“I’ve always had an abiding interest in the connection between basic and clinical science and how that translates into disease states when it comes to physiology.” – Sanjeev Saksena, MBBS
I went to medical school because I was interested in basic science, particularly biology. During my second year of medical school I met a cardiovascular physiologist, who became my mentor. He was a professor of cardiology at Harvard Medical School, who had come to back to India to do cardiovascular physiology research. While doing a sub-internship and research with him, I became interested in clinical cardiovascular research. I subsequently came to the United States to continue that research. During that time I had the opportunity to meet and work with two of the pioneers in electrophysiology, which is when I decided to go into that specialty.
I’ve always had an abiding interest in the connection between basic and clinical science and how that translates into disease states when it comes to physiology. I think the book reflects the spectrum of how basic research has contributed to the treatment for patients in the modern era. Electrophysiological Disorders of the Heart reflects four decades of work in this field.
The idea of the book Electrophysiological Disorders of the Heart has an interesting history. One of my co-editors, John Camm, and I discussed what we had learned over 25 years of working in the field. We talked about the scope and breadth of knowledge that existed and how it could be distilled and presented in a book. We discussed what we thought the needs of the community were. We wanted to approach the topic from a global perspective. It was important to look at the basic science and its relationship with the clinical cardiologic spectrum of disease, and connect that to pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment options. We wanted to put that all in one place so that students could go to one resource. That’s how we developed the first edition.
As the first edition came out, we decided that for the next edition we would do the first multi-authored chapters that had ever been done in this field. It was a challenge and there was concern about how the process would work, but the chapters were very well received. One of the strengths of the book is the integration of knowledge into the single chapters. In the second edition we recognized the fact that we had to expand the scope to a number of areas that had blossomed since the first edition, including non-invasive electrophysiology, pediatric electrophysiology, applied basic science, and ambulatory therapy. Electrophysiological Disorders of the Heart has really become a text for both cardiologists and electrophysiologists.
A leading expert in the field of cardiology and electrophysiology, Sanjeev Saksena, MBBS is the Clinical Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and is Medical Director of the Electrophysiology Research Foundation. He is an active clinician and researcher, and has authored more than 350 abstracts, 250 articles, 60 book chapters, and is co-editor of five books, including the textbook Electrophysiological Disorders of the Heart.
Dr. Saksena serves as Director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Director of the Arrhythmia & Pacemaker Service. He has also served as president of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology and is a member of the Governmental Affairs Committees for the Heart Rhythm Society and the American College of Cardiology. He is the founding editor and has served as editor in chief of the Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology.
Related Author: A. John Camm, MD
