Robert Roberts
Born9 July 1940
Grole, Newfoundland, Canada
Education
Medical career
Professionphysician, academic and medical researcher
Field
Institutions
Researchmolecular cardiology
Websitehttps://drrobertroberts.wordpress.com/

Robert Roberts (born 9 July 1940[1] in Grole, Newfoundland, Canada), is a cardiologist, geneticist, academic, and medical researcher.

Education

Dr. Roberts completed his undergraduate at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He attended medical school at Dalhousie University and training in cardiology at University of Toronto in Canada. With a scholarship from the Canadian Heart Foundation he relocated to the U.S. to complete a research fellowship at the University of California-San Diego under the mentorship of Eugene Braunwald and Burton Sobel where he contributed to the clinical trial development of TPA, a first-line treatment for heart attacks. He then became Director of the Coronary Care Unit Barnes Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis (1972–1982) and was recruited by Dr. Michael DeBakey and Anthony Gotto to serve as Chief of Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas (1982–2004), which he held for over two decades being one of the longest serving chiefs of cardiology in the US. In 2004, he returned to Canada to become C.E.O., President and Chief Scientific Officer of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Canada (2004–2014).

Career

He is currently the chief executive officer of RDS Inc., executive director of the Heart and Vascular Institute and Director of Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics at Dignity Health at St Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center, Chair of the International Society of Cardiovascular Translational Research at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.[2]

He served as co-editor of Hurst's The Heart for 25 years, which is the leading practitioner textbook for cardiologists while also being a member of numerous editorial boards for several journals including the current Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Cardiology.[3] For his research contributions, he has received many awards including the Distinguished Scientist of American College of Cardiology and election to the Academy of Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. As of January 1, 2021, he has over 46,000 citations and a h-index of 105 on Google Scholar.

Clinical practice

He was Director of the Coronary Care Unit at Barnes Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis from 1972 to 1982. He served as Chief of Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas from 1982 to 2004, followed by President of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Canada, from 2004 to 2014.

Research

Roberts conducted early research in the field of molecular cardiology on the genetic causes of heart disease.[4][5]

His research is noted for developing the first quantitative assay for MBCK, which was the standard for diagnosing heart attacks in patients for more than three decades and continues to be used in many countries.[6]  Most of his research career was devoted to genetics and molecular biology of cardiovascular disorders  which led him to several important discoveries, including the mapping of the first gene for atrial fibrillation (1997), the first gene for Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (2001) and many others. His 1998 study on arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) among the population of Grand Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, led to the infamous Texas Vampires incident and resulted in a five-year suspension from clinical research by Baylor's Institutional Review Board.[7]

His research is noted for developing the first quantitative assay for MBCK, which was the standard for diagnosing heart attacks in patients for more than three decades.[8] Most of his research career was devoted to genetics and molecular biology of cardiovascular disorders[9][10] which led him to several important discoveries, including the first gene for atrial fibrillation in 1997, the first gene for Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome and many others. In 2007, he discovered the first gene for heart attacks (9p21) and since as part of an International Consortium has identified over 100 genetic factors that cause an elevated risk for heart disease in addition to the already commonly associated environmental factors such as cholesterol and smoking.[11][12][13][14]

Texas Vampires Controversy

In 1998, Robert Roberts led a group of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine to conduct a study on arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) among Grand Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada populations. The group arrived at Grand Falls to collect blood samples from community members to test for biomarkers indicating genetic predispositions of this condition.[15] The study was extremely problematic due to procedures used by Roberts to procure the samples causing significant concerns about the informed consent process of the study. Evidence from an investigation initiated by Baylor's Institutional Review Board found that the consent process was largely skipped or done through medical intimidation by Roberts and his team. Participants also were not given results of the study despite many feeling that they might have died had they not taken part.[16]

Following an internal investigation of this incident by Baylor's Institutional Review Board, Robert Roberts was among three Baylor physicians suspended from clinical research for five years. The study also initiated a special subcommittee investigation of procedural and ethical aspects of the study led by Baylor's IRB and Ottawa Heart Institute which found protocol concerns "of a serious nature".[15]

Awards and honours

He has authored over 900 publications in leading scientific journals and received several awards in recognition of his scientific contributions including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology (1998), McLaughlin Medal from the Royal Society of Canada (2008), Award of Meritorious Achievement from AHA (2001), Best of What's New by Popular Science (1994), and was elected to Fellow of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada (2013).[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Roberts, Robert". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  2. ↑ "Faculty Spotlight: Robert Roberts, MD". phoenixmed.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  3. ↑ Roberts, Robert (January 2013). "Editorial introductions". Current Opinion in Cardiology. 28 (1): v–vi. doi:10.1097/HCO.0b013e32835ca352. ISSN 0268-4705.
  4. ↑ Roberts, R.; Sobel, B. E.; Parker, C. W. (1976-11-19). "Radioimmunoassay for creatine kinase isoenzymes". Science. 194 (4267): 855–857. doi:10.1126/science.982049. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 982049.
  5. ↑ "CAHS Fellows Directory". Canadian Academy of Health Sciences | Académie canadienne des sciences de la santé. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  6. ↑ Roberts, Robert (2011-04-26). "Molecular biology of heart disease". World Journal of Cardiology. 3 (4): 121–126. doi:10.4330/wjc.v3.i4.121. ISSN 1949-8462. PMC 3082736. PMID 21526050.
  7. ↑ Li, Duanxiang; Ahmad, Ferhaan; Gardner, Martin J.; Weilbaecher, Donald; Hill, Rita; Karibe, Akihiko; Gonzalez, Oscar; Tapscott, Terry; Sharratt, Geoffrey P. (January 2000). "The Locus of a Novel Gene Responsible for Arrhythmogenic Right-Ventricular Dysplasia Characterized by Early Onset and High Penetrance Maps to Chromosome 10p12-p14". American Journal of Human Genetics. 66 (1): 148–156. doi:10.1086/302713. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 1288320. PMID 10631146.
  8. ↑ Roberts, R.; Sobel, B. E.; Parker, C. W. (1976-11-19). "Radioimmunoassay for creatine kinase isoenzymes". Science. 194 (4267): 855–857. Bibcode:1976Sci...194..855R. doi:10.1126/science.982049. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 982049.
  9. ↑ Robert, Roberts (1993). Molecular Basis of Cardiology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Scientific Publications. ISBN 9780865421967.
  10. ↑ Fuster, Valentin; Alexander, R. Wayne; O'Rourke, Robert O., eds. (2001). Hurst's The Heart. Vol. 2 (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-135696-1.
  11. ↑ Roberts, Robert; Stewart, Alexandre F. R. (January 2012). "9p21 and the genetic revolution for coronary artery disease". Clinical Chemistry. 58 (1): 104–112. doi:10.1373/clinchem.2011.172759. ISSN 1530-8561. PMID 22015375.
  12. ↑ Brugada, Ramon; Tapscott, Terry; Czernuszewicz, Grazyna Z.; Marian, A.J.; Iglesias, Anna; Mont, Lluis; Brugada, Josep; Girona, Josep; Domingo, Anna (1997-03-27). "Identification of a Genetic Locus for Familial Atrial Fibrillation". New England Journal of Medicine. 336 (13): 905–911. doi:10.1056/nejm199703273361302. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 9070470.
  13. ↑ Gollob, Michael H.; Green, Martin S.; Tang, Anthony S.-L.; Gollob, Tanya; Karibe, Akihiko; Hassan, Al-Sayegh; Ahmad, Ferhaan; Lozado, Ryan; Shah, Gopi (2001-06-14). "Identification of a Gene Responsible for Familial Wolff–Parkinson–White Syndrome". New England Journal of Medicine. 344 (24): 1823–1831. doi:10.1056/nejm200106143442403. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 11407343.
  14. ↑ McPherson, Ruth; Pertsemlidis, Alexander; Kavaslar, Nihan; Stewart, Alexandre; Roberts, Robert; Cox, David R.; Hinds, David A.; Pennacchio, Len A.; Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne (2007-06-08). "A Common Allele on Chromosome 9 Associated with Coronary Heart Disease". Science. 316 (5830): 1488–1491. Bibcode:2007Sci...316.1488M. doi:10.1126/science.1142447. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 2711874. PMID 17478681.
  15. 1 2 Wood, Shelley (21 November 2001). "Robert Roberts among three Baylor physicians suspended from clinical research for up to 5 years". Heartwire. Montreal: ConceptIs Technologies Inc. Retrieved 31 December 2023. Republished in Medscape by WebMD Health.
  16. ↑ Michael Enright (host); Bob Carty (guest); Van Younghusband (guest); Jane S. Green (guest) (20 March 2000). Texas vampires. This Morning. Ottawa: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Transcript by Heather Dana Munroe, Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PDF).
  17. ↑ "Dr. Robert Roberts: Recipient of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Research Achievement Award in 2012". heartacademy.org. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
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