Debate

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.

Dr. Bangalore is an interventional cardiologist and a Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine. He is the Director of Complex Coronary Intervention; Director of Research for the cardiac catheterization laboratory and the Director for the Cardiovascular Outcomes Group. His clinical expertise is in complex coronary intervention including CTOs, ultra low volume/zero contrast PCI, and renal denervation. His research interests are in comparative effectiveness studies for cardiovascular diseases, particularly stable ischemic heart disease, acute coronary syndromes, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Dr. Bangalore has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, American Heart Association and from the industry. He has published over 350 articles in leading national and international journals including the NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, Circulation and JACC. He is the principal investigator of the ISCHEMIA CKD trial, which is a randomized trial in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and abnormal stress test, carried out in 33 countries and up to 350 clinical sites. The trial is testing the effectiveness of an initial invasive strategy of cath and revascularization with optimal medical therapy versus a conservative strategy of optimal medical therapy alone in patients with chronic kidney disease. His other areas of interest include comparative effectiveness of coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) vs. percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), evaluating the efficacy and safety of various stent types in patients undergoing PCI, including patients with diabetes and those in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction and comparative effectiveness of drug eluting stents vs. bare metal stents. He has won a number of awards including the Dr. Gregory Braden Memorial Interventional Cardiology Fellow of the Year Award from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention and the Douglas P. Zipes Distinguished Young Scientist award from the American College of Cardiology.