A CU Medicine provider.
I strive to provide the best care for my patients. I believe in treating the person as a whole, taking every aspect of a patient’s body and health into consideration during diagnosis and treatment.
In my spare time, I enjoy skiing, hiking, reading and spending time with my family.
Locations
720.848.5300
720.848.5301Qualifications and experience
- Specialties
- General Cardiology, Cardiology, Medical Genetics and Genomics, Heart and Circulation, Heart and Circulation - Heart Failure, Heart and Circulation - Cardiomyopathy, Heart and Circulation - Heart Diseases, Heart and Circulation - Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
- Gender
- Female
- Languages spoken
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English
Italian
- Education
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Internship
University of Trieste, School of Medicine, Italy (1980)
Fellowship
University of Trieste, School of Medicine, Italy (1984)
Medical School
University of Trieste, School of Medicine, Italy (1979)
Residency
University of Trieste, School of Medicine, Italy (1980)
Undergraduate
University of Trieste, School of Medicine, Italy (1979)
- Clinical interest for patients
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I am Professor of Medicine/Cardiology, Director of the International Familial Cardiomyopathy Registry and Co-Director of the Molecular Genetics Program of the Cardiovascular Institute. My clinical expertise is in inherited cardiomyopathies, including arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies, familial cardiomyopathies (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic dilated cardiomyopathy, left ventricular noncompaction, familial restrictive cardiomyopathy), muscular dystrophies with cardiac involvement, and other genetic disease affecting the heart muscle.
In my Inherited Cardiomyopathy Management Clinic, I provide comprehensive evaluation and treatment of inherited cardiomyopathies, working in close collaboration with other experienced clinicians, genetic counselors, cardiovascular nurses, and study coordinators to provide a state-of-the-art team-based approach: these include the Adult Genetics Clinic, Electrophysiology Clinic, Advanced Heart Failure Clinic, HCM Clinic, Neuromuscular Clinic, Advanced Imaging, Sarcoidosis Clinic at National Jewish Hospital, and the Colorado Children's Hospital.
I offer the opportunity of enrollment in National and International research programs, including novel clinical trials, and the International Familial Cardiomyopathy Registry (NIH founded, IRB 99-177, founded in 1999) to continue identifying the genes behind inherited disease, and discover novel therapies. - Research interest for patients
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My research is dedicated to the study of genetics of heart muscle diseases, called cardiomyopathies. Since 1991, we have collected clinical information and DNA of over 2000 subjects from families with cardiomyopathies, initially in Italy and subsequently in the USA. Data and materials are collected in the International Familial Registry which has been supported by various grants of the NIH, AHA, UN, MDA. Through our researches on the molecular genetics of cardiomyopathies and analysis on genotype-phenotype correlations, several genes and pathways causing heart disease have been investigated in my laboratory, from cytoskeletal and sarcomeric genes, to ion channels. We are interested in the genes causing dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, left ventricular noncompaction and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our ongoing research has shown that specific genes may have a different prognosis and may suggest different management strategies. Functional studies of mutant cardiomyopathy genes are also performed to evaluate the consequences of the defective proteins on cellular models. We are currently exploring applications of nanotechnology, biophysics and bioengineering to the study of heart function and cardiomyopathies.
- Volunteer activities
I volunteer as physician in sports activities of high school students.
- Insurance
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