Strategies for Management of Atrial Fibrillation: State of the Art in 2023

Ronald D. Berger, M.D. Ph.D. received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  In 1987, he earned his MD from Harvard Medical School. Continuing his education, he completed Medical residency at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston followed by Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1993. Dr. Berger is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Nicholas J. Fortuin MD Professor in Cardiology, and Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins University.  As Fellowship Director, he has trained over 60 fellows in Cardiac Electrophysiology.  Dr. Berger also served as Interim Chief of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins from 2018 to 2020.

Dr. Berger has made important contributions in several areas of investigation, applying signal processing and electrical engineering concepts to solve problems in arrhythmia diagnosis and management.  He developed an electrocardiographic processing methodology to assess risk of life-threatening arrhythmias in patients with cardiomyopathies.  He also developed technologies for ECG analysis during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and for reducing the pain of defibrillation shocks from implanted ICDs.  Each of these technologies has led to numerous publications as well as licensing arrangements facilitating tech transfer into clinical use.  He has published over 300 papers in the medical literature and holds over 30 U.S. patents.  Dr. Berger has received multiple awards for his research, including the Johns Hopkins Solo Cup Clinician Scientist Award, a FIRST Award from the NIH, an Established Investigator Award from the AHA, and an Abell Foundation Award for Research Translation.  He is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Hugh Grosvenor Calkins, M.D. is Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he serves as Director of the Arrhythmia Service, the Electrophysiology (EP) Laboratory, and the Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) Program. Under Dr. Calkins’ leadership, the Arrhythmia Service has become one of the premier programs of its kind in the world.

Dr. Calkins is known throughout the world as one of the foremost authorities on atrial fibrillation (AF) and ARVC, a type of rare inherited cardiomyopathy that when left undiagnosed, can result in sudden cardiac death. Dr Calkins played a pioneering role in the development of catheter ablation for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. His current research and teaching focuses on improving outcomes of catheter ablation and also on identifying better approaches to diagnose and management patients with ARVC. Dr Calkins founded the Johns Hopkins ARVC Program 20 years ago. The Johns Hopkins ARVC Program has grown to become the largest and most comprehensive clinical and research program focused on ARVC in the world. Much of the research focus of this program is on developing optimal approaches for diagnosing and treating patients with ARVC. He is leading several active research studies in ARVC, which include the investigation of the role of exercise in its development and progression, an international collaboration to precisely predict predict sudden death risk and define the relationship between specific genetic mutations and clinical features of the disease.

In addition to his research, clinical, teaching and administrative roles, Dr. Calkins is an Associate Editor of the European Heart Journal and also serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious publications including: The Journal of the American College of Cardiology; HeartRhythm, and Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. Additionally, he is past President of the Heart Rhythm Society. Dr. Calkins has written more than 75 book chapters and has published more than 700 articles in publications including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Circulation, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 

Dr. Calkins attended Williams College. He received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his Medicine internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his cardiology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins.