SBUMC Appoints Heart Arrhythmia Expert to Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
Dr. Sei Iwai Key to the Division’s Expansion of Cutting Edge Cardiovascular Care
STONY BROOK, N.Y., August 3, 2009 – Sei Iwai, M.D., an electrophysiologist, ha
s joined Stony Brook University Medical Center as Professor of Clinical Medicine, Director of the Complex Arrhythmia Ablation Program and Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Program. Appointed
by David L. Brown, M.D., Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and C
o-Director, Stony Brook Heart Center, Dr. Iwai is the latest appointment to SBUMC’s Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, the largest academic electrophysiology program in New York State.
Dr. Iwai’s clinical expertise is in the diagnosis and treatment of complex arrhythmias. He has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe on various topics related to cardiac electrophysiology. Dr. Iwai will see patients at SBUMC and a satellite office in Patchogue on the South Shore.
“Dr. Iwai’s vast experience treating the most complex heart rhythm problems will allow us to further expand our arrhythmia services to better serve the patients and referring physicians of Suffolk County and beyond,” says Dr. Brown.
Dr. Iwai’s research experience includes both clinical and laboratory work. His primary areas of investigation include: underlying arrhythmogenic mechanisms and pharmacologic sensitivities of various cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation; implications regarding catheter-based therapies; and cardiac repolarization alternans, a potent indicator of increased risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmias.
“I would like to help grow the cardiac electrophysiology service into a first-class international program,” says Dr. Iwai, “especially with respect to the catheter-based treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias, as well as device-based therapies for the prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac death and heart failure.”
He also would like to continue his clinical research in further characterizing the underlying arrhythmogenic mechanisms and pharmacologic sensitivities of various cardiac arrhythmias and develop better predictors of sudden death.
Dr. Iwai is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He trained in Internal Medicine at Columbia and in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, where he has been on the faculty for the last eight years. During his tenure at Cornell, Dr. Iwai rose to the rank of Associate Professor and directed Cornell’s prestigious cardiology fellowship program.
He is a member of the Heart Rhythm Society, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Iwai has published over 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the field of cardiac electrophysiology in journals such as Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the American Journal of Physiology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also published several textbook chapters.
A native of Bellport, N.Y., Dr. Iwai currently resides in Westchester County, N.Y., with his wife, Jennifer, and their three children, Sabrina, 13, Jonathan, 3, and Julia, 2
