Steven E. Nissen, M.D., Elected President of the American College of Cardiologists
Interim Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Becomes Installed as President of the Country’s Leading Cardiology Society

Steven Nissen, M.D., interim Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, is the new President of the American College of Cardiologists.

Known internationally for his research into coronary artery disease, Dr. Nissen was installed as the medical society’s president during the American College of Cardiology’s 55th Annual Scientific Session currently underway in Atlanta March 11-14 and will serve a one-year term. The annual meeting is intended to showcase the latest therapies, diagnostics and practices in cardiovascular medicine, highlighting cutting-edge research, medical breakthroughs and key issues in the field of cardiology.

“I am proud to lead the American College of Cardiology at a time when so many medical advances and leading-edge research are revolutionizing the field of cardiology, expanding what we know and how we treat heart disease,” Dr. Nissen said. “I look forward to the year ahead.”

The American College of Cardiology, a 33,000-member nonprofit professional medical society and teaching institution, is dedicated to fostering optimal cardiovascular care and disease prevention through professional education, promotion of research, leadership in the development of standards and guidelines, and the formulation of health care policy.

Dr. Nissen joined Cleveland Clinic in 1992. He has served as Vice-Chairman of the Department of Cardiology (1993-2002), Section Head of Clinical Cardiology (1992-2000) and Director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit (1992-1997). Most recently, he served as Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center (C5), an organization that directs multi-center clinical trials. Dr. Nissen has served the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as Chairman of the CardioRenal Advisory Panel for four years and continues to advise several FDA Committees as a Special Government Employee.

An accomplished author, Dr. Nissen has written more than 250 journal articles, book chapters, and CD-ROMs, mostly in the field of cardiovascular imaging. He was one of the pioneers in the development of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), a type of high-resolution imaging. The technology has been the basis for his research during the last decade. In particular, Dr. Nissen developed the methodology for application of IVUS in the assessment of the progression and regression of coronary atherosclerosis. Dr. Nissen is currently the principal investigator for several large IVUS atherosclerosis trials.

He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor and completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Davis in Sacramento. He completed his cardiology fellowship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.

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