Temple’s Dr. Rene J. Alvarez, Jr. Elected President of the American Heart Association’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Board of Directors
Rene J. Alvarez, Jr., MD, FACC, FAHA, FACP, Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), Vice Chief of Cardiology, and Medical Director of the Heart Failure / Cardiac Transplantation Program at Temple University Hospital (TUH), has been named President-Elect of the American Heart Association’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Board of Directors. Dr. Alvarez will serve a two-year term as President of the organizations beginning July 1, 2017.
“I am thankful for this wonderful opportunity to hold a leadership position with the American Heart Association,” says Dr. Alvarez. “I look forward to bringing my, experience, ideas and passion to this position in order to help advance the health of the community and continue to advance the AHA’s lifesaving mission.”
“Dr. Alvarez has been involved with the American Heart Association for many years in several cities. He has been a longtime, dedicated, and committed AHA volunteer holding a variety of roles,” says Steven R. Houser, PhD, FAHA, President of the AHA, Senior Associate Dean of Research, the Vera J. Goodfriend Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Research, and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at LKSOM. “We are particularly grateful for his leadership in Philadelphia, as he has provided instrumental leadership to Temple’s annual Heart Walk fundraising efforts.”
In 2012, Dr. Alvarez joined the Temple faculty as Professor of Medicine at LKSOM, and Vice Chief of Cardiology at TUH. He earned his medical degree at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Alvarez completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Temple University Hospital, and a Cardiovascular/ Heart Failure/ Transplant Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD.
“Dr. Alvarez has shown great passion and deep commitment to the American Heart Association. We are honored to work with him and look forward to his leadership on the SEPA Board,” says Laura Hollot, President and Executive Director of the Philadelphia American Heart Association.
Dr. Alvarez’s research interests include sudden death in athletes, gastrointestinal bleeding in patients on mechanical support, hyponatremia in acutely decompensated patients with heart failure and sleep disorders in chronic heart failure patients. He is currently the principal investigator/co-principal investigator on numerous heart failure and mechanical support clinical trials.
Dr. Alvarez has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and abstracts. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member to a number of local, regional and national professional organizations.