Anne B. Curtis, MD, newly appointed chair of medicine at UB, has received a Distinguished Fellowship Award from the International Academy of Cardiology (IAC) at the 15th World Congress on Heart Disease Annual Scientific Sessions held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

The Distinguished Fellowship Award was established by the IAC to honor colleagues who have made profound contributions to cardiovascular medicine and provided important service to the academy. Selection is made by an awards committee comprising more than 120 faculty members of the academy.

Curtis, who will join UB in September, is internationally recognized for her clinical research, which has significantly advanced knowledge of human cardiac electrophysiology and heart-rhythm abnormalities. She has been principal investigator, co-investigator, sponsor or steering committee member on 85 research studies and clinical trials, and has written more than 113 book chapters, reviews, and editorials. She also is author of a book on cardiac pacing.

Prior to being appointed the inaugural Mary and Charles Bauer Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at UB, Curtis served as professor of medicine at University of South Florida, chief of the university’s Division of Cardiology and director of Cardiovascular Services. Previous to that, she spent 19 years teaching and practicing at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and directing its clinical, investigative, and mentored-educational programs in cardiac electrophysiology.

Curtis earned her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1979 and completed her residency in internal medicine at New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital. She then served fellowships in cardiovascular disease and clinical and investigative cardiac electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

The World Congress of the International Academy of Cardiology is attended by physicians and scientists worldwide, and provides a forum for the latest research developments in cardiovascular medicine, primarily in the areas of molecular and cellular cardiology, coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery.