Jose F. Huizar, MD, FACC, FHRS, FAHA
“Health care providers impact one life at a time,
Professors impact many lives through their students,
while Scientists impact humanity”. – Unknown
Jose F. Huizar, MD, FACC, FHRS, FAHA is originally from Mexico, immigrating to the United States to complete his residency in Internal Medicine, subsequently serving as Chief Medical Resident at MetroWest Medical Center (University of Massachusetts). He continued to specialize in Cardiology with subspecialty in Cardiac Electrophysiology fellowship at State University of New York (SUNY)Upstate Medical Center and the University of Alabama Birmingham, respectively. In 2006, he joined Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as Assistant Professor and the McGuire VA Medical Center as Director of the Arrhythmia and Device Clinic. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2013 and full Professor of Medicine in 2021 both with an affiliate appointment for the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Currently, he serves as the Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System (CVHCS).
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Since 2006, he has been active teaching medical residents, cardiology, and electrophysiology fellows with formal (Grand Rounds, Research and Electrophysiology conferences) and bedside teaching. He also participates in graduate and undergraduate teaching (pre-med, MD and MD/PhD programs) serving as a member of the MD/PhD program steering committee. He also participates as a member of the VCU Wright Center Operations Committee.
Dr. Huizar’s research interests include cardiac pacing and cardiac arrhythmias, specifically consequences of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy. Dr. Huizar developed a novel pacemaker to reproduce PVCs and a PVC-induced cardiomyopathy animal model, receiving local (VCU AD Williams Grant) and national funding (AHA Scientist Development Grant Award, NIH/NHLBI R01 grant and VA Merit). His research laboratory is nationally and internationally recognized for contributions to the understanding of consequences of PVCs and PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. His groundbreaking research has impacted current treatment of patient with PVCs. He received an NIH-R34 Clinical Pilot Grant to compare treatment strategy in PVC-Cardiomyopathy. Most recently, he received a VA Rapid Response Grant to study myocardial injury in COVID-19 and was the leading PI to obtain funding for a new research Magnetic Resonance Scanner to be installed in 2024. He has written 9 book chapters in cardiac electrophysiology literature and over 50 publications in high impact journals (1175 total citations, h-index 18 and i10-index 23).
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Dr. Huizar has received multiple honors and awards, most notable the VCU Internal Medicine Excellence in Research and Scholarship awards in 2016 and again in 2020, publications recognized as “Top-picks of the year” by Editor-in-Chief and AHA Scientist Development Grant Award. He has served as an ad hoc reviewer for AHA and NIH/NHLBI for several years, becoming a member for the Clinical Integrative Cardiovascular and Hematological Sciences (CCHS) NIH study section since 2020. He continues to serve as ad hoc reviewer for high-impact journals (Circulation, JACC, Heart Rhythm, Europace). He has participated as invited faculty for AHA, ACC, Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions, and the Ventricular Tachycardia Symposium. He currently serves in the editorial board for the journals of Frontiers of Cardiovascular Medicine and Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.
Learn more about Dr. Huizar on Doximity.