ECU cardiologist earns national award for outstanding work in science and medicine
Dr. Blase Carabello has been awarded the 2020-2021 Harriet P. Dustan Award for Outstanding Work in Science as Related to Medicine from the American College of Physicians (ACP).
Dr. Blase Carabello, chief of the Division of Cardiology in ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, was honored for outstanding contributions to medicine from the American College of Physicians. (Contributed photo)
Carabello is professor and chief of the Division of Cardiology in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.
Carabello, who arrived at Brody in 2016, is an internationally recognized expert in valvular heart disease—a condition that occurs when any of the heart’s valves are damaged or diseased. He specializes in the care of patients who have complex valvular heart disease and in general internal medicine.
The ACP is the largest medical-specialty society in the world, with close to 163,000 internal medicine specialist and sub-specialist members who share knowledge to advance the practice of internal medicine.
“I, of course, was delighted to receive the award,” Carabello said. “It was quite an honor to be included among a list of previous winners that included many well-known physician scientists and several Nobel laureates. Even more gratifying than the award itself were the outside nominating and seconding letters of support which were very touching.”
Carabello’s work focuses on providing care for patients living with valvular heart disease, which causes nearly 25,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 2.5% of the U.S. population has valvular heart disease, more common in older adults.
“I suspect most people on earth would like to feel that somehow their lives made some difference to somebody somewhere,” Carabello said. “In that light, it is gratifying to think that my 40 years of work in the field helped to change therapy and improve the lives of patients with valvular heart disease.”
Carabello added that he was drawn to the Brody School of Medicine because of the expertise and leadership in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, the facilities at the East Carolina Heart Institute and the support of Vidant Health.
“The practice of valvular heart disease requires excellence in imaging, in catheter skills and in heart surgery—all present here,” he said.
Carabello previously served as chair of the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Department of Cardiology and chief of cardiology at St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, where he was also the director of the Center for Heart Valve Disease. He has also served as vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of medicine at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Carabello earned his medical degree at Temple University in 1973 and completed a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and his fellowship in cardiology at the Peter Bent Brigham Harvard. He is a member of the American Heart Association and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians and was past president of the Association of University Cardiologists and the Society for Heart Valve Disease. He has received more than 30 teaching awards during his career.
Carabello said that while the award is a career highlight, what matters more is being an active part of a field that builds upon the contributions of many.
“It was an honor to receive the award,” he said. “It is also important to understand that one is just a contributor to the work of hundreds of others.”