Houston:
An Indian-American cardiologist has been named as one of the recipients of a prestigious award from the American College of Cardiology.
Dr Sumeet Chugh, MD and associate director of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute along with another researcher will receive the Simon Dack Award.
Dr Chugh, an expert in heart rhythm disorders such as sudden cardiac arrest and atrial fibrillation is set to receive the award for outstanding scholarship in recognition of his contributions to the organisation's peer-reviewed medical journals.
Dr Chugh, the Pauline and Harold Price chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology, is an expert in radio frequency ablation procedures as well as the use of pacemakers, defibrillators and biventricular devices to correct heart rhythm problems.
Dr Chugh also leads the World Health Organization (WHO) panel which performs a worldwide assessment of heart rhythm disorders for the Global Burden of Disease study.
He has authored more than 250 articles and abstracts for professional journals and initiated the ongoing Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study, a comprehensive assessment of sudden cardiac arrest in a community of one million people.
After earning his medical degree from Government Medical College in Patiala, Dr Chugh spent the first year of his internal medicine residency at Tufts Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Boston and the next two years at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
He completed a fellowship in cardiology at the University of Minnesota and a fellowship in clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Eduardo Marban, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and a pioneer in developing cardiac stem cell treatments, will be awarded the 2014 Distinguished Scientist Award (Basic Domain) by the 40,000 member medical society during its 63rd annual scientific session on March 31.