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Cardiologist Nazzareno Galič:
A Guiding Light for Worldwide Consensus on Pulmonary Hypertension
 If
anyone is keeping track of the number of scientific publications
on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), pulmonary embolism,
chronic heart failure, and heart transplantation authored
or coauthored by Nazzareno Galič, MD, the total has reached
more than 280. But that impressive figure is only one
measure of the stature of Dr Galič as a worldclass investigator
in this field. Dr Galič’s influence extends far beyond
the borders of his native Italy where he is Head of the
Pulmonary Hypertension Center at the University of Bologna.
Evidence of his influence on state-of-the art knowledge
in PAH is apparent in this issue as he analyzed highlights
from the Third World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension
held in Venice from June 23 to 25. As one of the organizers
of this symposium, Dr Galič helped bring together cardiologists
and pulmonologists from leading research centers around
the world to address topics of central importance to clinicians
involved with the disease.
Aside from postdoctoral training in London and at the
University of Arkansas, Dr Galič has spent his entire
career at the Institute of Cardiology, University of Bologna,
where he is looked to as one of the guiding lights for
European research in PAH. This is the program that kindled
his interest in PAH soon after he wrote his doctoral thesis
on the topic. As his interest in this field grew, he became
more interested in PAH because it lacked a cure and other
clinicians began sending more patients with PAH to Bologna
for treatment. The University of Bologna’s program earned
a reputation as one of the centers of excellence for the
treatment of PAH.
By the late 1990s, his center became one of the pivotal
locations in Europe for investigations on new drugs being
developed for PAH, including treprostinil, bosentan, beraprost,
and iloprost. More recently, Dr Galič’s group has been
involved in an international study on the effects of sildenafil
in PAH, results of which are expected early in 2004. Working
with colleagues in Europe and the United States, Dr Galič
has served on numerous committees to evaluate the effects
of the new agents, and in particular he has led the first
double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the effect of
the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan on the echocardiographic
and Doppler parameters in PAH patients.
Academically, he earned appointments as Associate Professor
of Cardiology on the Medical Faculty at the University
of Bologna and Professor at the Postgraduate Medical Schools
of Pulmonary Diseases and of Cardiology at the same University.
He has served as past chairman of the Working Group on
Pulmonary Circulation and Right Ventricular Function of
the European Society of Cardiology, and he is also a member
of the Scientific Council of this Society.
Much of his time in recent years has been consumed with
organizing the sessions of the World Symposium on Pulmonary
Hypertension, including the Evian conference in 1998 when
he served on the Task Force on Medical Treatment. The
excitement generated by this year’s Third World Symposium
on Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Venice—which produced
a consensus on many key issues affecting diagnosis and
treatment—will continue as new options in therapy are
explored and delineated in the reports emerging from this
meeting. Many of the consensus statements will serve as
the basis for revising the guidelines for treating PAH.
Looking ahead to these developments, Dr Galič predicted
many advances in basic science and therapy during the
next 5 to 10 years. “We need to identify the precise link
between the mutation of the gene responsible for familial
idiopathic PAH. We have the disease on one side and the
mutation on the other—what lies between is still unknown,
yet critical to understanding the disease. New treatments
have been focused on correcting the changes in different
pathways, including the endothelin pathway, the prostacyclin
pathway, the nitric oxide pathway, and in the future perhaps
the serotonin pathway. In addition the appropriate strategy
for the combination of these therapies represents an important
challenge for the coming years.”
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