in 1966, he and his family emigrated to the United States to escape Communism. He was hired by Dr. Swan at Cedars-Sinai.

In 1982, Dr. Ganz joined forces with Dr. Prediman K. Shaw, the current director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute's cardiology division, to conduct studies of clot-dissolving therapy for myocardial infarction patients. Cedars-Sinai became the first medical center in the United States to test the therapy in humans.

The American College of Cardiology recognized Dr. Ganz with its distinguished scientist award in 1992.

Dr. Ganz was predeceased by his wife, Magda, in 2005. He is survived by his sons Tomas and Peter, and five grandchildren.

Dr. Donald S. Baim, an interventional cardiologist known for his work in the development of catheters and stents, died Nov. 6. He was 60 years old. His death was caused by complications of surgery for adrenal cancer.

Dr. Baim, a resident of Westwood, Mass., was chief medical and scientific officer for Boston Scientific in Natick, Mass. He had joined the company, which manufactures pacemakers, defibrillators, and other implants, in the summer of 2006.

“He was a pioneer in the development of interventional cardiology, and the many contributions he made to science, medicine, and medical technology will serve as a proud and enduring legacy,” Ray Elliott, Boston Scientific's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Born in New York and raised in Miami Beach, Dr. Baim received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1971 from the University of Chicago, and his medical degree in 1975 from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

He pursued postgraduate training in medicine and cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he worked with Dr. John Simpson to develop moveable guidewire coronary angioplasty catheters. In 1981, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and established an interventional cardiology program at Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston. The program grew to national prominence in the refinement and application of devices such as stents. In 1994, Dr. Baim became a full professor of medicine at Harvard.

In 2000, Dr. Baim moved on to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he directed the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools.

Dr. Baim specialized in the development and evaluation of new interventional cardiovascular devices. According to a statement from Boston Scientific, Dr. Baim “played a major role in developing technology strategies, including the assessment of technologies of acquisition and partnership candidates, and their integration with internal technologies.”

He was the editor of Grossman's Cardiac Catheterization, Angiography, and Intervention, and the author of more than 300 articles.

He was founder of or consultant for more than 20 companies and medical device incubators in areas of embolic protection, thrombectomy, chronic total occlusions, arterial closure, novel stent and coatings, heart failure, and percutaneous heart valves.

Dr. Baim was remembered by his colleagues as a gifted mentor, a good friend, and a visionary in his field. He is survived by wife, Caryn Paris, sons Adam and Christopher, daughters Samantha Paris and Jenifer Pruskin, and a granddaughter, as well as his mother, Jocelyn Baim, and brother, Paul.

Dr. William Ganz

Dr. Donald S. Baim

Obituaries

Dr. William Ganz, coinventer of a revolutionary pulmonary artery catheter, died Nov. 10. He was 90 years old. A Nazi labor camp survivor, Dr. Ganz died of natural causes.

In the late 1960s, while a research scientist and staff physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Ganz developed the catheter with his colleague, the late Dr. Jeremy Swan, who was chief of the medical center's cardiology division, to assess heart function in critically ill patients. In 1971, Dr. Ganz developed a new method for direct measurement of blood flow in humans, and this technique was incorporated into the Swan-Ganz catheter.

The measurement procedure, known as thermodilution, gauges the temperature difference of blood from one heart chamber to the next.

Used by more than 30 million patients since then, the balloon-tipped Swan-Ganz catheter is now standard treatment in cardiac medicine.

Inserted through a neck vein, shoulder, or groin, the device's balloon tip allows it to travel in the bloodstream. Once in place in the pulmonary artery, the catheter measures post MI effects and medication response. The device also measures cardiovascular performance of patients during heart surgery.

Born in 1919 in Kosice, Slovakia, Dr. Ganz started his medical training at Charles University in Prague. During the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia, Dr. Ganz was taken prisoner in a labor camp, but was later released and went into hiding in Budapest.

Dr. Ganz returned to Prague after World War II, completed his medical education, and specialized in cardiology. He began to develop his thermodilution method, but in 1966, he and his family emigrated to the United States to escape Communism. He was hired by Dr. Swan at Cedars-Sinai.

In 1982, Dr. Ganz joined forces with Dr. Prediman K. Shaw, the current director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute's cardiology division, to conduct studies of clot-dissolving therapy for myocardial infarction patients. Cedars-Sinai became the first medical center in the United States to test the therapy in humans.

The American College of Cardiology recognized Dr. Ganz with its distinguished scientist award in 1992.

Dr. Ganz was predeceased by his wife, Magda, in 2005. He is survived by his sons Tomas and Peter, and five grandchildren.

Dr. Donald S. Baim, an interventional cardiologist known for his work in the development of catheters and stents, died Nov. 6. He was 60 years old. His death was caused by complications of surgery for adrenal cancer.

Dr. Baim, a resident of Westwood, Mass., was chief medical and scientific officer for Boston Scientific in Natick, Mass. He had joined the company, which manufactures pacemakers, defibrillators, and other implants, in the summer of 2006.

“He was a pioneer in the development of interventional cardiology, and the many contributions he made to science, medicine, and medical technology will serve as a proud and enduring legacy,” Ray Elliott, Boston Scientific's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Born in New York and raised in Miami Beach, Dr. Baim received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1971 from the University of Chicago, and his medical degree in 1975 from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

He pursued postgraduate training in medicine and cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he worked with Dr. John Simpson to develop moveable guidewire coronary angioplasty catheters. In 1981, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and established an interventional cardiology program at Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston. The program grew to national prominence in the refinement and application of devices such as stents. In 1994, Dr. Baim became a full professor of medicine at Harvard.

In 2000, Dr. Baim moved on to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he directed the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools.

Dr. Baim specialized in the development and evaluation of new interventional cardiovascular devices. According to a statement from Boston Scientific, Dr. Baim “played a major role in developing technology strategies, including the assessment of technologies of acquisition and partnership candidates, and their integration with internal technologies.”

He was the editor of Grossman's Cardiac Catheterization, Angiography, and Intervention, and the author of more than 300 articles.

He was founder of or consultant for more than 20 companies and medical device incubators in areas of embolic protection, thrombectomy, chronic total occlusions, arterial closure, novel stent and coatings, heart failure, and percutaneous heart valves.

Dr. Baim was remembered by his colleagues as a gifted mentor, a good friend, and a visionary in his field. He is survived by wife, Caryn Paris, sons Adam and Christopher, daughters Samantha Paris and Jenifer Pruskin, and a granddaughter, as well as his mother, Jocelyn Baim, and brother, Paul.

Dr. William Ganz

Dr. Donald S. Baim

Obituary

Dr. Drexler, who was director of the department of cardiology and angiology at Hannover (Germany) Medical School (MHH), had collapsed while riding his bicycle.

“We [have lost] a role model as a physician, researcher, university professor, and human being,” MHH President Dieter Bitter-Suermann said in a statement.

A member of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Association, Dr. Drexler was principal investigator in the BOOST study, a randomized trial of bone marrow–derived cell therapy post MI, and CADS, a comparison of captopril and digoxin in patients with post-MI left ventricular dysfunction.

His colleagues at the ESC remembered him not only as a scientist who pioneered translational research in cardiovascular medicine, but also as a friend with a sense of humor and a passion for skiing.

Born in 1951 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Dr. Drexler received his medical degree in 1976 from the University of Freiburg. He was a fellow at the university's Institute of Pathology (1978–1979), a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey (1982–1983), and a visiting professor of cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University (1991–1992).

He became associate professor at the University of Freiburg in 1993 before joining MHH in 1996. MHH's cardiology and angiology department specializes in the treatment of heart failure, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, and congenital heart defects, as well as regenerative therapies. Its cardiac catheterization laboratory opened in 2008, and a new intensive care unit was added this year.

Dr. Drexler's research interests included the pathophysiology of heart failure, endothelial function, the renin-angiotensin system, and vascular inflammation. At the time of his death, Dr. Drexler was running a trial on a new treatment for postpartum cardiomyopathy. MHH announced plans to continue the trial in his memory. Dr. Bernhard Schieffer, has taken over as acting director of the cardiology and angiology department.

Dr. Drexler is survived by his wife, Christa, and daughter, Beatrice. A memorial service is planned for Nov. 28.

Cardiologists on the Move

Recognized for his scientific studies advancing new therapies for cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurologic, an oncologic diseases, Dr. Stamler is credited with the discovery of a protein modification, S-nitrosylation, that helped clarify the role of nitric oxide in the control of complex physiological responses.

He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and completed his medical residency and fellowship training in cardiology and pulmonary medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

In 1993, he joined the faculty at Duke, where he went on to become the George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Disease and professor of medicine and biochemistry, before accepting the position at Case Western.

Obituary

Dr. Drexler, who was director of the department of cardiology and angiology at Hannover (Germany) Medical School (MHH), had collapsed while riding his bicycle.

“We [have lost] a role model as a physician, researcher, university professor, and human being,” MHH President Dieter Bitter-Suermann said in a statement.

A member of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Association, Dr. Drexler was principal investigator in the BOOST study, a randomized trial of bone marrow–derived cell therapy post MI, and CADS, a comparison of captopril and digoxin in patients with post-MI left ventricular dysfunction.

His colleagues at the ESC remembered him not only as a scientist who pioneered translational research in cardiovascular medicine, but also as a friend with a sense of humor and a passion for skiing.

Born in 1951 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Dr. Drexler received his medical degree in 1976 from the University of Freiburg. He was a fellow at the university's Institute of Pathology (1978–1979), a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey (1982–1983), and a visiting professor of cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University (1991–1992).

He became associate professor at the University of Freiburg in 1993 before joining MHH in 1996. MHH's cardiology and angiology department specializes in the treatment of heart failure, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, and congenital heart defects, as well as regenerative therapies. Its cardiac catheterization laboratory opened in 2008, and a new intensive care unit was added this year.

Dr. Drexler's research interests included the pathophysiology of heart failure, endothelial function, the renin-angiotensin system, and vascular inflammation. At the time of his death, Dr. Drexler was running a trial on a new treatment for postpartum cardiomyopathy. MHH announced plans to continue the trial in his memory. Dr. Bernhard Schieffer, has taken over as acting director of the cardiology and angiology department.

Dr. Drexler is survived by his wife, Christa, and daughter, Beatrice. A memorial service is planned for Nov. 28.

Cardiologists on the Move

Recognized for his scientific studies advancing new therapies for cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurologic, an oncologic diseases, Dr. Stamler is credited with the discovery of a protein modification, S-nitrosylation, that helped clarify the role of nitric oxide in the control of complex physiological responses.

He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and completed his medical residency and fellowship training in cardiology and pulmonary medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

In 1993, he joined the faculty at Duke, where he went on to become the George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Disease and professor of medicine and biochemistry, before accepting the position at Case Western.

Obituary

Dr. Drexler, who was director of the department of cardiology and angiology at Hannover (Germany) Medical School (MHH), had collapsed while riding his bicycle.

“We [have lost] a role model as a physician, researcher, university professor, and human being,” MHH President Dieter Bitter-Suermann said in a statement.

A member of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Association, Dr. Drexler was principal investigator in the BOOST study, a randomized trial of bone marrow–derived cell therapy post MI, and CADS, a comparison of captopril and digoxin in patients with post-MI left ventricular dysfunction.

His colleagues at the ESC remembered him not only as a scientist who pioneered translational research in cardiovascular medicine, but also as a friend with a sense of humor and a passion for skiing.

Born in 1951 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Dr. Drexler received his medical degree in 1976 from the University of Freiburg. He was a fellow at the university's Institute of Pathology (1978–1979), a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey (1982–1983), and a visiting professor of cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University (1991–1992).

He became associate professor at the University of Freiburg in 1993 before joining MHH in 1996. MHH's cardiology and angiology department specializes in the treatment of heart failure, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, and congenital heart defects, as well as regenerative therapies. Its cardiac catheterization laboratory opened in 2008, and a new intensive care unit was added this year.

Dr. Drexler's research interests included the pathophysiology of heart failure, endothelial function, the renin-angiotensin system, and vascular inflammation. At the time of his death, Dr. Drexler was running a trial on a new treatment for postpartum cardiomyopathy. MHH announced plans to continue the trial in his memory. Dr. Bernhard Schieffer, has taken over as acting director of the cardiology and angiology department.

Dr. Drexler is survived by his wife, Christa, and daughter, Beatrice. A memorial service is planned for Nov. 28.

Cardiologists on the Move

Recognized for his scientific studies advancing new therapies for cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurologic, an oncologic diseases, Dr. Stamler is credited with the discovery of a protein modification, S-nitrosylation, that helped clarify the role of nitric oxide in the control of complex physiological responses.

He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and completed his medical residency and fellowship training in cardiology and pulmonary medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

In 1993, he joined the faculty at Duke, where he went on to become the George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Disease and professor of medicine and biochemistry, before accepting the position at Case Western.

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Lynn H. Harrison Jr., credited with revitalizing the cardiac surgery program at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, has joined Baptist Health South Florida, a six-hospital health care system based in Miami.

Dr. Harrison was brought on board at UMass Memorial in January 2006 as chief of the cardiac surgery division. The division's elective cardiac surgery program had been shut down for 2 months in 2005 because mortality rates for coronary artery bypass graft had exceeded the state average. Dr. Harrison spearheaded department changes, including the standardization of pre- and postop management, that led to its current ranking as one of the top 100 U.S. programs.

The most important change, he told C

Dr. Harrison serves as clinical director of cardiac surgery for Baptist Health's newly formed Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Group.

Dr. Harrison received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. He trained in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Prior to joining UMass, he was professor of surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Louisiana State University, New Orleans.

Dr. Mark E. Anderson was named head of the internal medicine department at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics. Dr. Anderson, associate director of the university's cardiovascular research center, is a cardiac electrophysiologist whose research has focused on a signaling protein, calmodulin kinase II, and its role in heart rhythm abnormalities and heart muscle enlargement. His clinical interests include pacemakers, defibrillators, and catheter ablation therapy. He joined the UI faculty in 2005 as professor of internal medicine and director of the cardiology division.

He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he also trained in cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. He was a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., from 1996 to 2005.

Abbott Expands Stent Trial

Abbott has announced the expansion of its Xience V USA postapproval study to allow more than 2,000 of its patients to cross over into the Dual Antiplatelet Therapy (DAPT) 20,000-patient trial.

Originally designed to study 5,000 patients, Xience V USA's expansion will allow enrollment of an additional 3,000 patients. The trial's primary end point is a measure of stent thrombosis every year out to 5 years, as defined by the Dublin/Academic Research Consortium.

DAPT, a consortium of pharmaceutical and medical device companies (including Abbott), is designed to determine the duration, safety, and efficacy of dual antiplatelet therapy to protect patients from stent thrombosis and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after stent implantation.

DR. LYNN H. HARRISON

DR. MARK E. ANDERSON

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Lynn H. Harrison Jr., credited with revitalizing the cardiac surgery program at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, has joined Baptist Health South Florida, a six-hospital health care system based in Miami.

Dr. Harrison was brought on board at UMass Memorial in January 2006 as chief of the cardiac surgery division. The division's elective cardiac surgery program had been shut down for 2 months in 2005 because mortality rates for coronary artery bypass graft had exceeded the state average. Dr. Harrison spearheaded department changes, including the standardization of pre- and postop management, that led to its current ranking as one of the top 100 U.S. programs.

The most important change, he told C

Dr. Harrison serves as clinical director of cardiac surgery for Baptist Health's newly formed Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Group.

Dr. Harrison received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. He trained in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Prior to joining UMass, he was professor of surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Louisiana State University, New Orleans.

Dr. Mark E. Anderson was named head of the internal medicine department at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics. Dr. Anderson, associate director of the university's cardiovascular research center, is a cardiac electrophysiologist whose research has focused on a signaling protein, calmodulin kinase II, and its role in heart rhythm abnormalities and heart muscle enlargement. His clinical interests include pacemakers, defibrillators, and catheter ablation therapy. He joined the UI faculty in 2005 as professor of internal medicine and director of the cardiology division.

He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he also trained in cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. He was a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., from 1996 to 2005.

Abbott Expands Stent Trial

Abbott has announced the expansion of its Xience V USA postapproval study to allow more than 2,000 of its patients to cross over into the Dual Antiplatelet Therapy (DAPT) 20,000-patient trial.

Originally designed to study 5,000 patients, Xience V USA's expansion will allow enrollment of an additional 3,000 patients. The trial's primary end point is a measure of stent thrombosis every year out to 5 years, as defined by the Dublin/Academic Research Consortium.

DAPT, a consortium of pharmaceutical and medical device companies (including Abbott), is designed to determine the duration, safety, and efficacy of dual antiplatelet therapy to protect patients from stent thrombosis and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after stent implantation.

DR. LYNN H. HARRISON

DR. MARK E. ANDERSON

Cardiologists on the Move

Dr. Lynn H. Harrison Jr., credited with revitalizing the cardiac surgery program at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, has joined Baptist Health South Florida, a six-hospital health care system based in Miami.

Dr. Harrison was brought on board at UMass Memorial in January 2006 as chief of the cardiac surgery division. The division's elective cardiac surgery program had been shut down for 2 months in 2005 because mortality rates for coronary artery bypass graft had exceeded the state average. Dr. Harrison spearheaded department changes, including the standardization of pre- and postop management, that led to its current ranking as one of the top 100 U.S. programs.

The most important change, he told C

Dr. Harrison serves as clinical director of cardiac surgery for Baptist Health's newly formed Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Group.

Dr. Harrison received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. He trained in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Prior to joining UMass, he was professor of surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Louisiana State University, New Orleans.

Dr. Mark E. Anderson was named head of the internal medicine department at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics. Dr. Anderson, associate director of the university's cardiovascular research center, is a cardiac electrophysiologist whose research has focused on a signaling protein, calmodulin kinase II, and its role in heart rhythm abnormalities and heart muscle enlargement. His clinical interests include pacemakers, defibrillators, and catheter ablation therapy. He joined the UI faculty in 2005 as professor of internal medicine and director of the cardiology division.

He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University, where he also trained in cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. He was a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., from 1996 to 2005.

Abbott Expands Stent Trial

Abbott has announced the expansion of its Xience V USA postapproval study to allow more than 2,000 of its patients to cross over into the Dual Antiplatelet Therapy (DAPT) 20,000-patient trial.

Originally designed to study 5,000 patients, Xience V USA's expansion will allow enrollment of an additional 3,000 patients. The trial's primary end point is a measure of stent thrombosis every year out to 5 years, as defined by the Dublin/Academic Research Consortium.

DAPT, a consortium of pharmaceutical and medical device companies (including Abbott), is designed to determine the duration, safety, and efficacy of dual antiplatelet therapy to protect patients from stent thrombosis and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after stent implantation.

DR. LYNN H. HARRISON

DR. MARK E. ANDERSON