Researcher Bios

Dr. Barry J. Maron has been Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation over the past 15 years. He was formerly Senior Investigator at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (for over 20 years) and has published more than 750 papers concerning: diagnosis, natural history and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as well as expression of athlete's heart and its diagnostic distinction from primary cardiomyopathies, the causes of sudden death in competitive sports and other risks of the athletic field, and scientific and ethical issues related to preparticipation screening and criteria for disqualification from sports competition with cardiovascular disease. Dr. Maron was chairman of the recent ACC/ESC consensus panel on the management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as well as chair of 3 ACC Bethesda Conferences (#16, #26, #36) providing eligibility/disqualification recommendations for competitive athletes with cardiovascular abnormalities, and several AHA/ACC position papers on the definitions/ classifications and genetic profile of cardiomyopathies, guidelines for athlete screening and recreational sports participation for young patients with genetic cardiovascular diseases. He is the American College of Cardiology 2008 Distinguished Scientist Award recipient. Dr. Maron lives with his wife of 40 years on a lake in suburban Minneapolis. Both his sons are physicians engaged in cardiovascular medicine.