Ralph G. Brindis, MD, MPH, MACC, FSCAI, FAHA

Ralph G. Brindis, MD, MPH, MACC, FSCAI, FAHA

CTAF Chair; University of California, San Francisco

Titles and Affiliations:

• Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
• Affiliate faculty of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF
• Senior Medical Officer, External Affairs, for the American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Registry (ACC-NCDR)

Dr. Brindis was the President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) from 2010 to 2011 and the Senior Advisor for Cardiovascular Disease for the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group from 2003 to 2012. He received his undergrad education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA. He graduated Emory Medical School Summa Cum Laude. All of his graduate medical training was performed at UCSF as a Resident and Chief Resident in Internal Medicine and then as a Cardiology Fellow.

Dr. Brindis is past Chair of the ACC-NCDR Management Board now overseeing eleven cardiovascular national registries assessing cardiac catheterization and angioplasty, implantable defibrillators, peripheral arterial intervention, percutaneous valve implantation, atrial fibrillation ablation, left atrial appendage occlusion, acute coronary syndromes, ambulatory cardiovascular medical management, diabetes and congenital heart disease. He is past Chair of the ACC Appropriateness Use Criteria Task Force developing appropriateness criteria for non-invasive testing and coronary revascularization procedures in cardiovascular disease. He has also served as Chair of the ACC Quality Strategic Directions Committee. Presently he serves on the ACC/AHA Task Force for Clinical Practice Guidelines and the ACC Clinical Quality Committee. Dr. Brindis was the 2007 recipient of the national ACC Distinguished Fellow Award and granted the Master’s designation of the ACC in 2011.

Dr. Brindis is active as a volunteer in the American Heart Association (AHA), and has served on the California Affiliate Board and as President and member of the Board of the AHA San Francisco Division. He is the Chair of the Cardiac Advisory Panel of the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) initiative overseeing public reporting of hospital and physician specific coronary artery bypass graft mortality. Dr. Brindis presently serves as a special government consultant on the FDA medical advisory panel for circulatory devices and has previously served as a panelist for MEDCAC. He presently serves on FDA’s Medical Device Epidemiology Network Initiative (MDEpiNet) National Registries Task Force, a public-private partnership implementing innovative post-market medical device surveillance strategies. Dr. Brindis performs consultative work with the Stanford University Clinical Excellence Research Center assessing value in healthcare along with serving on the steering committee of SMARTCare, a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) project implementing innovative quality cardiovascular care for patients with ischemic heart disease. Dr. Brindis has well over 130 publications in peer reviewed cardiovascular journals.

Dr. Brindis is currently a general adult cardiologist practicing inpatient coronary care unit and consultative cardiology with the UCSF medical residency and cardiology fellowship teaching programs. His major interest in process measures and outcomes assessment in cardiovascular care had led to the creation and implementation various cardiovascular guidelines for Northern California Kaiser Permanente.