“Valvular heart disease is a field that brings together a lot of different specialties: from basic scientists to epidemiologists to cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, imaging specialists and valve experts. It has become an integrative field, which is actually being reflected in people’s practice.” – Dr. Catherine Otto
Catherine M. Otto, MD is the J. Ward Kennedy-Hamilton Endowed Chair in Cardiology; Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Director, Heart Valve Clinic at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She is the lead author of Echocardiography Review Guide, 4th Edition.
Dr. Otto is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, and the American Heart Association. A graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Otto went on to earn her medical degree with honors at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1982 and returned to the University of Seattle for her cardiology fellowship.
A luminary in her field, Dr. Otto’s practice focuses on knowledge-based decision-making using established national guidelines for patient care and involving the patient actively in the decision making process. She has studied and treated all types of cardiovascular disease with a focus on valvular heart disease (aortic stenosis, bicuspid aortic valve, mitral regurgitation, mitral valve prolapse, etc.), Marfan syndrome and related disorders, cardiac involvement in systemic diseases, and adults with congenital heart disease. She is recognized internationally as an expert in the diagnosis and management of heart valve disease, Marfan syndrome, and other inherited structural heart conditions.
Dr. Otto’s research on calcific aortic valve disease shows the disease may be amenable to medical therapy. Her research includes a landmark study demonstrating mild valve thickening is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. She received the American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award for this research.
Dr. Otto is a well-respected author and researcher and has authored multiple publications including the Textbook of Clinical Echocardiography, 6th Edition, Echocardiography Review Guide, 3rd Edition, Practice of Clinical Echocardiography, 5th Edition, and Valvular Heart Disease: A Companion to Braunwald’s Heart Disease and winner of the 2014 BMA Medical Book Awards 1st Prize Award Winner in Cardiology. She is series editor for the four-volume Practical Echocardiography series and she serves as Editor in Chief of editor-in-chief for Heart, the journal of the British Cardiovascular Society.
It’s exciting that there are so many people interested in valvular heart disease now. We’ve been able to recruit excellent authors from around the world with expertise in each of the different areas. I think it’s brought a lot of depth to the book. To have that kind of expertise and interaction between the authors has enhanced what we can offer in Valvular Heart Disease.
Valvular heart disease is a field that brings together a lot of different specialties: from basic scientists to epidemiologists to cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, imaging specialists and valve experts. It has become an integrative field, which is actually being reflected in people’s practice. Medical centers are developing valve centers with integrated expertise across the traditional specialties. Valvular Heart Disease provides the backbone for that kind of valve clinic.
