Eric Jose Velazquez,  MD, newly named as the Robert W. Berliner Professor of Cardiology, is globally recognized as an authority in heart failure, cardiovascular clinical trials, and cardiac imaging.

Velazquez is a clinician-investigator whose major contributions to science include the design, development, and implementation of landmark, randomized clinical trials that have altered international guidelines and the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure, particularly those with concomitant coronary artery disease. With his Duke colleagues and over 100 centers worldwide, Velazquez led the Surgical Treatment of Ischaemic Heart Failure Trial. The program defined the role for coronary artery bypass grafting in increasing survival of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.