Cardiac Sarcoidosis A Multi-discipline Approach

Dr. Baughman is the Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. After completing undergraduate training at Yale University, he received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. He joined the Internal Medicine staff at the University of Cincinnati after completing both an internal medicine residency and fellowship training in pulmonary diseases at the University of Cincinnati. His major research interests include the treatment of sarcoidosis and bronchoalveolar lavage. Along with his long-time collaborator Dr. Elyse Lower, he has developed several novel treatments for sarcoidosis, including methotrexate, thalidomide, leflunomide, and infliximab. Current studies include treatments for sarcoidosis-associated fatigue and pulmonary hypertension due to sarcoidosis. He is on the editorial board of multiple subspecialty journals, and his publications include over 300 original papers mostly regarding various aspects of sarcoidosis and over 70 review articles and/or book chapters. He has edited several books on sarcoidosis and other interstitial lung diseases. He is on the editorial board of several journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Chest. In addition, Dr. Baughman is the recent editor of books on sarcoidosis, interstitial lung disease, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. He has been an active member of the WASOG since its inception and is President Emeritus.

Daniel Culver is the Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at Cleveland Clinic. He has directed the Sarcoidosis Centre of Excellence at Cleveland Clinic since 2005 and holds full staff appointments in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine and the Department of Pathobiology. He is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, and a member of the Executive Committee for the Americas Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders. He is the Chief Research Officer for the Respiratory Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is a past recipient of the Bruce Hubbard Stewart Award and the HCOM Medal of Merit. He is a member of the ATS, ACCP, World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders (WASOG), and AASOG. His main interests include sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, other granulomatous diseases, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, and other interstitial lung diseases; he has written extensively on sarcoidosis and is an associate editor for Chest. He is the President Elect of WASOG.

Dr. David Birnie is Vered Chair and Head, Division of Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). He was educated in Scotland and received his medical degree from Glasgow University in 1990. His clinical focus is on all aspects of cardiac electrophysiology, including ablation of complex arrhythmia and implantation and follow-up of device therapy. He also has a major clinical interest in cardiac sarcoidosis and coinitiated (in 2008) and still coleads Canada’s first dedicated cardiac sarcoidosis clinic. He is the cochair of the HRS guidelines on the diagnosis and management of cardiac sarcoidosis (published in 2014 and update due in 2026). Also, he is leading the first multicenter, multinational treatment trial for cardiac sarcoidosis (CHASM-CS-RCT). His major ongoing research interests are cardiac sarcoidosis, selection and optimization of CRT for heart failure patients, and investigating optimal strategies for complication reduction around EP procedures. In 2020 he was elected to the executive committee of the World Association of Sarcoidosis (WASOG).