Spencer B. King

A pioneer in cardiac catheterization, coronary arteriography and interventional cardiology, Dr. Spencer King III was co-developer of the multi-purpose technique of coronary arteriography and directed invasive and interventional cardiology training for more than 150 cardiology fellows. In 1972, he became the first Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory of Emory University Hospital and in 1980 recruited Andreas Gruentzig to begin the interventional cardiology program. Dr. King was President of the American College of Cardiology (1998-1999), President of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (1991-1992) and served as first Chair of the Interventional Cardiology Boards of the American Board of Internal Medicine (1997-2007). He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions (2008-2018). He is currently Chairman of the New York State Cardiac Advisory Board and has participated on many committees of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Dr. King is author of over 600 papers on cardiology, has edited or co-edited 12 books including Interventional Cardiology and Hurst’s The Heart 9th through 13th editions, Translational Pathways for Cardiovascular Devices (2019) and JACC’s Imaging Cases in Cardiovascular Interventions (2020). He has served as principal investigator or member of the steering committees of 15 national and international clinical trails in cardiology, as well as conducted the first NHLBI-sponsored trial of coronary angioplasty versus bypass surgery. Dr. King was chairman of the board for Mercer University (2017, 2018). Honors include Master of the American College of Cardiology, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the TCT, and Honorary International Fellow of the Japan Circulation Society, Bishop Lecture of the American College of Cardiology, ETHICA Award of the European Society of Cardiology, Jesse E. Edwards Lecture of the American Heart Association and Distinguished Alumnus Awards from the Medical College of Georgia and Mercer University.