Indian-American cardiologist wins prestigious US award

An Indian-American cardiologist has won the American College of Cardiology's prestigious Simon Dack Award for Outstanding Scholarship in recognition of his contributions to its peer-reviewed medical journals.

Sumeet Chugh, associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and a leading expert on heart rhythm disorders such as sudden cardiac arrest and arterial fibrillation, will receive the award at the 40,000-member medical society's 63rd Annual Scientific Session in Washington.

"Dr. Chugh is leading the quest to unlock the mysteries of how to prevent sudden cardiac arrest, which is 99 percent fatal," said Shlomo Melmed, senior vice-president of Academic Affairs and dean of the Cedars-Sinai medical faculty.

"Chugh, the Pauline and Harold Price Chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology, is an expert in the performance of radio frequency ablation procedures as well as the use of pacemakers, defibrillators and biventricular devices to correct heart rhythm problems," according to the Los Angeles-based Heart Institute.

Author of more than 250 articles and abstracts in professional journals, Chugh initiated and directs the ongoing Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study, a large, comprehensive assessment of sudden cardiac arrest in a community of one million residents.

Chugh leads the World Health Organisation panel that is charged with performing a worldwide assessment of heart rhythm disorders for the Global Burden of Disease Study, a media release said.

After earning his medical degree from Government Medical College, Patiala, India, Chugh spent the first year of his internal medicine residency at Tufts Newton Wellesley Hospital in Boston and the next two years at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

He completed a fellowship in cardiology at the University of Minnesota and a fellowship in clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.