Dr. Marc Simon is a cardiologist who specializes in pulmonary hypertension (a type of high blood pressure affecting the right side of the heart), advanced heart failure and heart transplantation. Among the patients he cares for are those with right-sided heart failure, which can result from pulmonary hypertension. He has experience with all methods of diagnosis, including right heart catheterization (in which a small tube called a catheter is threaded through a blood vessel to reach the heart), performing the test with patients at rest as well as during exercise. He directs UCSF's programs in pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension.
Simon's research focuses primarily on developing new therapies for pulmonary hypertension as well as a better understanding of right-sided heart failure in patients with that condition.
He also has applied his background in bioengineering to heart biomechanics, studying how the heart can fail in cases of pulmonary hypertension. He has helped design several clinical trials (studies using human volunteers to evaluate promising new treatments) and directs ongoing trials of new medications and devices for pulmonary hypertension and heart failure.
Simon earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He completed a residency in cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in cardiology and heart failure and a fellowship in cardiac transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh.
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