Dr. Malissa J. Wood, MD, FACC | Dr. Leon Ptaszek, MD, PhD

Dr. Malissa J. Wood completed her undergraduate and medical degrees in the combined B.A/M.D (Biology) program from the University of Missouri-Kansas City followed by training in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at  the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts where she served as Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Wood joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital in 2000 where she holds the Cathy E. Minehan Chair of Cardiovascular Disease in Women and co-directs the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program.

In order to better understand complex sex differences in heart function, Dr. Wood first studied cardiovascular adaptation to exercise training. Her group investigated the cardiovascular benefits of prolonged endurance exercise in non-elite and Olympic athletes as well as marathon runners. This work has been frequently cited and described features of temporary left and right sided cardiac changes that occur after completion of a marathon. In order to improve the clinical care of women and the understanding of cardiovascular disease in women Dr. Wood helped design and implement the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program in 2007.  Since that time the program has helped improve the cardiovascular health of thousands of women and their families through its clinical, research and educational efforts. Dr. Wood’s groundbreaking work on the HAPPY Heart study demonstrated the benefit of an integrated community based model of stress management, health and life coaching and group health education in low income women.   Dr. Wood has made significant educational contributions devoted to raising awareness of gender differences in cardiovascular disease risk, symptoms and preventive strategies locally, regionally and nationally. Dr. Wood was a member of the AHA multidisciplinary SCAD writing group. She has served on the leadership council of the American College of Cardiology Women in Cardiology Committee, Dr. Wood is a dedicated advocate for her patients and colleagues and has been involved in successfully advocacy efforts at the state and national levels.  She has served as  a Trustee and Secretary of the American College of Cardiology and has just completed her term as Chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Board of Governors.

Leon Ptaszek, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is an Associate Physician on the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Leon received his degrees from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine at NYU in 2003. He completed a residency program in Internal Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2005 and then completed clinical and research fellowships in Cardiovascular Diseases and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011. In addition, he holds two patents and is the author of over 60 original scientific publications, reviews, and book chapters and is also involved in international health outreach efforts including establishing a virtual cardiology lecture series at the King Faisal Hospital in Rwanda and at the Uganda Heart Institute.

Leon received the Franklin G. Ebaugh, Jr. Award for research and the Award for Professionalism from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2005. He received the Clinician-Scientist Award from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and was named the de Gunzburg Scholar at MGH in 2011. Leon became a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology in 2013 and became a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society in 2018. He also received a Pioneer Award for management of SVT from the Arrhythmia Alliance in 2021.