After 25 years on Feinberg’s faculty, Jeffrey Goldberger, MD, professor of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine, has accepted a leadership role at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he will be chief of cardiology.
Also a cardiac electrophysiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, director of cardiac electrophysiology research at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and director of the Program in Cardiac Arrhythmias at the Center for Cardiovascular Innovation, Dr. Goldberger is widely respected for his expertise as both a physician and a scientific investigator.
“During my tenure here, I have had the opportunity to develop and lead the section of clinical cardiac electrophysiology, to promote the development of our broad-based cardiac electrophysiology research program spanning from basic science to multicenter clinical trials, and to lead efforts in transforming the undergraduate medical curriculum as well as the cardiac electrophysiology fellowship,” Dr. Goldberger said.
“I appreciate and value the opportunities I received from Northwestern leadership to advance the tripartite mission of academic medicine and look forward to building on this strong foundation at the University of Miami,” he said.
Dr. Goldberger joined the Feinberg faculty in 1990, after earning his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completing a residency at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center and a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
His many accomplishments include more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and leading a multimillion-dollar multicenter clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate optimal beta blocker dosing in patients after a heart attack. In 2010, he published a breakthrough paper showing that the majority of heart attack patients were not receiving the doses of beta blockers shown to be effective in clinical trials. New study results, to be published this September in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, will bring this issue to the forefront of clinical cardiology.
“Dr. Goldberger is a leader in the field of cardiac arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. He has had an enormous impact here at Northwestern as a clinician, an investigator and a mentor,” said Douglas Vaughan, MD, chair of Medicine. “We are disappointed to see him leave but excited for his new opportunity to lead a terrific program at the University of Miami.”
Dr. Goldberger also recently led a series of national think tank meetings to develop novel approaches for treating and preventing sudden cardiac death. In collaboration with colleagues at Feinberg, he developed new technology for mapping the sources of atrial fibrillation to improve surgery outcomes as well as imaging to better identify patients with the abnormal heart rhythm at risk of stroke.
“Jeff has made significant contributions to the Division of Cardiology, especially to the academic mission that we all embrace,” said Clyde Yancy, MD, chief of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine. “He has consistently pursued provocative hypotheses, sought and secured extramural funding support and provided expert education. He has been one of our academic mainstays, and he will be missed.”
Dr. Goldberger plans to maintain research collaborations with Feinberg investigators after his departure at the end of October.
