Inova Names Chris O’Connor CEO of Inova Heart and Vascular Institute

FALLS CHURCH, VA – April 7, 2015 – Renowned clinician Christopher M. O’Connor, MD, joins Inova as Chief Executive Officer of Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI). In this role, Dr. O’Connor will direct IHVI’s system-wide cardiovascular strategy, expand the clinical, research and education programs of the Institute, and recruit notable cardiac and vascular professionals to further the Institute’s stature as a national and international cardiovascular leader.

Dr. O’Connor returns to the Washington, DC, area after 31 years at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. While at Duke, his research earned him worldwide recognition as an authority on heart failure. Most recently, Dr. O’Connor served at Duke as the Richard Stack Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Director of the Duke Heart Center. Under his leadership, the Duke Heart Center experienced significant growth of five to ten percent per year, and the U.S. News and World Report magazine’s annual ranking moved to #4 in the nation.

“Chris brings with him a wealth of experience and impressive credentials in clinical research,” said Patrick Christiansen, PhD, CEO, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. “We look forward to working with him to further personalized medicine initiatives in cardiology, including endeavors with Inova Translational Medicine Institute and the evolving Inova Sports Medicine Institute to effect positive change in cardiovascular health.”

Having led more than 20 clinical trials and published at least 400 manuscripts, Dr. O’Connor’s work has uncovered links in how mood disorders and stress affect heart disease and led to insights into pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies to treat heart failure (HF). As the Principal Investigator of the HF-ACTION clinical trial, which studied exercise training in more than 2,000 HF patients, his research led to a change in the international guidelines, a change by CMS in the national reimbursement of cardiac rehabilitation for HF patients and validation of two novel biomarkers that were later approved by the FDA. Dr. O’Connor’s jointly owned company BisCardia holds a patent for the use of bisphosphonate – a drug commonly prescribed to treat osteoporosis – to improve heart function.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Inova as the CEO of IHVI and building on an already strong program,” said Dr. O’Connor. “With Inova’s richly diverse patient population, there are significant research opportunities in mood disorders and heart disease, cell therapy and regenerative medicine, heart disease in women, aspirin therapy, and platelet function – all areas that stand to provide valuable education and improve the health of the patients we serve.”

Dr. O’Connor earned a bachelor’s of science degree in Chemistry from the University of Maryland College Park and his medical degree from the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore. He went on to Duke to complete his internship, residency, chief residency and cardiology fellowship. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure, and serves on the editorial boards for several other journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Media Contact: Tracy Connell, tracy.connell@inova.org

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