Traditional, 10-Year MOC Exam
Savitri E. Fedson, MA, MD, Chair
Dr. Fedson is a Professor of Medicine and Clinical Ethics, and director of the Advanced Heart Failure Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology. She is faculty in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine.
Previously, Dr. Fedson practiced advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology at the University of Chicago. While there, she also established the ACGME-accredited fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure, and led two medical school courses in cardiovascular pathophysiology. At the University of Chicago, Dr. Fedson was elected to be a Bucksbaum Institute Senior Faculty Scholar. These scholars are selected based upon recommendations from the chair, peers, junior faculty and medical students as outstanding physicians and teachers at the University.
She has been an active member of the ACC, ISHLT and HFSA and has been a contributing writier to national practice guidelines related to transplantation, mechanical circulatory support and heart failure. She has served on the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Committee for Question Writing for heart failure/transplantation, as well as on the ACC Workforce on Professional Competency. Her clinical and academic work blends cardiovascular medicine with clinical ethics including aspects of end of life care, discontinuing mechanical support and allocation of resources.
Dr. Fedson received a joint bachelor's and master's degree in intellectual history from the University of Chicago with general honors. She received her medical degree from the University of Virginia. She completed her internal medicine training at the University of Chicago Medical Center, followed by a chief residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. She then completed her cardiovascular fellowship also at the University of Chicago, and spent time as an advanced heart failure fellow at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
As of April 2022, Dr. Fedson reported no ongoing external relationships.
Howard J. Eisen, MD
Dr. Eisen is a tenured Professor of Medicine, Medical Director of the Heart Transplant, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Advanced Heart Failure Program and Director of Diagnostic Cardiology at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He is ABIM Board Certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.
Dr. Eisen is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Society of Transplantation, Heart Failure Society of America and European Society of Cardiology.
Dr. Eisen received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Cornell University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his medical residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his cardiology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis-Barnes Hospital.
As of July 2022, Dr. Eisen reported the following external relationships:
Dr. Eisen serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- American Heart Association, Chair, Heart Failure and Transplant Council, without compensation.
- International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, Board of Directors, without compensation.
Maryl R. Johnson, MD, FACC
Dr. Johnson is Professor of Medicine and a Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology and is an active participant in the Maintenance of Certification program.
Prior to coming to the University of Wisconsin in 2002 as the Medical Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation, Dr. Johnson served as the Medical Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, as Associate Medical Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center and Loyola University Medical Center, and as the Medical Director of Heart Transplantation at the University of Iowa.
Dr. Johnson served as a resident member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council and has been a member and chair of National Institutes of Health review committees. She is past-President of the American Society of Transplantation and has served as Chair of the Heart Failure and Transplant Committee of the American College of Cardiology. She a past Chair of the UNOS/OPTN Thoracic Organ Committee, past Secretary of the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (UNOS/OPTN) Board of Directors, and current Chair of the UNOS/OPTN Data Advisory Committee. She is currently the President of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and is past Chair of the Standards and Guidelines Committee of that society. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.
Dr. Johnson, a native of Iowa, received her bachelor's degree in zoology at Iowa State University and her medical degree from the University of Iowa School of Medicine. She trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at the University of Iowa, where she also served as Chief Medical Resident.
As of August 2022, Dr. Johnson reported the following external relationships:
Service on data and safety monitoring boards for the following companies, with honoraria:
- The National Institutes of Health, for the Transform Trial.
Consulting for the following companies, with honoraria:
- CVS, for heart failure programs.
- OptumRx, for heart transplant and left ventricular assist device programs.
Dr. Johnson serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The United Network for Organ Sharing, Corporate Affairs Committee, Member, receiving reimbursement for travel expenses.
Andrew Kao, MD
Dr. Kao is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Medical Director of the Heart Transplant Program at St. Luke’s Hospital Mid America Heart Institute. He is also Medical Director of the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Laboratory. He was previously an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Division of Cardiology, Section of Heart Failure and Transplant. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University, Division of Cardiology, Section of Heart Failure and Transplant. He is board certified in cardiovascular disease and in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.
Dr. Kao has been actively involved in all aspects of heart failure and transplant clinical research, and was on the Steering Committee of the HF-ACTION study and will be on the Steering Committee of the PARACHUTE-HF study. He was one of the co-chairs of an International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) Academy Core Competency Course for Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Medicine in 2016. Dr. Kao is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Cardiovascular Board Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology Exam Committee. He has been an abstract reviewer for the American College of Cardiology, ISHLT and American Heart Association. He has given numerous lectures on heart failure and transplant regionally and nationally, and has also served on several United Network of Organ Sharing committees.
Dr. Kao graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in Illinois. He completed internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota and a cardiovascular fellowship at Duke University in North Carolina, and training in heart failure and transplant cardiology at Oregon Health Sciences University.
As of July 2022, Dr. Kao reported the following external relationships:
Funding for clinical trial expenses and staff, paid to St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Consultants, from the following companies:
- Bioventrix, for a study of a hybrid closed-chest procedure to treat patients suffering from heart failure symptoms related to cardiomyopathy.
- CardioKinetix, for a study of omecamtiv mecarbi.
- CareDx, for registry of clinical use of gene expression profiling post-heart transplant to correlate with outcomes, with blood samples for donor-derived cell-free DNA in detecting rejection; for a registry of patients regarding heart transplant recipient immune activity and donor graft injury.
- Respircardia, to investigate the use of a phrenic nerve stimulator system to treat central sleep apnea and for the remede System Therapy Study registry study, (reST).
- ZOLL, for a heart failure optimization study.
Service on a research-related expert panel or advisory board for the following companies, with honoraria from the following companies:
- CareDx, for service on an advisory committee.
- Bioventrix, for service on an advisory committee.
Grant funding from non-profit healthcare-related organizations for staff, paid to St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Consultants, from the following organization:
- National Institutes of Health, for the ALL-IN study.
Wai Hong W. Tang, MD
Dr. Tang is Professor of Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, as well as Research Director and staff cardiologist in the Section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine in the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine (recertified in 2009), cardiovascular medicine (recertified in 2013) and advanced heart failure and transplantation medicine (certified in 2014), and is an active participant in the Maintenance of Certification program.
Dr. Tang currently serves as member of the Board of Directors for the Heart Failure Society of America. Previously, Dr. Tang served as member of the national heart failure guidelines committees for the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology as well as the Heart Failure Society of America. Dr. Tang has authored over 610 published peer-reviewed manuscripts in medical and scientific journals as well as 82 chapters in medical textbooks, and currently serves in the Editorial Boards for Journal of the American College of Cardiology Heart Failure, Circulation Heart Failure, and American Heart Journal.
Dr. Tang currently serves as the Director of the Center for Clinical Genomics, that aims to empower caregivers towards clinical delivery of genomics and precision medicine. Dr. Tang practices cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure/transplantation medicine at the Cleveland Clinic since 2004, with specialty interests include heart failure, cardiomyopathy and genetic heart diseases, heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory assist devices, cardio-renal diseases, and cancer-related heart diseases. Dr. Tang’s translational research has been funded by grant support from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Tang was elected as member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2013 and the Association of Academic Physicians in 2018, both national honor societies for physician scientists for his contributions in heart failure and cardiovascular research.
Dr. Tang graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in neural sciences from Brown University in Rhode Island, where he also matriculated at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, in England for an honorary one-year period of study in molecular medicine. Dr. Tang received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine, and a postdoctoral research fellowship in heart failure at Stanford University Medical Center. This was followed by clinical cardiology fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic, and an advanced clinical fellowship in heart failure and cardiac transplantation.
As of April 2022, Dr. Tang reported the following external relationships:
Funding for clinical trial expenses and staff, paid to the Cleveland Clinic, from the following companies:
- Array, for a Phase III study of LMNA Cardiomyopathy.
- Alnylam, for Phase II & III studies of ATTR amyloidosis.
- 3Live, Inc., for a Phase IB study for Cardio-Renal Syndrome.
- SalubrisBio, for a study for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb, for a Phase II study of TTN/MYH7 dilated cardiomyopathy.
- Second Heart Inc, for a Phase Ib study for Cardio-Renal Syndrome.
- AstraZeneca, for a Phase II study for MPO inhibitor in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
Consulting on design of new drugs or devices, clinical trials, the use of specific agents or other research-related activities for the following companies, with honoraria:
- Sequana Medical Inc, for device therapy for cardio-renal syndrome.
- Applied Therapeutics, for a Phase II study for diabetic cardiomyopathy.
- Cardiol Therapeutics, for a Phase II study for COVID-19 myocarditis.
- Genomics, for design of a feasibility study on polygenic risk score.
- Zehna Therapeutics, for therapeutics targeting microbial enzymes.
Work as an author or editor for the following company, with compensation as listed:
- Springer Nature, receiving compensation as an editor.
Dr. Tang also reported receiving compensation for peer-to-peer review for appropriateness of percutaneous coronary intervention for Cardiac Community Core Lab, LLC.