Pulmonary Hypertension Trailblazer Dr. Stuart Rich is New Program Director at Northwestern Medicine

Northwestern Medicine has appointed Dr. Stuart Rich as director of the newly launched Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, where he will also serve as professor of medicine-cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Rich, an accomplished innovator in the field of pulmonary hypertension, brings over 30 years of research and disease management experience to the institution.

“I’m a dreamer, and the leadership in the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is strong and visionary,” said Dr. Rich. “Northwestern Medicine is the ideal setting for the next big breakthrough in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, and I look forward to working with the strong team in place to further advance treatment for this chronic disease.”

Dr. Rich has authored and published hundreds of articles and book chapters on pulmonary hypertension. He has also spearheaded the advancement of some of today’s go-to treatments for PH, such as prostacyclin, which is still the only drug known today proven to improve patient survival.

His work as a researcher began in 1980 at the University of Illinois where he became lead investigator for the National Institutes of Health Registry on Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, which is known today as the largest clinical center in the country for PH. Many of the advancements widely used today to manage this disease were overseen by Dr. Rich.

Just last year, he was selected to receive the Heart for Hope Legacy Award from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, and only recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute. Now, Dr. Rich has joined one of the country’s premiere heart and surgery programs at Northwestern, which ranks 9th in this year’s US News and World Report “Best Hospitals” survey for the 8th year in a row.

“Dr. Rich has worked for decades as the world recognized leader in the field of pulmonary hypertension, and will make Northwestern Medicine the destination for thousands of patients with this rare but life threatening condition,” said Dr. Patrick McCarthy, executive director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine and chief of cardiac surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “We look forward to this transformative physician accelerating the exceptional momentum of our team at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.”