George William Dec, MD

G. William Dec, MD, is Chief Emeritus of the Cardiology Division and Roman W. DeSanctis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Departments

Cardiology Go To Programs

Medicine Go To Programs

Centers & Specialties

Heart Center Go To Specialties

• General Clinical Cardiology
• Heart Failure & Cardiac Transplant Program

Clinical Interests

• Dilated cardiomyopathies
• Congestive heart failure
• Myocarditis

Medical Education

• MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital

Board Certifications

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Internal Medicine

Locations

• Boston: Massachusetts General Hospital

Insurances Accepted

• Aetna Health Inc.
• Beech Street
• Blue Cross Blue Shield - Blue Care 65
• Blue Cross Blue Shield - Indemnity
• Blue Cross Blue Shield - Managed Care
• Blue Cross Blue Shield - Partners Plus
• Cigna (PAL #'s)
• Fallon Community HealthCare
• Great-West Healthcare (formally One Health Plan)
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - ACD
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - other
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - PBO
• Health Care Value Management (HCVM)
• Humana/Choice Care PPO
• MassHealth
• Medicare
• Medicare - ACD
• Neighborhood Health Plan - ACD
• Neighborhood Health Plan - PBO
• OSW - Connecticut
• OSW - Maine
• OSW - New Hampshire
• OSW - New York
• OSW - Rhode Island
• OSW - Vermont
• Private Health Care Systems (PHCS)
• Railroad Medicare
• Railroad Medicare - ACD
• Senior Whole Health
• TriCare
• Tufts Health Plan
• Unicare
• United Healthcare (non-HMO) - ACD
• United Healthcare (non-HMO) - PBO

Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.

Patient Age Group

Adult

Gender

Male

Research Summary

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.