The Chair

David D. McPherson, M.D.

Dr. David D. McPherson is Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine, Professor and Director of the Division of Cardiology, Executive Director – Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, he is the holder of the James T. and Nancy B. Willerson Chair, and Medical Director of the Heart and Vascular Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

He was trained at the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University and the University of Iowa. He received fellowships from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and Alberta Heritage Foundation to help him advance his research career. This was followed by with Beginning Grant-In-Aid support from the American Heart Association. This career development allowed him to establish focused research in the areas of advanced cardiovascular imaging and therapeutic delivery.

In 1989 he was recruited to Northwestern University to develop an ultrasound based imaging group.

In 2006 he was recruited to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to head the Division of Cardiology. He was appointed the Willerson Chair of Internal Medicine in 2008 with a mandate to direct, lead, and expand the Department into a new decade of Academic Achievement.

He is the recipient of many distinctions, awards and grants for the development and use of new and innovative ultrasound tools and devices for the evaluation, treatment and directed drug, gene and stem cell delivery to atherosclerosis in coronary and peripheral vascular beds and thrombotic stroke. These include the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association awards. He is a reviewer for many journals including Circulation, Circulation Research, and the American Journal of Physiology; on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology; is a standing grant reviewer/grant review co-chairman for the National Institutes of Health, and the American Heart Association; and is on councils and committees for the American Society of Echocardiography, American Federation for Clinical Research and American Heart Association. He is presently President of the Greater Houston Affiliate of the American Heart Association. He is a supervisor for biomedical engineering doctoral students, cardiology fellows, residents, and medical students training in advanced echocardiographic research. In addition to being the senior author on many manuscripts evaluating atheroma, drug and gene delivery and cardiovascular dynamics, he is the co-editor of a textbook, "Non-invasive Imaging of Atherosclerosis." Prior to coming to Texas, he was responsible for a large advanced echocardiography training course for the Midwest.

He was recently appointed the Principal Investigator of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences at UTHSC-H, a large Federally Funded entity-of which only a few exist in the country to develop clinical and translational research in conjunction with the School of Public Health and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Current research projects include; the development of new acoustic agents for ultrasound tissue enhancement and targeted drug and gene delivery to arteries and the brain; development of new ultrasound techniques to guide angioplasty and stent placement; and new three dimensional techniques for cardiac and vascular reconstruction.

Dr. McPherson is the author of 120 manuscripts, 259 abstracts, 20 book chapters, 13 review articles, 7 editorials, and is the editor of a book.