Scientific Advisory Board
William T. Abraham
Clinical Interests:
Heart failure; cardiac transplantation; cardiac resynchronization therapy
Research Interests:
Cardiac resynchronization therapy in chronic heart failure; neurohormonal mechanisms; clinical drug and device trials
Biography:
William T. Abraham, MD, FACP, FACC, FAHA, FESC, is director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and a professor of internal medicine, physiology and cell biology at The Ohio State University Medical Center.
He also serves as deputy director of Ohio State’s Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. Dr. Abraham has been recognized as one of the “Best Doctors in America” for eight consecutive years, including 2009. Also in 2009 he was named inaugural designated Chair of Excellence in Cardiovascular Medicine at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.
Dr. Abraham earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., and completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in cardiology and heart failure/cardiac transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Abraham is an internationally known researcher in heart failure. Dr. Abraham has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Cardiology and the Aetna Quality Care Foundation and has participated as principal investigator in more than 100 multicenter clinical drug and device trials.
In addition to authoring more than 600 original papers, abstracts, book chapters and review articles, Dr. Abraham also co-edited Heart Failure: A Practical Approach to Treatment, a leading textbook on heart failure. Dr. Abraham serves on the editorial boards of several major journals and is a member of many professional organizations. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology.
Juan C. Chachques
European Hospital Georges Pompidou
Paris, France
Dr. Juan C. Chachques is the Director of Cardiac Research at the Alain Carpentier Foundation, and cardiac surgeon at the HEGP. He graduated of MD at the Faculty of Medicine of Rosario, Argentine. He obtained MS and PhD at the University of Paris, France. After clinical and surgical cardiologic training in Broussais Hospital of Paris, he gained expertise in experimental and clinical procedures for the treatment of heart failure. He developed Cardiac Bioassist surgical techniques, e.g. latissimus dorsi dynamic cardiomyoplasty, dynamic aortomyoplasty, atriomyoplasty. More recently he developed cell-based and tissue engineered procedures for myocardial support and regeneration, i.e. cellular cardiomyoplasty and bioartificial myocardium. He is a clinician and surgical scientist with expertise in myocardial diseases and valve repair procedures. He pursues his research interests in the integrative electrophysiology and cellular biology, the goal is to use in-vitro and in-vivo functional electrostimulation for cardiomyogenic stem-cell conditionning in order to create a dynamic cell based cardiac support. He is the founder and president of the Cardiac Bioassist Association. His further clinical research focuses on e-medecine and in the development of clinical trials for heart failure patients, e.g. the MAGNUM Trial: Myocardial Assistance by Grafting a New Upgraded bioartificial Myocardium. He is the French Partner of the nanobiotechnology European project RECATABI: REgeneration of CArdiac Tissues by the Application of Bioactive Implants.
Robert Kellar, PhD
Dr. Kellar is VP of Research and Development at Protein Genomics, a protein
polymer medical device company. He has 16 years of experience in the development and regulatory approval of medical devices, cell-based products, and tissue engineered technology. He is Founder and President of Development Engineering Sciences, a biomedical consulting firm. Previously, Dr. Kellar was Vice President for Research and Development at Histogen, Inc. where he led multi-functional project teams for all aspects of product development. Prior to Histogen, Dr. Kellar was a product specialist for the first FDA-approved thoracic endograft at W.L. Gore and Associates where he served a lead role in development, regulatory, clinical trials, marketing, sales, and business for the thoracic device and the product portfolio. Previous to this position, Dr. Kellar was a product specialist for the Global Oral Health Business at W.L. Gore & Associates (both Gore-Tex Regenerative Membranes and the entire resorbable membrane portfolio). Prior to Gore, at Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. he led cardiovascular research programs and managed the Anginera program. Dr. Kellar serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Theregen. Dr. Kellar serves on the Board of Directors for the Surfaces in Biomaterials Foundation and Flagship Biosciences.
Dr. Kellar is Full-Time Faculty at Northern Arizona University where he actively teaches a number of lecture courses each semester, manages a teaching laboratory classroom on campus, and directs the research of graduate students in his off-campus biomedical research laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in Physiological Sciences from the University of Arizona.
Ernst Schwarz MD PhD
Chief Medical Officer, Heart Institute of Southern California
Ernst R. Schwarz, MD, PhD, FESC, FACC, FSCAI, is board certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and in cardiology/cardiovascular diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiology/Cardiovascular Diseases. His primary clinical interests are end-stage heart failure, cardiac transplantation, interventional cardiology and sexual function in cardiac disease.
A clinician and scientist, Dr. Schwarz has presented and lectured all over the world. He has written more than 130 scientific articles for peer-reviewed publications and eight book chapters on cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Schwarz earned his medical degree from Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany, receiving medical doctor titles from Philipps-University Marburg and from the University of Vienna, Austria. He received his doctorate from the University of Technology in Aachen, Germany.
