Barry J. Maron MD

Dr. Barry Maron graduated from Occidental College in 1963 and received his M.D. degree from Tulane University in 1968. His cardiology fellowship was at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has been Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center program at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation for 20 years (1993-2012), and is currently Adjunct Professor of Medicine, at both Tufts School of Medicine and Mayo Clinic. Prior to that, he was Senior Investigator in the National Institutes of Health (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) Cardiology Branch for 21 years (1972-1993).

Among his awards are the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Tulane School of Medicine; Life Achievement Awards from European Society of Cardiology, Japanese Circulation Society and Israeli Heart Society; American Heart Association Heart and Stroke Award, Morgagni Award (Padua, Italy), Simon Dack Scholarship Award, and Distinguished Clinical Scientist Career Award (American College of Cardiology) in 2008.

Dr. Maron has authored 860 original peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and other contributions to the literature, as well as 325 abstracts and 7 books including the well-regarded “Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: For Patients, Their Families and Interested Physicians”.

Research initiatives have included diverse clinical and pathologic aspects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy over a 40 year career, including development of risk stratification guidelines and introducing implantable defibrillators for effective prevention of sudden death in adults and children with this hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In addition, a new segment of cardiovascular medicine has been developed defining the causes of sudden death in trained athletes (including ventricular fibrillation due to blunt chest blows [commotio cordis]), strategies for preparticipation screening, and criteria for disqualification vs. eligibility with cardiovascular abnormalities. 

Dr. Maron has been chair or co-chair of 12 ACC/AHA/ESC guidelines or consensus panel documents including all 3 Bethesda Conferences (#16, #26, #36) concerning criteria for disqualification of competitive athletes with cardiovascular disease, as well as major guidelines for management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 2003 and 2011, and director of 8 international conferences on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.