Henry Ford Hospital Names Director of New Structural Heart Disease Program

DETROIT, May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- William W. O'Neill, M.D., has been appointed medical director of the new Center for Structural Heart Disease at Henry Ford Hospital.

He will begin his new position on July 31.

Dr. O'Neill is an internationally recognized leader in interventional cardiology and research in new techniques to diagnose and treat heart disease. He pioneered the use of angioplasty for treatment of heart attacks, which is now the mainstay therapy throughout the world.  He has been working on new catheter-based treatments of structural heart disease, and performed the first aortic valve replacement through a catheter in the U.S. in 2005.  

"Approximately one quarter of the adults in the U.S. have some type of structural heart defect.  Treating structural heart disease with catheter-based techniques and less-invasive surgeries is the next frontier in cardiology," says W. Douglas Weaver, M.D., System medical director of Heart and Vascular Services.

"With Dr. William O'Neill's appointment, Henry Ford Hospital and Medical Group will capitalize on its longstanding research expertise and team approach to develop a world-class Center for Structural Heart Disease.  He is the perfect choice to lead the way," says John Popovich, Jr., MD, president and CEO, Henry Ford Hospital. 

A leader in academic and teaching hospitals for nearly 30 years, and to date, an author of more than 300 hundred peer-reviewed articles and abstracts published in medical literature, Dr. O'Neill has written multiple book chapters, and edited one of the first textbooks in the field of interventional cardiologists.  He was a founding member of the American Board of Internal Medicine interventional cardiology board, which certifies all interventional cardiologists. 

Dr. O'Neill has received multiple awards and recognitions in his career. They include: America's Top Doctors; Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Seymour Gordon Award for Distinguished Achievement, Michigan Chapter, American Heart Association. He was also the founding chair, Innovation in Intervention Summit, of the American College of Cardiology.

He is the former executive dean for Research, Research Training and Innovative Medicine, and CEO for Research at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  Previous positions include corporate chief of Cardiology at William Beaumont Hospital, as well as director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory and associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Hospital.

A graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine, where he was a resident, Dr. O'Neill completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan Hospital.

Henry Ford Hospital, the flagship facility for Henry Ford Health System, is an 802-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex. The hospital is staffed by the Henry Ford Medical Group, one of the nation's largest and oldest group practices with 1,200 physicians in more than 40 specialties. The hospital, which opened in 1915, is a Level 1 trauma center, recognized for clinical excellence and innovations in the fields of cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, sports medicine, organ transplants, and treatment for prostate, breast and lung cancers. The hospital annually trains more than 500 residents and 125 fellows in 46 accredited programs. More than 600 medical students train at the hospital each academic year. The hospital and campus is led by CEO John Popovich Jr., M.D. To learn more, visit HenryFord.com.

SOURCE Henry Ford Hospital