Martin Russel Berk, MD Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologyin Dallas, TX

Dr. Martin Berk is a native of South Africa who immigrated to the United States in 1986. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1977. He received his training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology in South Africa under Dr. John Barlow in 1983. In 1986, Dr. Berk then moved to Lexington, Kentucky and completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Kentucky in Lexington under Dr. Anthony Demaria. In Kentucky, Dr. Berk was director of the heart failure program and participated in starting a heart transplant program. In addition, for the next 5 1/2 years he remained in Lexington on faculty and was part of the NHLBI balloon valvuloplasty program.

In 1992, Dr. Berk moved to Dallas, Texas to join Texas Health Heart and Vascular Specialists. He also established the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Dallas, which he still directs today. In addition, he has completed and participated as a principal investigator in multiple cardiology clinical trials. During this time, he has been head of the echocardiography program and director of the heart failure program at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. Currently, Dr. Berk is chairman of the IRB at Texas Healthcare Resources. Including all Presbyterian Hospitals and Harris Methodist hospitals in North Texas.

In addition, he is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology, echocardiography, as well as advanced heart failure and transplantation. Dr. Berk has a busy general cardiology private practice and is part of many cardiology trials dealing with heart failure, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and coronary artery disease. He has participated in presenting over 60 publications at important cardiology congresses, is an author on 34 manuscripts, and has been a principal investigator in over 100 cardiology trials. As the director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Dallas, affiliated with his private practice, CIVA, he has been and is the principal investigator on many important research studies. These studies, such as Merit, PRAISE, PROMISE, LIFE, as well as studies with Dofetilide (Tikosyn) and Sotalol, to name a few, have fundamentally changed the treatment of heart disease over the past 15 years.

In conclusion, Dr. Berk remains a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American College of chest physicians, and the American Society of echocardiography. He still continues his teaching and lectures extensively on heart failure, anticoagulation, and newer cholesterol lowering drugs.

Texas Monthly Super Doctor 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013