Prof. Asher Kimchi, Founder and Chairman of the International Academy of Cardiology today announced the selection of Prof. Martin Allen Samuels, Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Professor of Neurology of the Harvard Medical School, to deliver the fourth H.J.C. Swan Memorial Lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the International Academy of Cardiology 15th World Congress on Heart Disease Annual Scientific Sessions 2010 to be held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, from Saturday, July 24 through Tuesday, July 27, 2010.
Prof. Samuels will present on the topic of Voodoo Death Revisited: The Modern Lessons of Neurocardiology. In 1941, the renowned neurophysiologist, Walter B. Cannon, wrote a landmark paper entitled, Voodoo Death, by which he meant death from fright. Modern evidence suggests that Cannons principle of fight or flight was generally correct. Prof. Samuels research will show that data from four separate streams of investigation (catecholamine cardiotoxicity; stress induced heart disease; nervous system stimulation; and cardiac reperfusion after ischemia) converge to allow the generation of a unifying hypothesis for neurally mediated cardiac damage. Catecholamines, released directly into the heart via the sympathetic nerves and reaching the myocardium via the blood stream from the adrenal medulla have the net effect of opening a receptor operated calcium channel that leads to free radical mediated cell death. Electrolyte shifts related to this catecholamine mediated process alter the electrocardiogram, lowering the threshold for malignant arrhythmias that are the proximate cause of sudden death in many circumstances.
Prof. Samuels is not only one of the leading neurologists in the United States; he is also a legendary full professor and chair and a clinician-teacher in perhaps one of the most research-intensive universities in the world, the Harvard Medical School. He has served as a visiting professor in literally hundreds of medical schools and hospitals around the world. He created dozens of audiotapes and a video textbook and has authored several books, including "The Manual of Neurological Therapeutics," "Office Practice of Neurology," "Adams and Victors Principles of Neurology Shared Care in Neurology," and "Hospitalist Neurology," that are standard reading for students, residents and postgraduate physicians. Prof. Asher Kimchi comments, We are most fortunate to have Prof. Samuels with us at the 15th World Congress on Heart Disease. His teachings are unparalleled and we are looking forward to his presentation on Voodoo death. For more information about Prof. Samuels, visit http://www.brighamandwomens.org or http://www.cardiologyonline.com/samuels
On Sunday, July 25, 2010, at 9:00 A.M. the Founder and Chairman of the International Academy of Cardiology, Prof. Asher Kimchi, will greet the Congress hundreds of attendees from fifty-one countries throughout the world. Prof. Asher Kimchi is Vice-Clinical Chief, Division of Cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles and Clinical Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The official Opening Ceremony and Awards Presentations will be chaired by Prof. John A. Elefteriades, New Haven, CT, USA; Prof. of Surgery, Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine; Chairman, Scientific Executive Committee; and Chairman, Section of Cardiovascular Surgery.
The following Members of the International Academy of Cardiology (IAC) will also take part in the Opening Ceremony:
