Andrea Natale, MD, FACC, FHRS
Executive Medical Director
Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute
St. David’s Medical Center - Austin, Texas

I believe the greatest thing I can give my patients is a normal life, free of medication. When I run into a wall in this effort, I thoughtfully plow through the wall – I pioneered a new circumferential ultrasound vein-ablation system to correct atrial fibrillation and performed the procedure on the world’s first five patients. I also developed some of the current catheter-based cures for atrial fibrillation and was the first electrophysiologist in the nation to perform percutaneous epicardial radiofrequency ablation, which is a treatment for people who fail conventional ablation.

A native of Siracusa, Italy, I graduated summa cum laude from the Medical School of the University of Florence, Italy, and summa cum laude from the Catholic University School of Cardiology in Rome, Italy. I received my clinical training in cardiology at Methodist Hospital, Baylor College in Houston and at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. After completing a clinical fellowship in cardiology (electrophysiology) at the University of Western Ontario in 1991, I further trained in cardiology (electrophysiology) at the University of Wisconsin, Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee.

I was head of the cardiovascular physiopathology section at the Italian Air Force’s Aerospace Research Centre. I served as director of the electrophysiology laboratory at Duke University and director of the electrophysiology program at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. I also headed the cardiac electrophysiology section of the cardiology department at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

I served as a professor at a variety of prestigious universities, including Duke University and Stanford University. I have been an invited lecturer at more than 200 symposiums and conferences around the world, and am the author or co-author of hundreds of published articles on pacing and electrophysiology. In addition to serving on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals, I am editor-in-chief of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation.

In 2005, I received the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute Research award for his project “Cardiac Consequences of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage” from the Cleveland Clinic Bakken Heart-Brain Institute. I also received the Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for Innovation in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Throughout my career, I have found meeting the challenge of curing patients with complex problems to be most rewarding.

Education:

* M.D., University of Florence Medical School, Florence, Italy
* Catholic University School of Cardiology, Rome, Italy
* Residency (Cardiology), Methodist Hospital, Baylor College, Houston, TX
* Fellowship (Cardiology and Electrophysiology),
* University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
* University of Wisconsin, Sinai Samaritan Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI

Recognition:

* Bakken Heart-Brain Research Award
* Cleveland Clinic Innovator of the Year, 2004, 2005, 2006
* Board Certification
* American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology)

Memberships:

* Editorial Board Member, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, American Heart Journal, Circulation, Journal of Electrocardiology. EP Lab Digest
* FDA Task Force on Atrial Fibrillation
* Heart Rhythm Society