Andrea Natale

Executive Medical Director

FACC MD

Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St David’s Medical Center, Austin, TX, US

Expertise

Electrophysiology & Arrhythmia Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias Atrial Fibrillation Prevention & Chronic Conditions Heart Failure Advancement in Heart Failure Angina Hypertension Gender Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Demographic Atrial Arrhythmias Pacing, Defibrillators & Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy

Biography

Personal History

Dr Natale is an American cardiologist and electrophysiologist known for his work in atrial fibrillation ablation. He was born in Syracuse, Italy and has been practising medicine in the United States and Italy for over 35 years.² His father, a physician, was a strong influence in his decision to choose cardiology.³

He is known as the first electrophysiologist in the US to perform certain types of ablations to help patients with atrial fibrillation and unable to heal with traditional ablation methods.² Dr Natale is proud of creating and expanding worldwide EPLive, which is a cutting edge, intensive meeting targeting practising electrophysiologists and fellows in training.⁴

He attributes his success to a healthy routine, starting his days very early regardless of the time zone. “After spending some time at the gym and having breakfast with my family, I spend several hours at the hospital visiting my patients and performing ablations,” he says.⁹ Outside work, he enjoys skiing and spending quality time with his wife and daughters.

Academic History¹

In 1985, Dr Natale graduated summa cum laude in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Florence Medical and Surgery School in Florence, Italy. He then continued his medical training by attending the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart’s School of Cardiology in Rome.

He did his internship in Internal Medicine there in 1986 and did Residencies in Cardiovascular Disease at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in 1989.

Dr Natale completed fellowships in Electrophysiology at the University of Wisconsin (1993), Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Western Ontario (1992) and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Western Ontario (1990). He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiac Electrophysiology.

His major research interests include clinical cardiac electrophysiology, mechanisms of defibrillation, signal-averaging, ablation treatment of supraventricular arrhythmias, the effects of thrombosis on platelet aggregation and TxA2 metabolites production in patients with unstable angina and post-myocardial infarction. Dr Natale’s ultimate goal is to benefit patients through assistive technologies, including specialised ablation catheters and robotic devices.

Career Overview

Dr Natale is the Executive Medical Director of Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX.⁶ He leads the institute as a researcher, academician and clinician, specialising in electrophysiology and cardiology.

Dr Natale pioneered a circumferential ultrasound vein-ablation system to correct atrial fibrillation. He also developed some of the current catheter-based cure strategies for atrial fibrillation.⁷ He holds a patent for an atrial fibrillation device and has authored milestone papers on pivotal projects, such as PABA and RAAFT.⁷

He continues to be involved in many first-in-human trials to test investigational devices, such as ablation catheters with contact force-sensing technology, three-dimensional intracardiac echocardiography ultrasound probes and novel left atrial appendage closure devices. He has recently performed the first pre-clinical and clinical studies to develop and perfect ablation catheters utilising a novel, groundbreaking ablation energy source known as irreversible electroporation. He has also performed the first of these cases in the USA.¹

Dr Natale has held faculty positions at various prestigious universities including Duke University, the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve, Stanford University and Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.¹ He is the Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology, the longest-running Journal in this highly specialised field of cardiology.¹

Career Timeline⁷

1986 - 1991: Department of Medicine, Italian Air Force, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Director, Electrophysiology Laboratory
Head of Cardiovascular Physiopathology Section
1999 - 2007: Director, Electrophysiology Laboratories, Section of Electrophysiology and Pacing, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
2001 - 2005: Co-Section Head, Electrophysiology and Pacing Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
2005 - 2007: Section Head, Electrophysiology and Pacing Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
2005 - 2018: Senior Medical Director, California Pacific Medical Center, Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services Atrial Fibrillation and Complex Arrhythmia Program, California
2008 - 2018: Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Atrial Fibrillation
2012 - 2013: Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute, St. Luke's Hospital, New York
2019: Chief, Medical Advisory and Research Board, Ninety One, Inc.
2005 - Present: Consulting Professor, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
2007 - Present: Senior Director, Arrhythmia Center at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
2008 - Present: Executive Medical Director, Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX
2012 - Present: Director, Interventional Electrophysiology, Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California
2013 - Present: Executive Director, Al Sabah Arrhythmia Institute at St Luke's Roosevelt Medical Center, New York
2015 - Present: HCA National Medical Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology
2016 - Present: Staff, Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Thousand Oaks, California
2018 - Present: Editor-in-chief, Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology (JICE)