Cooper Heart Director Awarded Critical Care Medicine’s Highest Honor

Joseph E. Parrillo, MD, FCCM, head of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Critical Care Medicine and director of the Cooper Heart Institute, was presented with the American College of Critical Care Medicine’s Distinguished Investigator Award during the organization’s 34th Critical Care Congress in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Distinguished Investigator Award is the College’s highest recognition and is given to individuals whose scientific and educational contributions to the art and science of critical care medicine demonstrate career commitment and excellence. Presented annually to an established clinical investigator, the award recognizes Dr. Parrillo’s efforts as an active investigator whose pioneering work has significantly contributed to the treatment and/or understanding of critically ill patients. Award recipients are nominated by a committee of ACCM members representing the major sections of the Society and then are chosen by the Board of Regents.

An honors graduate from Cornell University Medical School, Dr. Parrillo continued his postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. His career in research began at the NIH, where he first became interested in investigating myocardial function in septic shock. During his tenure there he created the Department of Critical Care Medicine for which he received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Award in 1983 (the Institutes’ highest honor awarded for civil service employees).

Dr. Parrillo’s exemplary work in the field has since spanned over 30 years, during which he has authored and coauthored more than 800 manuscripts, chapters, reviews, books, abstracts and editorials on topics such as myocardial performance in sepsis, septic shock, cardiogenic shock and myocarditis. Dr. Parrillo is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, critical care medicine, allergy and immunology, and is board eligible in infectious diseases. In addition to his Cooper appointment, Dr. Parrillo is Professor of Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and is the editor-in-chief of the premier journal in the field, Critical Care Medicine.