Ilan S. Wittstein, MD
Broken Heart Syndrome: Unraveling the Complexities of the Heart-Mind Connection
Ilan S. Wittstein, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Wittstein is also the Director of the Advanced Heart Failure training program and the Director of Johns Hopkins Cardiology International.
In Feb. 2005, his manuscript in the New England Journal of Medicine brought international attention to the then poorly recognized syndrome of Stress Cardiomyopathy (Broken Heart Syndrome), a syndrome of acute myocardial stunning that is believed to be sympathetically mediated.
His research interests are focused on the connection between acute emotional and physical stress and myocardial function and the effects of neurologic injury on myocardial contractility. He has lectured and published extensively on this topic and recently co-chaired an international consensus document on this condition. He is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on Broken Heart Syndrome and stress related cardiac disease.