News Archive

Prize Honors Technical Excellence and Innovation in Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine

NEW YORK – October 25, 2016 – The Geoffrey O. Hartzler Master Clinical Operator Award will be posthumously presented to the late Patrick L. Whitlow, MD, in a ceremony on October 31^st at the 28^th Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in Washington, DC. TCT is the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF). The award is given each year to a physician who has advanced the field of interventional cardiovascular medicine through technical excellence and innovation. TCT Directors, Martin B. Leon, MD, and Gregg W. Stone, MD, will present the award to Dr. Whitlow’s widow, Lara, and to his children.

 Dr. Whitlow, the long-time Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, passed away earlier this year on March 22^nd. Widely acknowledged for his extensive knowledge and expertise across multiple specialties, Dr. Whitlow was a lifelong innovator who left an indelible mark in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

“We are extremely honored to pay tribute to Dr. Patrick Whitlow. He was among the first group of early innovators who were instrumental in shaping the subspecialty of interventional cardiology,” said Dr. Stone, Co-Director of Medical Research and Education at CRF.

Throughout his career, Dr. Whitlow embraced innovation and new technologies as a way to expand available therapies for his patients and improve their outcomes. He invented and collaborated on many devices, including a coronary guide wire which came to be known as the Whitlow Wire. He was also instrumental in the advancement of specialties such as directional and rotational atherectomy, as well as the development of the first chronic total occlusion devices.

“Pat was a remarkable physician and an early pioneer of angioplasty strategies. He drove the field forward by playing a pivotal role in developing and testing new devices for angioplasty in the 1990s, initially coronary atherectomy devices, and later stents and devices for chronic total occlusions,” added Dr. Stone.

“He was truly a premier technical and clinical operator with an extraordinary ability to take new technologies and find creative ways to advance and perfect interventional procedures,” said Dr. Leon, CRF Founder and Co-Director, Medical Research and Education. “More importantly, he was a warm, compassionate and caring person who always put his patients first.”

Dr. Whitlow was also a talented operator, having performed the first MitraClip procedure in the early 2000s. Additionally, he trained an entire generation of interventional cardiologists at the Cleveland Clinic, instilling in them a devotion to patient care, an incredible work ethic, and a desire to continually improve and refine interventional procedures.

“Pat’s humility, genuine kindness, patient-first attitude, and mentoring spirit were among his most admirable qualities. He will be sorely missed,” Dr. Leon added.

An author of more than 200 publications in top-tier medical journals, Dr. Whitlow began his medical career soon after he received his MD from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed both his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Health Sciences Center, Parkland Memorial Hospital and Dallas Veterans Administration. He fulfilled his cardiology fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and served as Director of the Coronary Care Unit there, prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic in 1986.

The TCT Master Operator Award will be presented on Monday, October 31, 2016 at 11:00 AM ET in the Main Arena (Level 3, Ballroom) of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

About CRF and TCT

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to helping doctors improve survival and quality of life for people suffering from heart and vascular disease. For over 25 years, CRF has helped pioneer innovations in interventional cardiology and has educated doctors on the latest treatments for heart disease.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) is the annual scientific symposium of CRF and the world’s premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. Now in its 28^th year, TCT features major medical research breakthroughs and gathers leading researchers and clinicians from around the world to present and discuss the latest evidence-based research in the field.

For more information, visit www.crf.org and www.tctconference.com.