Eric Velazquez, MD
Deputy Director for Clinical Trials Innovation
Robert W. Berliner Professor of Medicine (Cardiology); Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine; Deputy Director, Clinical Trials Innovation, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI); Co-Chair, Clinical and Translational Research Oversight Committee; President’s contingency planning committee, Clinical Practice/Clinical Research Subcommittee; Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital; Physician-in-Chief, Heart and Vascular Center, Yale New Haven Health System, Yale New Haven Health System
Dr Velazquez is chief of the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital, and Physician-in-Chief of the Heart and Vascular Center for the Yale-New Haven Health System. Through key leadership positions spanning 20+ years, I have pursued my clinical, research and methodologic interests and facilitated multicenter clinical research programs and quality initiatives with substantive focus and impact on vulnerable and underserved populations at high medical risk and have honed the administrative skills required to implement challenging programs in diverse settings globally. As a clinician-investigator, Dr. Velazquez’s 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 and those with concomitant coronary artery disease.
Dr. Velazquez has led the Surgical Treatment of Ischemic Heart Failure Trial (STICH). The program, continuously funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) since 2002, defined the role for coronary artery bypass grafting in increasing survival of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. With funding from the NHLBI Global Health Initiative, Dr. Velazquez partnered with colleagues at Moi University in Western Kenya to develop a Center for Excellence for Chronic, Non-communicable Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Diseases, including the country’s first intensive cardiac care and research training program.
Dr. Velazquez has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, chaired the American Society of Echocardiography’s Taskforce on International Echocardiography, and is an incoming Associate Editor for Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging. He is board certified in Cardiovascular Diseases and is a Fellow in the American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Society of Echocardiography, and American Heart Association.