Richard S. Stack Distinguished Professor
Chief, Division of Cardiology
Director Duke Heart and Vascular Center
Senior Investigator Duke Clinical Research Institute
Duke University

Dr. Patel is Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Co-Director of the Duke Heart Center. The Division of Cardiology has over 130 faculty and 44 cardiology fellows, and the Heart Center has over 1100 staff. Dr. Patel previously served as the section leader in Interventional Cardiology and the Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories for the Duke University Health System. His clinical interests include diagnostic and interventional coronary angiography, peripheral angiography and percutaneous intervention. He is involved in several clinical trials involving patients with vascular disease and in cardiac imaging. He was also a member of the the American Heart Association Diagnostic and Interventional Cath Committee, and Chair of the AHA Scientific Sessions.  He currently serves on the national board for Vascular Cures and the American Heart Association.

His interest in therapies for athero-thrombosis in the coronary and peripheral vascular arteries has been highlighted by leading multi-center ROCKET AF, CRISP AMI, PROMISE, EUCLID, and DEFINE PCI trials. He also led the Peripheral Academic Research Consortium (PARC) on peripheral artery definitions and is working on defining Patient Reported Outcomes with PAD. Dr. Patel is also leading the start of the BEST CLI registry (NIH funded) for PAD as part of the companion registry to the BEST CLI trial.  Finally, Dr. Patel is currently the Study Chair for OCEANIC AF, and 18,000 patient clinical trial in patients with atrial fibrillation comparing Factor XI asundexian to apixaban, and the coordinating center PI for IMPROVE AD, 1100 patient multi-center randomized NHLBI funded study to evaluate endovascular vs. medical therapy in patients with type B aortic dissection.  His focus is on developing systems to discover and deliver innovative personalized care across duke health system for cardiovascular patients.

His integration of these efforts into his roles at Duke was recognized in 2010 when he received the prestigious Duke Cardiology Fellowship Mentorship Award.  In 2011, Dr. Patel was named the endowed John Bush Simpson Assistant Professor of Cardiology.  In 2013, Dr. Patel he won the Robert M. Califf Clinical Research Award.  In 2016, he was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). In 2020, Dr. Patel was named the endowed Distinguished Richard S. Stack Professor. In 2022, he received the Duke School of Medicine Career Mentoring Award, and was named the Ron Stoney Vascular Hero by Vascular Cures, a non-profit patient organization aimed at improving vascular health. In 2023, Dr. Patel was named the AHA Physician of the year. https://www.heart.org/en/around-the-aha/2023-aha-physician-of-the-year-followed-his-dream-of-making-a-difference

Dr. Patel has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals, several reviews and editorials. He has been named in the top 1% of cited researchers by Clarivate Analytics for the last 5 years. Dr. Patel received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine in 1997. He completed his residency at Duke in 2000, followed by fellowships in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Duke University and a clinical research fellowship at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.