Dr. Douglas Zipes’ career as a cardiologist, educator and researcher at the IU School of Medicine has been recognized with an endowed professorship named in his honor and supported by the Medtronic Foundation.

Zipes

The Medtronic Zipes Chair in Cardiology was endowed by the Medtronic Foundation to promote excellence in cardiovascular research, education and patient care. IUSM will begin a national search to recruit a leading physician-scientist to fill the endowed professorship. Zipes is an IU Distinguished Professor emeritus of medicine. He stepped down last month as director of the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at IU, a position he has held since 1995.

"It is hard to imagine the field of electrophysiology today without the invaluable contributions of Dr. Zipes over the past 25 years," said Steve Mahle, executive vice president and president of Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Management and a member of the Medtronic Foundation Board. "His pioneering work has made all the difference for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide who suffer from cardiac arrhythmias."

As a researcher, Zipes focused on the electrical impulses that stimulate the heart muscle. His electrophysiology research explored the mechanisms responsible for cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. As a leading expert in the field, he worked closely with Medtronic, Inc. to create the first implantable cardioverter designed to stop attacks of arrhythmia.

Taking research from the "bench to the bedside" was one of his clinical strengths of Dr. Zipes. He also pioneered the use of alcohol ablation to treat arrhythmias, as well as other progressive therapies for cardiac irregularities. He also is recognized internationally for his research and promotion of the use of automated external defibrillators (AED) in public places such as shopping malls and airports. In Indianapolis, he has started the world’s first Neighborhood Heart Watch to distribute AEDs into the community where 80 percent of sudden cardiac deaths occur.

He has provided international leadership to the field of cardiac electrophysiology through his role as president of professional organizations such as the Heart Rhythm Society. He also served as president of the American College of Cardiology in 2001 and, more recently, as chairman of the American Board of Internal Medicine. As an educator, Zipes has trained more than 75 cardiac electrophysiologists who now practice all over the world.

Colleagues and former students from the United States and Canada were speakers and guests at a June 8 symposium in Zipes’ honor. The symposium presented a retrospective of his career. Speakers addressed diagnostic and treatment methods for heart rhythm disturbances and predicted what the future would hold in the field of electrophysiology.