Massachusetts General Hospital

BiographyDr. Dec was born and raised in Washington, DC. He attended Georgetown University and received his MD degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1978. He completed his medical residency and fellowship training in Cardiovascular Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined the staff at Mass General in 1984 and served as Medical Director of the Mass General Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation program from 1984 until 2003. He has been Chief of the Cardiology Division and Co-Director of the Mass General Heart Center since 2003. Dr. Dec is the Roman DeSanctis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Research

In 1984, Dr. Dec initiated the Mass General Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program which has become one of the most active programs in New England. His research interests have focused upon the diagnosis and treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy, lymphocytic and granulomatous myocarditis, advanced heart failure and cardiac transplant management. He established the heart failure clinical trials program and has served as Principal Investigator for over four dozen trials of novel heart failure pharmacological agents.

Dec has edited three textbooks in his fields of expertise: Cardiac Allograft Rejection, Heart Failure: A Comprehensive Guide to Diagnosis and Management, and Heart Failure Clinics of America: Update on Myocarditis Diagnosis and Treatment. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal  of Cardiac Failure and The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Dec serves as site Principal Investigator for a National of Institute of Health Clinical Skills Core Development grant as part of the overall Heart Failure Network and as site Principal Investigator on a second NIH grant evaluating the clinical characteristics and genetics of recovery of acute dilated cardiomyopathy.

Among Dec's awards include: Phi Beta Kappa (1974), Alpha Omega Alpha (1978), the Nathaniel Bowditch Award (2006) and Partners in Excellence Awards (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010).

Publications

View my most recent publications at PubMed

Ajiiola O, Nandigam KV, Chabner BA, Orencole M, Dec, GW, Ruskin JN, Singh JP. Usefulness of cardiac resynchronization in the management of adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathy. Am J Cardiol 2008; 101:1371-2.

Haddad G, Saunders L, Crosby S, Carles M, del Monte F, Bristow M, Spinale F, Macgillivray T, Semigran M, Dec, G, Hajjar R, Gwathmey J. Fingerprint profile of alcohol-associated heart failure in human hearts. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 2008;32:814-21.

Cooper LT, Hare JM, Tazelaar HD, Edwards WD, Starling RC, Deng MD, Menon S, Mullen GM, Jaski B, Baily KR, Cunningham MW, Dec GW. Usefulness of immunosuppression in giant cell myocarditis. Am J Cardiol 2008;102:1535-9.

Haddad GE, Saunder LJ, Crosby SD, Carles SD, delMonte F, King K, Bristow MR, Spinale FG, Macgillivray TE, Semigran MJ, Dec GW, Williams SA, Hajjar RJ, Gwathmey JK. Human cardiac-specific cDNA array for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy: sex-related differences. Physiol Genomics 2008;33:267-77.

Haider N, Arbustini E, Gupta S, Liu H, Narula N, Hajjar R, Semigran MJ, Dec GW, Chandrashekhar Y, Narual J. Concurrent upregulation of endogenous pro- and anti-apoptotic factors in the failing human heart. Nature Cardiovascular Medicine 2009;6:250-61.

A life-saving gift

MGH Hotline 4.2.10 IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE, there are more than 100,000 candidates on the United Network for Organ Sharing organ and tissue waiting list.

Scholar program established

At age 81, Roman W. DeSanctis, MD, is one of the hospital’s most veteran and most beloved physicians. To honor the legendary MGH cardiologist, the Roman W. DeSanctis, MD, Endowed Distinguished Scholar in Medicine has been established through the generosity of donor Joan Fu and several others.

Collaborative caring

To introduce the Institute of Heart, Vascular and Stroke Care to the MGH community, “Health Information Day” will be held Sept. 12 from 7 am to 8 pm under the Bulfinch Tents.