Italian Cardiologist Wins Annual Young Investigator Award
Alaide Chieffo, MD, will lead a clinical trial testing oral rapamycin with Taxus stent implantation in patients with diabetes.
This year’s recipient of the Thomas J. Linnemeier Spirit of Interventional Cardiology Young Investigator Award is Alaide Chieffo, MD, an interventional cardiologist from San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.
Gregg W. Stone, MD, presented Chieffo with the award at a ceremony yesterday. “I have a warm spot in my heart presenting this award because I used to be a Young Investigator myself. It was extremely difficult to choose between these three spectacular individuals, but we looked back to the basic principles of the award and the spirit of Tom Linnemeier who was a dedicated teacher and cardiologist.”
Academic achievements
As a resident in cardiology at the University Federico II, Naples, Italy, from 1996 to 2001, Chieffo conducted extensive research on the molecular biology of restenosis following balloon angioplasty and stent implantation in animal models.
“Our research demonstrated that drug-eluting stent implantation is safe and superior to bare metal stent implantation and is equal in terms of preventing death, acute myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and repeated revascularization at one-year follow-up compared with bypass surgery.”
Chieffo’s rigorous work positioned her at the top of her class and landed her a fellowship in invasive cardiology at the San Raffaele Hospital, where she studied from 2001 to 2003.
Research involvement
Showing her genuine interest in the field, she was a co-investigator in more than 10 major multicenter clinical trials. The TAXUS VI, REALITY, and SYNTAX trials, on which she worked extensively, evaluated the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting stent (Boston Scientific) either in complex settings or head-to-head versus the Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent (Cordis/Johnson & Johnson).
Thereafter, Chieffo earned master’s degrees in invasive cardiology and interventional cardiology at the University Vita Salute del Monte Tabor, San Raffaele Hospital. She is currently a consultant in the invasive cardiology unit of the hospital and a research consultant at the university.
Combining her research and investigative experiences, Chieffo initiated a new prospective randomized trial of 300 patients at her home institution. She will direct the “Dolce Vita” trial, which will study 300 patients multivessel disease.
Young Investigator Award
The Young Investigator Award’s endowment of $10,000 will help support Chieffo’s future research efforts and trials.
The award is sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation and supported through an unrestricted grant from Abbott (formerly, Guidant Corporation) honoring the late Thomas J. Linnemeier, MD, who passed away at the age of 42 from coronary artery disease. He was the former chief of the Indiana Heart Institute, as well as Guidant’s senior vice president of New Ventures and chief medical officer of Vascular Intervention. In addition, he was the co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation’s Interventional Cardiology Fellows course and was a professor of medicine at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
The Young Investigator Award recognizes clinical and academic excellence in interventional cardiology and endovascular medicine fellowship trainees and seeks to stimulate future dedication to the dual tracks of patient care and academic investigation.
Other Finalists
One of this year’s notable finalists is Aloke V. Finn, MD, who began his medical education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn., paving the way for his future in interventional cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, where he became an intern in 2000 and is now a research fellow in cardiology.
Another finalist is Matthew I. Wortherly, MBBS, PhD. Wortherly earned his doctorate degree from the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, in 2005 and now is a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Previous Winners
The 2005 winner of the Young Investigator Award was Giuseppe De Luca, MD, PhD, an interventional cardiologist from Federico II University.
“Being the winner of the Young Investigator Award has been a great honor and one of the most important achievements in my professional career,” De Luca said. “This award provided great, unique professional opportunities for me all around the world, and further motivated me to keep on working towards excellence in my clinical practice and any research project I am involved in.”