3/04-Broken Heart Syndrome

Dr. Wittstein is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of cardiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his B.A in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. in 1985 and his medical degree in 1990 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and then served as Assistant Chief of Service on the Osler Medical Service. After completing fellowship training in cardiology at Johns Hopkins where he concentrated in heart failure and cardiac transplantation, Dr. Wittstein joined the division of cardiology as full-time faculty in 1998. His clinical focus has been in the areas of critical care and heart failure/transplant. His research has included work in basic cell signaling as well as the effect of nitric oxide on cardiac function. More recently, Dr. Wittstein’s research has focused on the effects of emotional and physical stress on cardiac contractile function as well as the effects of neurologic injury on myocardial contractility. In February 2005, his manuscript in the New England Journal of Medicine brought international attention to the poorly recognized syndrome of Stress Cardiomyopathy (Broken Heart Syndrome), a syndrome of acute myocardial stunning that is believed to be catecholamine mediated. He is currently involved in both clinical and basic projects that are attempting to define the precise pathogenesis of this syndrome. He is nationally recognized for his work on Stress Cardiomyopathy and is an expert in the field of stress related cardiac disease.