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1961 - Founder and First President,
Physicians
for Social Responsibility (PSR)
1961 - Introduced direct current (DC) electric shock for normalizing
deranged rhythm of the dying heart. The device used to administer the current,
the defibrillator, is now employed worldwide.
1962 - Discovered cardioversion for restoring a normal beat when
runaway rapid arrhythmia occurs. This technique fundamentally changed the management of persistent tachycardias.
1965 - Introduced the drug lidocaine to protect heart attack victims
from fatal cardiac electrical failure.
1966-1976
- Delineated basic principles for treating patients with heart attacks in
coronary care units.
- Formulated the hypothesis that certain types of extra heartbeats
identify patients with heart disease at increased risk for sudden death.
- Associate Professor of Cardiology, Harvard School
of Public Health's
Department of Nutrition.
- Demonstrated that some patients at risk of sudden death can be
protected by individualized anti-arrhythmic therapy.
- Established that many patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease can be treated effectively by medical means without resorting to bypass surgery.
- Director, Samuel A. Levine Corony Care Unit, Peter Bent Brigham
Hospital
- Established that certain nerve signals originating in the brain can
disorganize the heartbeat.
- Demonstrated that sudden death can be triggered by intense
psychological factors, even in the absence of significant heart disease.
- Demonstrated that the heart can be protected against potentially lethal derangements in rhythm by inducing specific alterations in brain
neurochemistry.
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