Piedmont Heart Institute Welcomes Randy Martin, M.D.
ATLANTA (September 14, 2009) - Piedmont Heart Institute (PHI) is pleased to welcome Randy Martin, M.D., well-known television health expert and cardiovascular specialist, to its family of physicians. Dr. Martin joins PHI as director of clinical education and physician development, effective September 14, 2009.
"Piedmont Hospital celebrated 20 years of open-heart surgery and cardiac angioplasty in 2008. Our physicians have set and sustained a high standard of care, and Piedmont Heart Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Martin to our family," said Michele Molden, president and CEO of Piedmont Heart Institute. "Dr. Martin's decision to join PHI is recognition of Piedmont's legacy of delivering exceptional cardiovascular care to our patients."
Piedmont Hospital was named Best in Atlanta for Overall Cardiac Care and Cardiac Surgery (2008 and 2009) by HealthGrades®, and in particular, received the 2009 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award, placing the hospital's clinical outcomes in the top 10 percent nationally. In addition, Piedmont Hospital also received five-star ratings for coronary bypass surgery, treatment of heart attack and treatment of heart failure. Piedmont's outcomes placed it among the top five hospitals in Georgia for cardiac surgery, cardiology and overall cardiac services.
Piedmont Heart Institute was established in 2007 and brings together more than 65 cardiovascular specialists and the Fuqua Heart Center of Atlanta at Piedmont Hospital to propel new programs in cardiovascular research, education and excellence in prevention, arrhythmias, coronary and vascular intervention, cardiac surgery, stroke and cardiac imaging, as well as all other cardiovascular care components.
At the Piedmont Heart Institute, Dr. Martin will help coordinate growth of the PHI prevention center of excellence, assist in managing the growth and expansion of echocardiography services by acting as director, and continue in his role as an educator and advocate for greater public awareness of heart health.
Dr. Martin earned his medical degree from Emory University Medical School, graduating summa cum laude from the school of medicine. He then trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Stanford University Medical School where he became one of the pioneers in the field of two-dimensional echocardiography.
Dr. Martin has held positions at the Stanford Medical Center of Stanford, Ca., where he was assistant professor of medicine and co-director of the noninvasive lab; the University of Virginia Medical School, in Charlottesville, Va., where he was one of the innovators in the use of Doppler echocardiography in the United States; and served on the faculty of the Mayo Medical School where he was a consultative cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and associate professor of medicine.
Dr. Martin returned to Emory University and Emory Clinic to become a professor of medicine in their division of cardiology, and director of noninvasive cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine. He served as associate dean for clinical development of Emory University School of Medicine from 1991-2003 and associate clinic director from 1991 to 1996.
Dr. Martin has over 160 publications to his credit in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks, and has served and currently serves on the editorial boards of some of the most prestigious cardiovascular journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the American Journal of Cardiology, JACC Cardiovascular Imaging, and the Journal of Cardiology - the official journal of the Japanese College of Cardiology.
He is a past president of the American Society of Echocardiography and is very active in professional education. He lectures extensively throughout the world and for 21 years has served as the host/moderator of the world's largest professional medical tele-education program, "Echo in Context."
Dr. Martin is known for his interest in consumer education. Since 1994, he has served as the director of Emory's Mini-Medical School, a nearly year-long course for consumers to emulate medical school experience.
For more than 10 years, he served as the sole medical correspondent for Cox Television's ABC affiliate, WSB-TV, Channel-2, appearing two to three times a week on the news. He has been awarded multiple broadcast awards, including three Emmy nominations, and he won the American Heart Association's Howard L. Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award for Health Science Reporting - the first physician television journalist to do so.
Dr. Martin is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and has been elected to the "Best Doctors in Atlanta," "Best Doctors in the United States" and "Who's Who." In 2007, Dr. Martin was honored by his international colleagues, who awarded him both the International Service and Scholarship Award, presented by the European Society of Echocardiography, in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Leadership Award of the Japanese Society of Echocardiography, awarded in Nagano, Japan.
About Piedmont Heart Institute
Piedmont Heart Institute (PHI) is the first integrated cardiovascular healthcare delivery program affiliated with a community health system in greater Atlanta and is headquartered on the campus of Piedmont Hospital, a 481-bed tertiary care facility offering all major medical, surgical and diagnostic services. Piedmont Hospital was named Best in Atlanta for Overall Cardiac Care and Cardiac Surgery (2008 and 2009) by HealthGrades®, and in particular, received the 2009 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award, placing the hospital's clinical outcomes in the top 10 percent nationally. In addition, Piedmont Hospital also received five-star ratings for Coronary Bypass Surgery, Treatment of Heart Attack and Treatment of Heart Failure, placing it among the top five hospitals in Georgia for cardiac surgery, cardiology and overall cardiac services. Offering a continuum of patient care, including primary and secondary prevention, outpatient and inpatient cardiovascular care, and appropriate quality measures and metrics to demonstrate enhanced outcomes, Piedmont Heart Institute combines more than 65 cardiovascular specialists in the Piedmont Heart Institute Physicians with more than 30 offices across north Georgia, and the 162-bed Fuqua Heart Center of Atlanta at Piedmont Hospital to propel new programs in cardiovascular research, education and excellence in prevention, arrhythmias, coronary and vascular intervention, cardiac surgery, stroke and cardiac imaging. Piedmont Heart Institute is part of Piedmont Healthcare (PHC), a not-for-profit organization that also includes Piedmont Fayette Hospital, a 143-bed, acute-care community hospital in Fayetteville; Piedmont Mountainside Hospital, a 42-bed community hospital in Jasper; and Piedmont Newnan Hospital, a 143-bed, acute-care community hospital in Newnan. Piedmont Healthcare also is the parent company of Piedmont Philanthropy, the philanthropic entity for private fundraising initiatives; the Piedmont Physicians Group, with over 100 primary care physicians in over 30 offices throughout metro Atlanta; and the Piedmont Clinic, a 600-member physician network. For more information, visit piedmontheart.org.