Walter Kao

Biography

Walter Kao, MD graduated from Cornell University Medical College in 1984 and completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Cardiology at Henry Ford Hospital. He then joined the faculty at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine as a member of the Heart Failure & Transplant Program before moving to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in 1994 where he was director of the Cardiomyopathy-Transplant Unit. Before joining the Heart Failure & Transplant Program at the University of Wisconsin in 2005, he was Medical Director of the Heart Failure and Transplant Program for the Mainline Health System in the Philadelphia area (based at Lankenau Hospital). Dr. Kao has served as principal investigator on numerous research projects focusing on medical therapy for advanced heart failure, metabolic and structural abnormalities of skeletal muscle in heart failure and prevention of sudden death in patients with advanced heart failure. His current research interests include investigational medical therapy for patients with chronic heart failure, candidate evaluation and selection for heart transplantation and implementation and management of mechanical circulatory support in patients with severe heart failure. Dr. Kao is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and abstracts in the field of heart failure and transplantation. He was formerly Associate Editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, the American Society of Transplantation, and the American Heart Association.

Research Interest

heart failure and transplantation