Debate

Hiram Bezerra, MD, PhD, is Director, Cardiovascular Imaging Core Laboratory as well as Director, Director, Advanced Coronary and MCS at University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center. He is also an Associate Professor, Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Previously, he served at Massachusetts General Hospital with extensive expertise in Cardiac Imaging, Interventional Cardiology, Optical Coherence Tomography and Computed Tomography.

Paul Teirstein, MD, is the Chief of Cardiology and Director of Interventional Cardiology for Scripps Clinic and Director of the Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute for Scripps Health. With a primary focus on complex coronary interventions and new technology development, Dr. Teirstein has played an active role in the initial development and clinical investigation of coronary stent procedures, rotablator atherectomy, coronary angioscopy and the utilization of cardiopulmonary support. Dr. Teirstein pioneered the first effective treatment for restenosis (low dose radiation therapy) and was one of the early investigators of medicated and bioabsorbable stents. Recent areas of investigation include new technology for minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Dr. Teirstein currently performs in excess of 800 stent procedures per year and maintains an active clinical research and teaching unit at Scripps Clinic where he strives to offer patients the most advanced cardiovascular care available worldwide.