Albert Named Founding Chair of New Department
After a comprehensive national search, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, as the founding chair of the new Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute.
Albert’s selection reflects her major standing as a national cardiology leader with seminal clinical and scholarly contributions to our understanding of heart rhythm disorders. Albert is a highly respected cardiovascular and preventive medicine specialist with more than 150 peer-reviewed articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature Genetics and other top-tier scientific journals.
Albert serves on specialty editorial boards and is the principal investigator on two ongoing R01 research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health. She is the vice president of the Heart Rhythm Society and will be its president in 2020. This global and highly influential post is a testament to Albert’s reputation and recognition as a respected leader within her field.
At Cedars-Sinai, Albert will have responsibility for leading the strategic direction of clinical, operational, academic and research programs of the new Department of Cardiology. The department will be further propelled under her leadership, advancing the strong foundational legacy of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai. The Department of Cardiology aligns with the new Department of Cardiac Surgery under the umbrella of the Smidt Heart Institute, which encompasses all Cedars-Sinai heart care, research and education through the leadership of Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD.
A Massachusetts native, Albert joins Cedars-Sinai from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she directs the Center for Arrhythmia Prevention and is a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She earned her medical degree and masters of public health at Harvard. She also completed her clinical fellowships in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a research fellowship in epidemiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston. She is board-certified in cardiovascular disease and cardiac electrophysiology.
Albert is a pioneer and leading expert in the field of epidemiology of heart rhythm disorders. She is best known for making major contributions to our understanding of how diet and lifestyle affect heart rhythm disorders, including atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. She conducted some of the seminal studies that examined the role of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing and predicting sudden cardiac death in healthy populations, and is leading a 5,800-patient, multicenter clinical study that aims to identify those at increased risk for sudden cardiac death by employing combinations of clinical, lifestyle, biomarker, genetic and imaging data.
We thank Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, for leading the successful national search and also extend special thanks to Robert J. Siegel, MD, who served as the interim chair of the Cardiology Division during the past year. Albert will assume her new position on Sept. 3. Please join us in warmly welcoming her to Cedars-Sinai.
- Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB
Executive Vice President, Academic Affairs, and Dean of the Medical Faculty
- Jeff Smith, MD, JD, MMM
Executive Vice President, Hospital Operations, and Chief Operating Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD
Director, Smidt Heart Institute