Often Misdiagnosed Cardiac Issues – Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

In this episode, Dr. Michael Ackerman, MD, PhD, Windland Smith Rice Cardiovascular Genomics Research Professor and Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pharmacology at The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN discusses hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and shares what physicians need to know about the most common form of inherited heart disease. He talks about how to facilitate a dialogue with the patient about their family medical history, especially involving HCM and resources within the HCM community, including additional research and education to ensure HCM patients get an early and accurate diagnosis. There is a new resource for patients from Bristol Myers Squibb called “Could it be HCM”. 

Michael J. Ackerman, M.D., Ph.D. is the Windland Smith Rice Cardiovascular Genomics Research Professor and Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  He has been a faculty member of Mayo Clinic since July 2000 and has served as President of the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes (SADS) Foundation since 2006. In 2018, he received the Heart Rhythm Society’s Distinguished Scientist Award, and in 2021, he was inducted into the Association of American Physicians. He was named Mayo Clinic’s Distinguished Clinician in 2015 and its Distinguished Investigator in 2021.    As Director of Mayo Clinic’s Windland Smith Rice Genetic Heart Rhythm Clinic and Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory, Dr. Ackerman strives to fulfill the two-fold objective of medical education and biomedical research as stated by Dr. Charles H. Mayo: “to heal the sick and to advance the science.”  He graduated summa cum laude from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa majoring in chemistry and mathematics. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 1995 and completed residency (pediatrics) and fellowship (pediatric cardiology) training in the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine in 2000.  Dr. Ackerman is a paid scientific advisor for Bristol Myers Squibb.