CCM® Around the World

Prof Karl-Heinz Kuck is the Medical Director at LANS Cardio Hamburg. For many years, he was head of the Department of Cardiology at the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg in Hamburg. In addition, Prof Kuck was President of the European Heart Rhythm Association and President of the German Society for Cardiology. 

He has earned several prizes for his work, including the Science Prize of the Gertrud Spitz Foundation and a silver badge of honor from the German Society for Cardiology – Heart and Circulatory Research. Prof Dr Kuck is also Section Editor –  Clinical Electrophysiology and Ablation at Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology Review.

Personal History

Dr William Tober Abraham was born in 1959. He is a renowned Professor of Internal Medicine at Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Chief Medical Officer at V-Wave Ltd, an Israel-based MedTech company that focuses on developing implantable technologies for patients with heart failure.⁴  

He lives in Powell, Ohio, USA with his wife, Darcy Kristine Abraham. He has been practicing medicine for 35 years and is fluent in English, Spanish and French.¹⁰ 

Academic History

After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982, Dr Abraham received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1986.^{5, 11} He then completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in cardiology and heart failure/cardiac transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1990.⁵ 

His areas of research include the role of the kidney in heart failure, neurohormonal mechanisms in heart failure, sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure and clinical drug and device trials in heart failure and cardiac transplantation.⁸ Dr Abraham’s research has led to the approval and adoption of new heart failure therapies including beta-blockers, natriuretic peptides, cardiac resynchronization therapy, ultrafiltration, implantable hemodynamic monitoring, transvenous phrenic nerve stimulation, cardiac contractility modulation, baroreflex activation therapy and mitral valve repair. 

Career Overview

At the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Dr Abraham is a Professor of Internal Medicine (Physiology and Cell Biology). His previous roles at the institution include Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Deputy Director of the Dorothy M Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, Associate Dean for clinical research and Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Management Office at the Medical Center.³

After over 16 years as Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, he joined early-stage MedTech company V-Wave Ltd as Chief Medical Officer.³ V-Wave is developing an implantable interatrial shunt device for treating advanced heart failure (HF) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).³ Dr Abraham is a key member of this team, bringing his vast clinical trial experience with drugs and devices for heart failure to the ongoing project.⁴ 

He has held faculty and leadership positions at the University of Colorado, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Kentucky and has Board Certifications in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology.^{2, 6} 

He is co-editor of the leading textbook Heart Failure: A Practical Approach to Treatment which was originally published in 2007.² The author of more than 1,000 original papers, abstracts, book chapters and review articles, he is also an editorial board member of several major journals including Congestive Heart Failure and Journal Watch Cardiology.² 

He has received grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Aetna Quality Care Foundation.⁶ Dr Abraham has also participated as Principal Investigator in more than 100 multicenter clinical drug and device trials.³

Career Timeline

• 1987 - 1990: Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 
• 1990 - 1993: Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 
• 2002 - Present: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
• 2002 - 2019: Director, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
• 2009 - 2019: Chair of Excellence in Cardiovascular Medicine
• 2012 - 2019: Medical Director, Clinical Trials Management Office
• 2014 - 2019: Associate Dean for Clinical Research
• 2016 - Present: College of Medicine Distinguished Professor
• 2002 - Present: Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Cell Biology
• 2012 - Present: Board Member at Respicardia Inc
• 2019 - Present: Chief Medical Officer at V-Wave
• 2021 - Present: Board Member at Scpharmaceuticals Inc

Recognition

• Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctors: 1st Edition
• Columbus Monthly: One of the ‘Best Doctors in America’ for 18 consecutive years
• Top 1% on the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters)
• Named One of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Clarivate Analytics
• 2016 Ohio State College of Medicine Distinguished Professor
• 2017 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology
• Among the top 10% of physicians nationally in patient satisfaction

Areas of Speciality

• Cardiovascular
• Heart Failure⁷
• Heart Disease²

Sources

1. https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/authors/william-t-abraham 
2. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/mediaroom/expertslisting/william-abraham 
3. https://www.dicardiology.com/content/william-t-abraham-md-joins-v-wave-chief-medical-officer 
4. https://vwavemedical.com/william-t-abraham-md-joins-v-wave-as-chief-medical-officer/
5. https://www.castleconnolly.com/top-doctors/william-t-abraham-cardiovascular-disease-89cc002534
6. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/william-abraham-md-19621
7. https://esc365.escardio.org/Person/49700-prof-abraham-william
8. https://www.scpharmaceuticals.com/person/william-t-abraham-md/ 
9. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/16819868
10. https://www.medicinenet.com/doctors/b6df1eba-da5f-46dc-a901-99d7b32ac369/william-abraham/covington-ky_doctor.htm 
11. https://www.acc.org/~/media/Non-Clinical/Files-PDFs-Excel-MS-Word-etc/Membership/Award%20Programs/2017_Distinguished_Awardees.pdf
     

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