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Date: October 12, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Forbes, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Phone: 732-235-6356
Email: jenn.forbes@umdnj.edu
Peter Haigney, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Phone:
(732) 937-8521
Nationally Renowned Cardiologist and Researcher Joins
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
New Brunswick, NJ – James Coromilas, MD, a cardiologist with expertise in electrophysiology (the study of the heart’s electrical system) has joined UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School as professor of medicine and director of the division of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. Dr. Coromilas also will serve as chief of cardiovascular disease at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) and will be interim director of the section of clinical cardiac electrophysiology. He oversees a team that provides specialty care for patients with heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, syncope (temporary loss of consciousness) and arrhythmias.
Dr. Coromilas is a board-certified physician of The Robert Wood Johnson Medical Group, the school’s multi-disciplinary faculty practice with approximately 500 physicians encompassing more than 200 sub-specialties, who have privileges at RWJUH.
Dr. Coromilas began his career at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was on the faculty for 27 years. In addition to caring for patients, he directed the cardiology fellowship training program for 17 years and served for periods as associate director of the Coronary Care Unit, director of the interventional electrophysiology laboratory and director of the non-invasive arrhythmia laboratories. He was the inaugural recipient of the cardiology division’s Robert Heissenbuttel teaching award in 2007.
His research includes studies on the mechanisms of ventricular tachycardia (a rapid heart beat that starts in the ventricles and can lead to sudden death), identification of patients who benefit from prophylactic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation, mechanisms of action of antiarrhythmic drugs and arrhythmias due to inherited disorders. Dr. Coromilas was the principal investigator at Columbia University for several major clinical trials (AVID, MUSTT, SCDHeft) that established the role of ICD therapy, as well as research on the management of atrial fibrillation (AFFIRM). He received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, New York, NY, and his medical degree from McGill University, Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Coromilas completed his residency and cardiology fellowship at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, and a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY.
Appointments with Dr. Coromilas can be made by calling 732-235-7208.
Through the partnership of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and RWJUH, expert physicians have the significant resources of an academic medical center to ensure patients benefit from a comprehensive treatment program beginning with diagnosis to the completion of rehabilitation. As one of the nation's top cardiac hospitals, RWJUH has assembled an expert team of nationally known cardiac specialists skilled in all aspects of heart care. Combined with state-of-the-art technology, RWJUH provides innovative diagnosis, care and treatment in areas including cardiac diagnostic technologies, cardiology, arrhythmia control and angioplasty. One of the busiest labs in the region, more than 12,000 procedures are performed here annually. RWJUH’s cardiothoracic surgeons are highly experienced in their subspecialty fields performing more than 1,000 cardiothoracic surgical procedures each year.
RWJUH has ranked repeatedly among “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report in Heart and Heart Surgery. To learn more about RWJUH, please visit www.rwjuh.edu. For a referral to a physician affiliated with RWJUH, please call 1-888-MD-RWJUH.
UMDNJ-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL
As one of the nation’s leading comprehensive medical schools, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school’s principal affiliate, they comprise New Jersey’s premier academic medical center. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.
As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with 2,800 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs.
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care. RWJUH is the first hospital in the nation to implant the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart since the device received FDA approval in 2006. RWJUH is one of only three sites in the nation approved to offer this groundbreaking technology. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness. The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for heart and heart surgery (No. 36), cancer (No. 40) respiratory disorders (No. 50), according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2009 ranking of “America’s Best Hospitals.” The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated RWJUH as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified RWJUH as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. RWJUH is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years. Visit us online at www.rwjuh.edu.
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