Caring for people with heart failure has been the central focus of my professional life. I made the decision to become a physician rather than a scientist because I like helping people. I enjoy finding what is wrong, creating a treatment plan and helping patients and their families navigate the sometimes confusing modern health care system. As the American population ages, more adults will suffer from heart failure. How well they do will depend not only on the medical care they receive, but also on how engaged they are in their own care. Knowing this is why I wanted to write this book for you with Mary.
Born and raised in Connecticut, I still consider myself a Connecticut Yankee although I've lived most of my adult life in Baltimore because of my ties to Johns Hopkins. I graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1979 and returned to Connecticut to get my M.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1984. Then it was back to Baltimore for internship and residency in internal medicine, chief residency as well as training in cardiovascular disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I have been on the Hopkins School of Medicine faculty since 1993. I live in the northern suburbs of Baltimore with my wife Debbi and our son Ted. Coaching Ted's basketball and lacrosse youth teams has given me great pleasure. I make spending time with my family a priority, from father-son fishing trips to a large family expedition to Africa.
Edward Kasper, M.D. is the E. Cowles Andrus Professor in Cardiology and clinical director of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School's Division of Cardiology. He oversees the clinical efforts of over 100 faculty and 40 cardiology fellows who care for more than 4,000 inpatients and almost 30,000 outpatients a year. Before that he directed the Heart Failure and Transplant Service from 1993 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2008 was Chief of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Heart Failure Society of America and has co-authored more than 80 articles, co-authored or edited 3 books and written numerous book chapters on heart failure and heart transplantation.
