WASHINGTON - The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) presented its Master Interventionalists of SCAI (MSCAI) designations during the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference MSCAI recognition ceremony.

The MSCAI designation is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in invasive/interventional cardiology over the course of their career and for their commitment to the highest levels of clinical care, innovation, publication, and teaching.

This year’s MSCAI designations were awarded to the following group of outstanding interventionalists:

Ian C. Gilchrist, MD, MSCAI
Dr. Ian C. Gilchrist is a professor of medicine for Penn State University’s College of Medicine at the Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA. Dr. Gilchrist graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH and then obtained his medical degree from Columbia University. He received his residency and cardiology fellowship training at the St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center in NY, and then an Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the Cooper Medical Center, Camden, NJ. Dr. Gilchrist is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Interventional Cardiology, and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Gilchrist has published widely in the cardiovascular field with over 250 papers or book chapters. He has been involved in more than 200 multi-centered drug and device trials. He is probably best known for his advocacy for transradial catheterization which he has performed for more than 25 years at Hershey. He is one of the founding members of the SCAI transradial group and the TRIP radial training courses. He has been instrumental in defining how to incorporate right heart catheterization with transradial techniques and the safety of the procedure while maintaining patients on anticoagulants such as Coumadin. He has also been involved in revamping the health care process such that that stent procedures can be done as a same day procedure without hospital admission resulting in significant reduction in healthcare costs and potential risks of hospitalization. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that the use of transradial procedures saves life and reduces complications versus the legacy transfemoral approaches and it is now considered the standard of care in most of the world. Dr. Gilchrist has lectured widely on these topics both domestically and internationally.

Eberhard Grube, MD, MSCAI
Professor Eberhard Grube is professor of medicine, head of the Center of Innovative Interventions in Cardiology (CIIC) University Hospital Bonn, Germany and consulting professor, division of cardiovascular medicine, at Stanford University School of Medicine and consulting professor of the INCOR Heart Institute of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Grube received his first degree in medicine at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-University in Bonn. His cardiology training was completed at University of Wisconsin, Medical School and University of Bonn, Medical School. Dr. Grube received his board certification in internal medicine, in cardiology and in angiology from the North Rhine Chamber of Medical Doctors and his post-doctoral lecturing qualification from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-University in Bonn. His research interests include drug eluting stents, distal protection devices, debulking devices, restenosis and in-stent restenosis as well as structural heart disease in particular transcatheter therapy of aortic and mitral diseases. 

Carey Kimmelstiel, MD, MSCAI
Dr. Kimmelstiel is the director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories and interventional cardiology at Tufts Medical Center and is a professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He trained at Downstate Medical Center-Kings County Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center. Early in his career, Dr. Kimmelstiel’s academic interest focused on heart failure. Subsequently, he turned his interest to mechanistic studies focusing on the effect of various pharmacologic agents on platelet function during PCI. More recently, he has focused on structural cardiac interventions, primarily alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and PFO closure. Dr. Kimmelstiel was among the earliest interventionalists to perform alcohol septal ablation for HCM. He was also among the first to advance the techniques employed in this procedure by targeting the correct sub-branch vessel with contrast echocardiography allowing smaller doses of ethanol to be used. He is routinely invited to major national and international meetings to lecture on this topic. He has also been at the vanguard in the implantation of PFO/ASD closure devices for cryptogenic strokes or migraines. His volume of implants led the way in the major national trial which led to the FDA approval of this procedure. Dr. Kimmelstiel enjoys clinical research, both as a participant and administrator having served on, or chaired, dozens of clinical events committees and data and safety monitoring boards. He takes pride in collaborating with colleagues to perform novel procedures within the catheterization laboratory which has led to programs in PFO closure, alcohol septal ablation for HCM and even delivery of babies to mothers with high-risk cardiovascular disease. Professionally, Dr. Kimmelstiel is most proud of the fellows that he has helped to train. He is honored to have received many teaching awards, including most recently the Dedication to Teaching Award from his former Interventional Cardiology Fellows. An example of his mentoring and the lasting impact on trainees was his development of an mobile app in which he and former trainees can share coronary angiograms with one another, to exchange advice on approach to complex interventions.

Ehtisham Mahmud, MD, MSCAI
Dr. Ehtisham Mahmud is professor and division chief of cardiovascular medicine and holds the Edith and William Perlman Chair at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He also serves as the executive director of the UC San Diego Cardiovascular Institute and director of its interventional cardiology program. Dr. Mahmud leads one of the largest academic cardiovascular programs in the United States. His research interests include robotics, interventional therapeutics for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, investigational pharmacotherapies and devices used in cardiovascular interventions. His clinical focus is on complex coronary, structural heart, and carotid interventions. Dr. Mahmud is extensively published, and serves on multiple regional and national scientific committees. Dr. Mahmud completed fellowships in coronary and peripheral vascular interventions at Emory University in Atlanta and cardiovascular medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He also completed an internal medicine residency at UC San Diego and earned his medical degree at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He is board-certified in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. Dr. Mahmud has served on multiple committees for SCAI including chairing the Education and Nominating Committees, having been the program chair for the Annual Scientific Sessions (2018), and as president (2019-2020). 

Ron Waksman, MD, MSCAI
Ron Waksman, MD is associate director, division of cardiology, MedStar Washington Hospital Center and director of cardiovascular research and advanced education for the MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. With over 20 years of experience in leading edge medical technologies, Dr. Waksman is a world-renowned interventional cardiologist and is a highly sought-after principal investigator for pre-clinical and clinical studies conducted in the United States and abroad. Dr Waksman has performed over 5,000 coronary interventions throughout his career. His current research interests include brachytherapy for restenosis prevention bioabsorbable/ biodegradable stents, HDL therapy, intracoronary imaging, valvular heart disease and catheter-based treatment of renal denervation. Dr. Waksman has authored/co-authored more than 310 published manuscripts and over 230 abstracts. He is also the author/co-author of more than 20 book chapters and the editor/co-editor of six books in the field of cardiology. He earned his medical degree from the Ben Gurion University in Israel and completed residencies in medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology at Hadassah University in Jerusalem, Israel. Subsequently, Dr. Waksman completed his fellowship in interventional cardiology in 1994 at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, GA.