PHILADELPHIA – Martin G. St. John Sutton, MBBS, FRCP, a John Bryfogle emeritus professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) for his pioneering contributions to structural and functional ventricular remodeling and repair.
The ASE Lifetime Achievement Awards recognizes a physician who has had a lifetime of outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular ultrasound and who has served as a role model through service, research and teaching. Those who receive this award have had a career in cardiovascular ultrasound for at least 25 years, and are recognized at local, national and international levels. St. John Sutton accepted the award in Seattle in June.
“Martin’s work codified the tools we now commonly use to quantify changes in size, shape, and function of the heart under many conditions, which has become the foundation for all subsequent studies of ventricular remodeling,” said Victor A. Ferrari, MD, a professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. “His studies of reverse – or beneficial – remodeling using Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy were groundbreaking, and led the field in a completely new direction. Martin is not only a great friend and colleague, but as director of the Cardiovascular Fellowship program, he set the bar for education in the field, having developed one of the most sought after training programs in the country.”
St. John Sutton has been a fellow of the ASE since 2004, and a member of the ASE Writing Group for Quantitation of Ventricular Function Task Force for nearly 20 years; in addition, he is involved with numerous national and international cardiovascular and medical organizations.
In addition to the Cardiovascular Fellowship program, St. John Sutton directed Penn’s Cardiovascular Imaging Division from 1993 to 2014 and the Center for Quantitative Echocardiography for 20 years. In this role, he led imaging analyses for many large randomized, multi-center trials, which have been fundamental to the understanding of cardiac remodeling in heart failure, and have revolutionized both drug and device therapy in cardiovascular medicine. Over the course of his career, St. John Sutton also co-authored more than 320 peer-reviewed publications in heart failure, congenital heart disease, and echocardiography.
“Martin is one the greatest teachers and physicians I have had the privilege of working with,” said Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE, an assistant professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. “He has had a seminal impact on the field’s understanding of cardiac remodeling in heart failure, and has played a critical role in shaping not only my own academic career, but the careers of countless others.”
St. John Sutton earned his bachelor’s degree and medicine degree from Guys Hospital Medical School in London, UK. He first joined the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty as an instructor in Medicine in 1979, before becoming an assistant professor of Medicine in 1980. St. John Sutton held faculty positions and directed the Echocardiography Laboratories at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Royal Brompton Hospital in London from 1984 through 1993, and was also recognized as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1993. He returned to Penn as the John W. Bryfogle Professor of Medicine that same year, and became an emeritus professor in 2014.
“Martin is a pioneer, a wonderful colleague and a generous mentor who has trained many of nation’s leading cardiologists,” said Thomas Cappola, MD, ScM, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. “We are thrilled that he has received the ASE lifetime achievement award, it is certainly well-deserved.”
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