Andrea Natale is an Italian-born American

cardiologist Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

and electrophysiologist, i.e. a heart rhythm specialist. Natale is known for his work in atrial fibrillation ablation, and he is currently the executive director at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute.

Education

Natale received his medical degree from the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

Medical School,

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and later underwent specialist training in Cardiology at the

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He then attended Methodist Hospital, Baylor College, Houston, Texas as a research fellow. Subsequently, he completed his Residency (Cardiology and Electrophysiology) at

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

in Canada and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Prior to his appointment as Executive Medical Director of the Texas Cardiovascular Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Natale was faculty at Duke University, then Director of the Electrophysiology Section of the University of Kentucky in Lexington and Section Head for the Department of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology and Medical Director for the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Academic health science center, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an O ...

’s Center for

Atrial Fibrillation Atrial fibrillation (AF, AFib or A-fib) is an Heart arrhythmia, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) characterized by fibrillation, rapid and irregular beating of the Atrium (heart), atrial chambers of the heart. It often begins as short periods ...

Career

Natale has been active in the

Heart Rhythm Society The Heart Rhythm Society is an international non-profit organization that promotes education and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients. The society was founded in 1979 and counted over 7,500 members from over 90 countries as o ...

since its inception, where he has been recognized as a Founders Member in 2004, at Chairman Level in 2005 and at Ambassador Level in 2010. He has been member of several HRS committees (Relation with Industry, Reimbursement and Regulatory Affairs, Atrial Fibrillation Consensus Statement ). From 2005 through 2008, he has been a member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee and since 2011 a Trustee in the HRS Board. Natale is a faculty member at various universities and scientific and medical institutions, including

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and

Case Western University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case Western Reserve Uni ...

. He is the author, co-author or editor of hundreds of published articles and various books on pacing and electrophysiology. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals including the Heart Rhythm Journal,

Journal of the American College of Cardiology The ''Journal of the American College of Cardiology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of cardiovascular disease, including original clinical studies, translational investigations with clear clinical relevance, state-of-the-a ...

, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, American Heart Journal, Circulation,

Journal of Electrocardiology The ''Journal of Electrocardiology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering electrocardiography, vectorcardiography, cardiac arrhythmias, membrane action potential, cardiac pacing, monitoring defibrillation, instrumentation, drug effects, ...

and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation. Besides Venice Arrhythmias, he is the creator of EPLIVE, the first fully interactive meeting of his genre, where EP experts from various countries are invited to share their experience while observing live cases being performed in the state-of-the-art laboratories of TCAI in Austin, Texas.

Research and clinical achievements

Natale pioneered a circumferential ultrasound vein-ablation system to correct atrial fibrillation and performed the procedure on the world's first patients. He also developed some of the current catheter-based cure strategies for atrial fibrillation, and was the first electrophysiologist in the US to perform percutaneous epicardial

radiofrequency ablation Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), also called fulguration, is a medical procedure in which part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, tumor, sensory nerves or a dysfunctional tissue is ablated using the heat generated from medium fre ...

, which is a treatment for people who fail conventional ablation. He has authored milestone papers on pivotal projects, such as PABA and RAAFT.

Appointments

Natale serves as the Executive Medical Director at Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Since 2007 he has been appointed Senior Director of the Arrhythmia Center at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. In 2012 he also became Director of Interventional Electrophysiology at the Scripps Clinic in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

, directed by Dr. Paul Tierstein and Dr.

Eric Topol Eric Jeffrey Topol (born June 26, 1954) is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President at Scripp ...

. Since April 2013 he is also Executive Director of the Al Sabah Arrhythmia institute at St Luke's -Roosevelt Medical Center, in New York. He is a member, in charge of new technologies, for the Task Force on

Personal life

In September 2020, he claimed that his daughter was "attacked" by

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

protesters while at a stop light in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. However,

9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...

emergency call recordings and police body camera footage indicated that squeegee boys offered to clean the daughter's car windows, and that her boyfriend engaged the teens in a physical and verbal assault after threatening them with a knife. Natale later doubled down on his claims before deleting his Twitter account and apologizing.

Honors

Natale has received many awards for his clinical work and commitment to teaching, including the following: * Cleveland Clinic Bakken Heart-Brain Institute Research Award * Cleveland Clinic Innovator of the Year for 2004, 2005 and 2006 * Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute: The Bury + Partners Innovation Award 2009. Austin, Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Natale, Andrea American medical academics American cardiologists Living people Fellows of the American College of Cardiology Year of birth missing (living people)