Peter R. Kowey

Peter R. Kowey
Born	January 4, 1950 Norristown, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (MD) Saint Joseph's College (University) (BS)
Scientific career
Fields	Cardiology, Arrhythmias, Cardiovascular Disease
Institutions	Lankenau Medical Center Lankenau Institute for Medical Research Main Line Health Jefferson Medical College Medical College of Pennsylvania

Peter R. Kowey is an American cardiologist and medical researcher. He is currently Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Kowey also holds the William Wikoff Smith Chair in Cardiovascular Research at Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR), the research arm of Main Line Health, located just outside Philadelphia. He is also Chief of the Main Line Health Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, and President of the Cardiology Foundation of Lankenau Medical Center.

Early life and education

Kowey was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1950 and graduated from Saint Joseph’s College (now Saint Joseph’s University) in 1971 with a B.S. in biology. He graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 and completed his internship and residency at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of Pennsylvania State University between 1975 and 1978. He held a fellowship in cardiology at Harvard University School of Public Health and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston from 1978 to 1980, and a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine and research at the West Roxbury VA Hospital and Harvard Medical School from 1980 to 1981.

Career

Beginning in 1981, Kowey worked at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, becoming Director of the Cardiac Care Unit and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service. In 1990, he was appointed Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Lankenau Hospital (now Medical Center); he became Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases for the four-hospital Main Line Health network in 1999.

Kowey also served as a professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania while on staff there; in 1990, he moved to Jefferson Medical College as a professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. From 1991 to 2003, he also taught at MCP/Hahnemann/Drexel University College of Medicine as a Clinical Professor of Medicine.

Kowey’s principal area of interest has been cardiac rhythm disturbances. His research has contributed to the understanding of cardiac arrhythmia and effective methods for its correction. In particular, his work helped lead to the FDA approval of the drugs dronedarone and amiodarone which help restore normal heart beat patterns in patients with arrhythmia.

He is the author of more than 300 articles, book chapters, and editorials. He has edited or co-edited three peer-reviewed journal supplements and several books, including “Cardiac Arrhythmia: Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Management” (2001); “Clinical Management of Atrial Fibrillation” (2015); and “Cardiac Arrhythmias, Pacing and Sudden Death” (2017). He is a fellow of the Clinical Council of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Arrhythmia Group and a charter member of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology.

Since 2010, Kowey has participated in multinational research initiatives including the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration, a group of 60 heart care experts who drafted a report advocating for markedly increased screenings for atrial fibrillation (AF), especially among patients 65 years and older.

In another study in which Kowey collaborated, REVEAL AF, researchers showed that continuous monitoring of an at-risk, but previously undiagnosed high-risk, population with a miniature implantable recording device for up to three years uncovered AF in nearly 40 percent of patients. Kowey and his co-authors of the multi-center study noted that improved stroke-prevention measures require better strategies by healthcare professionals to identify and prophylactically treat AF patients at risk.

Seelected publications

• BN Singh, SH Hohnloser, SJ Connolly, HGJM Crijns, D Roy, PR Kowey, ACapucci, D Radzik, EM Aliot for the EURIDIS and ADONIS Investigators (2007). “Dronedarone for maintenance of sinus rhythm in atrial fibrillation or flutter.” New England Journal of Medicine. 357 (10): 987–9. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa054686. PMID 17804843. Cited 733 times according to Google Scholar
• JD Rutherford, MA Pfeffer, LA Moyé, BR Davis, GC Flaker, PR Kowey, GA Lamas, HS Miller, M Packer, J L Rouleau (1994). “Effects of captopril on ischemic events after myocardial infarction. Results of the Survival and Ventricular Enlargement trial. SAVE Investigators.” Circulation. Oct. 1. doi.org/10.1161/01.CIR.90.4.1731. PMID: 7923656. Cited 401 times according to Google Scholar
• VA Medina-Ravell, RS Lankipalli, G-X Yan, C Antzelevitch, NA Medina-Malpica, OA Medina-Malpica, C Droogan, PR Kowey (2003). “Effect of epicardial or biventricular pacing to prolong QT interval and increase transmural dispersion of repolarization.” Circulation. 107 (5):740–6. doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000048126.07819.37. PMID 12578878. Cited 388 times according to Google Scholar
• G-X Yan, RS Lankipalli, JF Burke, S Musco, PR Kowey (2003) “Ventricular repolarization components on the electrocardiogram: cellular basis and clinical significance.” Journal of American College of Cardiology. 42(3):401-9. doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(03)00713-7. PMID: 12906963. Cited 361 times according to Google Scholar

Selected awards and recognition

• The Anandi Sharma Visiting Professor and Simon Dack lecturer, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, 2009
• Edward S. Cooper, M.D. Award from the American Heart Association’s 58th annual Philadelphia Heart Ball, 2015
• Medical Alumni Chapter’s Shaffrey Award from St. Joseph’s University, 2017

External links

• Dr. Kowey's Lankenau Institute for Medical Research Faculty page