American Heart Association Honors Saint Luke's Cardiologist

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cardiologist John Spertus, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director of Outcomes Research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute and the Lauer/Missouri Endowed Chair and Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri – Kansas City has been named the recipient of the American Heart Association's Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research (QCOR) Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the field. He was presented the award on May 15 at the annual QCOR council conference in Baltimore, Md.

"Dr. Spertus is extremely deserving of this recognition because of his groundbreaking work in cardiovascular outcomes research, health status assessment, and quality improvement," said David J. Cohen, M.D., director of Cardiovascular Research for Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute. "His contributions and leadership in cardiovascular research have had a profound effect on the practice of medicine, not only at Saint Luke's, but around the world."

Dr. Spertus' research focuses on methods for assessing patients' health outcomes, measuring health care quality, and the use of information technology to guide medical decision-making so that treatment can be safer, more cost-effective, evidence-based, and patient-centered. He developed the Seattle Angina Questionnaire and the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, both of which have been translated into over 50 languages and are recognized as the gold standards for measuring patients' symptoms, function, and quality of life in coronary artery disease and heart failure.

Most recently, Dr. Spertus has extended his translational research to illuminate the prognostic significance of genetic and other biomarkers on cardiovascular outcomes. Through his leadership, Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute was one of four recipients of an American Heart Association Outcomes Research Center designation, an extremely competitive award and more recently, the recipient of a highly prestigious T-32 Training Grant in Cardiovascular Outcomes Research from the National Institutes of Health.

He is a graduate of University of California – San Francisco Medical School and completed his internal medicine, cardiology, and health services training at the University of Washington. He has served on numerous national committees for the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, National Quality Forum, Medicare, and United Healthcare. His research activities led to his induction into the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2006. He also founded the Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Consortium and CV Outcomes, a non-profit corporation dedicated to advancing health care quality and outcomes research in cardiovascular disease and Health Outcomes Sciences, a biotechnology start-up to support the implementation of his research throughout the country. Dr. Spertus and his collaborators have published over 350 peer-reviewed articles.

About Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute / Research
Recognized as one of the leading outcomes research centers in the country, Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute has led more than 115 clinical research trials in all aspects of cardiovascular disease. The Institute's clinicians and researchers have pioneered methods for quantifying patients' experience and outcomes of their disease and using these data as endpoints in clinical trials, as markers of health care quality, and as tools in improving patient care.

About QCOR
The Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research provides a forum for a multidisciplinary group of volunteers committed to making a substantial contribution to reducing the burden of heart disease and stroke through improving health care quality and patient outcomes.

Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute is a member of Saint Luke's Health System, which consists of 10 area hospitals and several primary and specialty care practices, and provides a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services. Founded as a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, our mission includes a commitment to the highest levels of excellence in health care and the advancement of medical research and education. The health system is an aligned organization in which the physicians and hospitals assume responsibility for enhancing the physical, mental, and spiritual health of people in the metropolitan Kansas City area and the surrounding region.

SOURCE Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute