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Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute

Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute

The Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute was established in 1993 to promote cardiovascular research and education to prevent and treat heart and vascular disease. BSWHVI serves as a research and education facility that supports the development and implementation of the newest techniques and technologies in cardiovascular care. BSWHVI is part of Baylor University Medical Center and does not provide a referral service.

The Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute supports a variety of original research, including cardiovascular imaging and advance cardiovascular surgical options. One of the largest of its type in the nation, the program offers many studies and trials that are not generally available elsewhere.

The Institute's classrooms and auditorium spaces are equipped to support echocardiograms, digital images and international video conferences. Real-time communication between the auditorium and catheterization lab allows for remote observations of cardiovascular procedures. Physicians conduct conferences with the cardiology fellows, faculty, nurses and sonographers. In addition, Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute hosts numerous events each month for the general public, local schools, media, researchers and nursing educators, as well as Baylor Scott & White Health entities.

Physician Leadership

William C. Roberts, MD

Executive director, Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Institute

The American College of Cardiology recently honored Dr. Roberts with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes a lifetime of outstanding work dedicated to the advancement of the understanding and treatment of cardiovascular disease. He has focused his career on cardiovascular research and published thousands of peer-reviewed articles in the well-respected cardiac and scientific journals. His articles are based on research studies and clinical trials he has spearheaded or in which he has participated as a leading researcher. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and received his medical degree in 1958 from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He completed a residency in anatomical pathology at the National Cancer Institute. He also served in several leadership roles at the National Institutes of Health, including chief of the pathology branch at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He assumed his current role with BSWHVI in 1993. He has served as editor-in-chief at The American Journal of Cardiology since June 1982. He also serves as editor-in-chief of American Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine and Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. Dr. Roberts is an editorial board member of many scientific and clinical journals.


John F. Eidt, MD

Vice Chair of Vascular Surgical Services

A Dallas native, Dr. Eidt is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, Southwestern Medical School, in 1981. He completed his residency in general surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, a clinical vascular fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a vascular research fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and an endovascular surgery fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Eidt serves as co-editor of Scientific American Vascular Surgery and as a member of the editorial board of Vascular Specialist.


Paul A. Grayburn, MD

Director of Cardiology Research and the Non-Invasive Laboratory, Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital - Dallas

Dr. Grayburn is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Texas A&M in College Station, TX, were he also graduated. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1981. He completed a residency in internal medicine at St. Paul Medical Center in Dallas, TX, and fellowships in cardiology and interventional cardiology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. He recently completed research focused on developing ultrasound targeted microbubble destruction as a means of delivering gene therapy to the heart. He has served in leadership roles in several multicenter trials (BEST, STICH, EVEREST II, COAPT, CTSN, Apollo) and directs an echocardiographic core laboratory for clinical trials in valvular heart disease. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging, the American Journal of Cardiology and Structural Heart: The Journal of the Heart Team. Dr. Grayburn has published more than 400 manuscripts or book chapters in peer-reviewed journals.


Milton Packer, MD

Distinguished Scholar in Cardiovascular Science, Baylor University Medical Center

Dr. Packer is an internationally recognized clinical investigator who has made many seminal contributions to the field of heart failure, both in understanding its mechanism and defining its rational management. His work has spanned nearly 40 years serving as an investigator for the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration and has been strongly supported by numerous investigator-initiated grants from the National Institutes of Health industry. Dr. Packer’s research established the cornerstone of the current modern treatments for heart failure, for which he received the Lewis Katz Lifetime Achievement Award from the Heart Failure Society of America. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, in 1973. Dr. Packer completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1976 and fellowships in Cardiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1977 and 1978. He was president of the Heart Failure Society of America from 2000-2002 and has served on numerous guidelines and standards committees for the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.

Research Team

Rebecca Baker, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC

Laura Clariday, BS

Clinical Research Coordinator
214.820.7224
Laura.Clariday@BSWHealth.org

Kristen Tecson, PhD

Gelareh Rahimi, PhD