Bio
Dr. Ruey Jen Sung is Professor Emeritus, Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine. Previously, he served as Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Service at Stanford University Medical Center (Chair, Department of Medicine: the late Professor Edward “Ted” D. Harris, Jr)(1991-2001). He graduated from National Taiwan University (1968), completed Medical Residency at University of Wisconsin (Chair: the late Professor Robert F. Schilling)(1970-72) and Cardiology Fellowship, University of Miami (1972-74). Since then, he has devoted his research endeavors to Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. He was the first to define the distinct anatomic location of the slow pathway relative to fast pathway conduction in the human atrioventricular (AV) node (1981), the principle of which has provided the basis of selective ablation of slow pathway conduction for curing AV nodal reentrant tachycardia, the most common form of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in humans. Subsequently, he described electrophysiological characteristics of the three different forms of ventricular tachycardia (i.e., reentry, automaticity, and triggered activity), their modes of initiation and termination, and responses to various pharmacological agents in the Clinical Electrophysiology laboratory (1983, 1988). In 1985, he was promoted to full Professor of Medicine in Residence at the University of California at San Francisco (Chair: the late Professor Lloyd "Holly" Smith, Jr)(1981-91). Between 2001 and 2007, he was recruited to the post of Dean, College of Medicine, and Vice-President, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. Over the past 40 years, he has authored and co-authored 200 original articles and 66 invited chapters and monographs pertaining to mechanisms and treatment of cardiac rhythm disorders. Additionally, he has co-authored a book with the late Dr. Michael R. Lauer, entitled “Fundamental Approaches to the Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias” (2000, dedicated to his early year mentor, the late Professor Agustin Castellanos, Jr. Notably, Dr. Sung is one of the Founders of the Heart Rhythm Foundation and is currently Fellows of the American College of Physicians, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and Heart Rhythm Society.
