Rick A. Nishimura MD, FACC, FACP

Dr. Nishimura is currently a consultant in Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.  He is the Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.  He did his undergraduate at Knox College in Illinois where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude.  He then went to Rush Medical School where he graduated AOA.  He did his Internal Medicine residency and Cardiovascular Fellowship at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 1983.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the American Heart Association and Master of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Nishimura’s research areas have involved the field of cardiovascular hemodynamics.  His major work has been in the use of simultaneous Doppler and high fidelity catheterization correlations to assess intracardiac pressures and diastolic function of the heart.  He has over 270 peer-reviewed manuscripts and over 60 book chapters in this field.

He has an active clinical practice with a particular interest in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease and pericardial disease.  He continues to work in the catheterization laboratory concentrating mainly on complex hemodynamic cases as well as structural heart disease interventions.  He has received the Henry Plummer Award for Outstanding Clinician in the Department of Medicine and the Distinguished Clinician Award for the Mayo Foundation.

Dr. Nishimura has been active in the national cardiology societies.  He has been involved in the leadership of the Education Committees for the American College of Cardiology for over 20 years.  He was also on the Board of Trustees for the ACC.  He currently serves as Chair of the ACC/AHA Valvular Heart Disease Guideline Committee and has been on the ACC/AHA Parent Guideline Committee.

From the education standpoint, Dr. Nishimura has always been involved with teaching at the fellowship, residency and medical school levels.  He has won the Mayo Graduate School Teacher of the Year Award seven times and was inducted into the “Hall of Fame”.  He has been awarded the Cardiovascular Teacher of the Year Award for the past 25 consecutive years and was the recipient of the “Golden Apple” teaching award for the Mayo Medical School.  He has directed several ACC programs, runs the Continuous Professional Development Programs for the ACC and is the co-director of the Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Board Review Program.  He has received the ACC Master Teacher Award, the American Heart Association Laennec Award, as well as the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Educator Award.