“If you keep your eye on the prize and keep your eyes open for advances in fields that are related but outside of what you do, the amount of progress that you can make I think is breathtaking. When I get calls now from patients who I did a heart transplant on 25 years ago or see their families, I really get an appreciation for what long-term perspective means.”
Eric A. Rose, MD
Edmond A. Guggenheim Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Evidence and Policy, and Associate Director for Clinical Outcomes at Mount Sinai Heart
World-renowned surgeon and scientist Eric A. Rose, MD, is an accomplished leader in medicine, heart surgeon, researcher, and entrepreneur who has worked on numerous complex medical technologies ranging from heart transplantation to novel approaches to Alzheimer's disease and bioterrorism.
In 1984 Dr. Rose performed the world's first successful pediatric heart transplant at Columbia University, where he spent much of his career. Since then, Dr. Rose has continued to study and improve cardiac surgical care in children and adults. His research has focused on the management of end-stage heart disease using artificial circulatory support devices and novel transplantation strategies.
Dr. Rose also organized and led the National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded Randomized Evaluation of Mechanical Assistance for the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure (REMATCH) trial, which, in results published in 2001, conclusively showed that long-term use of mechanical circulatory support devices prolonged and enhanced life in non-transplantable, end-stage heart disease patients.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Rose has been involved in NIH grants totaling more than $25 million, including, most recently, a large National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute project, the Human Biology of Long-Term Mechanical Circulatory Support. An innovative surgeon, Dr. Rose holds three patents, including one for fibrin surgical glue.
Dr. Rose co-founded TransTech Pharma (TTP), Inc., in 1999 in order to develop drugs aimed at a promising biological target, the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), which plays a role in Alzheimer's disease and diabetes mellitus, discovered by his colleagues Ann Marie Schmidt and David Stern. Following development of the company's lead RAGE antagonist to Phase 2a trials, the RAGE program was acquired by Pfizer in 2006. Pfizer has completed enrollment in a Phase 2b/3 trial testing the potential of the drug as a disease-modifying agent. The company has recently brought proprietary drugs for the management of diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cancer into clinical trials.
Dr. Rose joined the board of SIGA Technologies, Inc., in 2000 and helped transform the company into one of the leading biotechnology firms addressing bioterrorist threats. The company's lead drug, ST-246, is an orally biovailable smallpox antiviral that completely protects primates receiving massive intravenous doses of variola virus. Pivotal human safety trials are now under way. Dr. Rose became Chair and CEO of SIGA in 2007, also assuming the position of Executive Vice President/Life Sciences at MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc., the controlling shareholder of TTP and a major holder in SIGA. SIGA has received more than $100 million in federal funding to support its programs and expects to begin sales of ST-246 into the Strategic National Stockpile in the near future.
Dr. Rose is widely regarded as the architect behind the reorganization of the Department of Surgery at the Columbia Presbyterian Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The goal of that reorganization was to emphasize translational research. The department's International Center for Health Outcomes and Innovation Research, also moving to Mount Sinai, has established an international reputation in health policy, clinical evaluation, and comparative effectiveness research. Dr. Rose has also been Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Rose has authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications on such topics as cardiovascular surgery, ventricular assist devices, and cardiac transplantation, and he is the author of two books: Management of End-Stage Heart Disease and Second Opinion: The Columbia Presbyterian Guide to Surgery.
After earning his medical degree from Columbia University, Dr. Rose completed residencies in surgery and thoracic surgery at what was then Presbyterian Hospital. Continuing at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. Rose served as Director of Cardiac Transplantation Service, Director of the Clinical Perfusion Service, Director of the Surgical Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Chief of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Service, Valentine Mott/Johnson & Johnson Professor of Surgery, the Morris and Rose Milstein Professor of Surgery, and Associate Dean for Translational Research. He joined Mount Sinai in 2008 to lead the Department of Health Evidence and Policy.