Officers

William A. Zoghbi, MD, FACC (ACC BOT 2010 - 2015, President 2012-2013)

Zoghbi is a leader in the field of cardiovascular imaging and echocardiography. During his career, he has developed new techniques to evaluate valvular disorders and cardiac function, improving the non-invasive evaluation of diastolic function with Doppler and refining the use of stress and contrast echocardiography for detecting ischemic heart disease. Zoghbi is also known for his research on myocardial hibernation and his development of 3-D techniques to evaluate valvular dynamics and measure valvular regurgitation.

Zoghbi was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He entered medical school at the American University of Beirut after receiving his B.S. in biology and chemistry there. When civil war broke out in Lebanon, he transferred to Meharry Medical College and completed his residency in internal medicine and cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine. He joined the Baylor faculty in 1985, became the John S. Dunn Professor of Medicine, and served as director of the Echocardiography Laboratory and echocardiography research. In 2005, he received the William L. Winters Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Imaging at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College, and founded the Cardiovascular Imaging Institute, bringing all imaging modalities under one roof to enhance education, research and patient care.

Zoghbi has authored more than 200 original publications and has been invited to lecture on his work at major cardiology conferences around the globe. A recipient of the Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), Zoghbi’s commitment to physician training and education is evident at the national level. He chaired the development of national and international guidelines for evaluating native and artificial heart valves with cardiac ultrasound, and in 2009, he co-chaired the ACC committee that wrote a monograph on how best to train the new generation of cardiologists in multimodality cardiovascular imaging.

Zoghbi has been actively involved with the ACC, the American Heart Association and the ASE for nearly 30 years. He chaired the ACC Annual Scientific Session in 2000, served on the ACC BOT since 2001 and has held the positions of treasurer and vice president. He has exerted considerable influence in ASE, serving on the Board of Directors and as president from 2008 to 2009. He has also served on the editorial board of many prestigious medical journals, and as Associate Editor of JACC-Cardiovascular Imaging and Circulation.

Patrick T. O'Gara (BOT 2012-2016, Vice President 2012-2013)

O’Gara is director of clinical cardiology and the executive medical direcdtor of the Shapiro Cardiovascular Cenmter at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), as well as professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

O’Gara was a member of the ACC’s Board of Trustees from 200502010 and has served in several other leadership positions over the past 15 years, including co-chair of the ACC.12 Program Committee and editor of ACCSAP 8. He received the ACC’s Distinguished Fellowship Award in 2010. O’Gara has also held several leadership positions within the American Heart Association (AHA) and is the immediate past editor of Heart Insight magazine. He received the Distinguished Achievement Award and the Laennec Master Clinician Award of the Council on Clinical Cardiology in 2009 and 2011, respectively, as well as the 2011 Paul Dudley White Award of the Boston Division, Founder’s Affiliate. O’Gara serves as the Steering Committee co-chair of the NHLBI Cardiothoracic Surgery network, a research consortium of academic surgical centers performing randomized, proof of concept surgical trials in patients with valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease and heart failure.

In 2001, O’Gara received the Eugene Braunwald Clinical Teaching Award from the BWH CV Division fellows, as well as the BWH Department of Medicine’s Mentoring Award. O’Gara is co-director of the ACC Board Review Program for Certification and Re-certification, and the ACC Maintenance of Certification program, and the ACC Teaching Skills Workshop for Emerging Faculty. He has directed or co-directed several other post-graduate educational programsfor ACC, Pri-Med and Harvard Medical School. He is the current chair of the ACCF/AHA ST-Elevation MI Guideline Writing Committee and has participated in several other guideline, expert consensus and scientific advisories for both the ACC and AHA.

John G. Harold, MD, MACC, President-Elect

Dr. Harold retains a seat on the ACC Executive Committee. A graduate of New York City's Stuyvesant High School, Dr. Harold received a BS in biomedical sciences from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at the City College of New York. After earning his medical degree from the Stony Brook University School of Medicine, he performed his residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He completed a fellowship in cardiology in 1985 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he began his practice in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases.

As vice president, Dr. Harold plans to address state and national issues affecting the management of cardiovascular disease. He filled the position of ACC governor from Southern California, chaired the ACC Board of Governors, and was recognized with the ACC California Chapter's Leadership Award in 2009 after serving as the chapter's president. By collaborating with the ACC California Chapter and the British Cardiovascular Society, Dr. Harold facilitated the development of the International Twinning program, which is now being expanded to additional chapters along with other International societies. Dr. Harold was actively engaged in the Board of Governors and Chapter Governor Nominating Committees and developed the "No Governor Left Behind Initiative." Dr. Harold has also worked tirelessly to raise funds for the ACC and has been involved in the organization for the past three decades.

He sat on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Executive Committee until June 2012. His involvement in both the ACC and the ABIM allowed him to facilitate an expanded collaborative relationship between the two organizations on numerous fronts, including International activities. Dr. Harold serves on the board of directors of a variety of other organizations, including the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Save-A-Heart Foundation, the Heart Foundation at Cedars-Sinai and the UCLA Clinical Faculty Association. He is immediate past-president of the Los Angeles County Division of the AHA, which he has actively supported for the past two decades. He contributes to the advancement of cardiovascular medicine by hosting and co-hosting fundraising events, such as the 2009 Los Angeles AHA Heart Awards Galas, and he was presented with the AHA Passion of the Heart Award in 2007. Dr. Harold was honored with the Master designation from both the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians and was named Stony Brook School of Medicine Alumnus of the Year in 2007.

Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, FACC (BOT Secretary 2012-2013)

Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, FACC, holds the Robert and Georgia Roth Chair for Excellence in Cardiac Care and is the medical director of disease management for Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute, a position she has held since 2001. In her role as director of Disease Management, Dr. Itchhaporia leads the congestive heart failure management program and the anticoagulation clinic at Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute. She joined the medical staff at Hoag Hospital and also established her private practice specializing in diagnostic and interventional cardiology in 1996.

Dr. Itchhaporia received her medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine and continued to complete her residency in internal medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. Subsequently, she joined the General Medicine Faculty at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as assistant clinical professor and then went on to do a cardiology fellowship at Georgetown University and an interventional cardiology fellowship at Stanford University. She is board-certified in cardiology, interventional cardiology and nuclear cardiology.

Dr. Itchhaporia is the immediate past-president of the ACC California Chapter, as well as the Southern California governor and the chair-elect for the ACC Board of Governors (BOG). In addition, she is a member of the ACC BOG Steering Committee, as well as the co-chair of the Practice Administrators Committee and a member of the Clinical Cardiology Council for the ACC. Previously, she was a member of the Executive Committee, Chair of the Membership Committee, Chair of the Women in Heart Disease Committee, the Advocacy Committee, the CT working group as well as Orange County councilor for the ACC California Chapter. She holds many leadership positions with renowned organizations, including six years as a member of the Western Affiliates board of the AHA and past-president of the Orange County Chapter of the AHA. She has served the National AHA Professional Educational Committee. In the past, she had been active in the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology as a member of the Government Relations Committee.

Dr. Itchhaporia has co-chaired the Controversies and Advances in Cardiology Meeting for the last two years. This meeting, which has hosted 550 participants is held in Beverly Hills early October. She is the director of the Annual Advances in Heart Failure Symposium held annually in Newport Beach. She has been guest editor for the journal Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine.

C. Michael Valentine, MD, FACC (ACC BOT 2005 - 2013, Treasurer 2012-2013)

Dr. Valentine is an interventional cardiologist in Lynchburg, Va. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and named the University's outstanding senior. He attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed his medicine and cardiology training at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Valentine currently serves as governor of the ACC Virginia, and as incoming chair of the BOG for 2006. He is co-chair of the ACC Advocacy Committee, and served on the Task Force to Develop the Cardiac Cath Lab Tool Kit. He chaired the ACC Medical Directors' Institute in 2004, a program designed to promote collaboration between payers and physicians.

Dr. Valentine's group, Cardiovascular Associates of Central Virginia, has been active in over 30 clinical trials, often among the top enrolling centers. They are currently engaged in three quality and pay for performance programs in Virginia, sponsored by the ACC. The group is also involved in AHA programs, as he and his partners have often served as local AHA President over the last twenty years.

He is married to Shannon Valentine. They have three young children and enjoy their numerous activities. In his spare time, Dr. Valentine enjoys tennis and fly-fishing.

David R. Holmes, Jr., MD, FACC, Immediate Past President

Dr. Holmes is the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and an interventional cardiologist in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and the Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He earned a B.S. from Princeton University in 1967 and a medical degree from Marquette University in 1971. He completed his internship at the Virginia Mason Hospital & Medical Center in Seattle and pursued a fellowship in both internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic. After completing active duty in the Navy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Dr. Holmes returned to the Mayo Clinic as a consultant.

As an active member of the ACC Board of Trustees, Dr. Holmes has chaired the i2 Summit Programming Committee and played a major role in the development of all i2 Summit Meetings. He has served as the ACC governor for Minnesota from 2002 to 2003 and co-chaired the 2003 ACC Scientific Session. He has served as head of an initial Procedures Training Work Group for the ACC. In that capacity, he helped to develop the combined training program in renal and iliac stenting in conjunction with the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and the Society for Vascular Surgery. He served on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Interventional Cardiology Test Writing Committee as one of its original members and continues to write questions for them.

Dr. Holmes is dedicated to the progress of his special areas of interests, which include acute coronary syndromes, interventional cardiology, restenosis, vascular biology, risk outcomes analysis, telemedicine and simulator technology. Dr. Holmes has participated in the development of a new catheter design and new approaches for the treatment of patients with coronary artery and vein graft disease, atrial fibrillation and valvular heart disease. He has been recognized for his achievements with numerous awards, including the ACC Distinguished Scientist Award (Clinical Domain) in 2006. In 2007, Dr. Holmes was given the James B. Herrick Award of the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Clinical Cardiology, and he was awarded the Carl Wiggers Award in 2010. He is past president of SCAI. In addition to having contributed to more than 1000 peer-reviewed original publications, he serves on the editorial board of JACC, ACCEL, Circulation and Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions and is an associate editor for JACC Cardiovascular Interventions. His dedication to cardiovascular care has been recognized with several awards, including Cardiovascular Teacher of the Year by the Department of Cardiology Fellows at Mayo Clinic.

Thomas E. Arend, Jr. Esq., CAE (ACC Interim Chief Staff Officer 2012)

Tom Arend serves as the ACC’s Interim Chief Staff Officer. Prior to this interim role, Tom served as ACC’s General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer. Tom continues to serve as General Counsel.  As the ACC General Counsel, Tom is responsible for all legal risk management for the organizations, ensuring compliance with applicable laws, internal governance processes and procedures, and for providing general legal oversight for all ACC/ACCF activities. Prior to joining the College in 2004, Tom worked in private practice for almost ten years In Washington, D.C. focusing exclusively in the area of nonprofit organizations, most recently with the office of Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury) in its nonprofit organizations practice. Tom holds the Certified Association Executive designation from ASAE, as well as a law degree from the American University Washington College of Law, a Master’s degree from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College magna cum laude.  He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.