Department Recruits Leading Harvard Cardiologist to Head New Center of Excellence for Heart Disease
Case Western Reserve University (Case) School of Medicine and
University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC) announced the recruitment
of Daniel I. Simon, MD, a leading cardiologist and researcher,
as the new chief of the Division of Cardiology and director
of the Cardiovascular Center. Simon, who also will hold the
Herman Hellerstein Chair, is currently with Harvard Medical
School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
"Dr. Simon emerged as the consensus number one candidate
after a national search of high caliber individuals," says
Richard A. Walsh, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at
Case and UHC.
Simon’s recruitment is part of a major commitment that
Case and UHC are making toward creating a national center of
excellence in cardiovascular research, education and patient
care, says Walsh. As part of that plan, the dean of the medical
school has committed 9,000 square feet of laboratory space in
the Wolstein Research Building for cardiovascular research,
and Fred C. Rothstein, MD, president and CEO of UHC, has committed
to a commensurate expansion and renovation of clinical cardiovascular
space.
Currently, the Department of Medicine at UHC and Case has 32
full-time faculty and 20 fellows in cardiovascular medicine.
The plan is to increase the number of full-time faculty by 14
clinicians and researchers, including Simon. Case and UHC currently
receive more than $20 million in research funding from the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
"Dan Simon’s recruitment is part of a larger strategic
plan to position the Case School of Medicine and UHC as a national
leader in research that brings new discoveries from the laboratory
to the clinic," says the dean of the medical school. "Dr.
Simon will be building a program of research and clinical care
that will integrate with many of the investments already made
in imaging research, proteomics, pathology and pharmacology.
Working with his colleagues in related fields, Dr. Simon will
help Case and UHC emerge as a preeminent medical center for
the cutting edge science and practice in the broad spectrum
of heart and vascular disorders."
Simon currently is associate professor of medicine and associate
director of the Interventional Cardiology Program at Harvard
and the Brigham and Women’s. He is a leading authority
on factors leading to hardening of the arteries independent
of cholesterol levels. A goal of his laboratory’s work
is to develop new approaches to targeting restenosis (or reclosing)
of arteries after medical intervention, such as the placing
of stents. His laboratory work has been continuously funded
by the National Institutes of Health since 1992.
"Dr. Simon is a true triple threat -- he is a physician
scientist, a dedicated clinician and a committed teacher,"
says UHC’s Rothstein. "We look forward to Dr. Simon’s
leadership in strengthening our academic program and expanding
our cardiovascular expertise."
Clinically, Simon is a specialist in cardiac catheterizations,
of which he performs more than 600 procedures annually. He is
a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical
School. He completed his residency, cardiovascular fellowship,
research and advanced interventional cardiology training at
Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is board certified in
medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology.
He serves as an associate editor of the journal Circulation
and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology. He was elected into the American
Society of Clinical Investigation in 2002.
