Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD, FHFSA, FAHA, FACC, is the Director of the Sarver Heart Center and the Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.  Trained initially in basic science and physiology, she made the transition to clinical research during her training.  Her research program has focused on better understanding how to improve symptoms, end organ function and outcomes in heart failure.  She has authored nearly 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals.  Current and prior interests include the physiology and biology of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, clinical trials in heart failure, and early phase clinical trials in cardiovascular medicine.   She is the Editor in Chief of Circulation: Heart Failure.

Dr. Sweitzer has led and collaborated on studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health as well as studies supported by industry and academic sponsors.  She has served on numerous NIH and AHA committees and currently serves as a member of the NHLBI Clinical Trials Study section and the FDA Advisory Panel on Mechanical Circulatory Support.  She has served on the Guidelines and Scientific Statements  and Nominations committee of the HFSA and currently serves on the Advocacy Committee.  She is president of the Association of Professors of Cardiology.  Dr. Sweitzer graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and was an MD/PhD recipient from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  She completed her graduate medical training, including internal medicine, cardiology, echocardiography and heart failure and transplant, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  After serving on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for several years she joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin as the director of the Heart Failure Program.  Before leaving Wisconsin to come to the University of Arizona in 2014 she was Director of the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program, Director of Clinical Research for Cardiology and the Division’s Director of Quality.  Recipient of numerous Top Doctor and Top Performer awards, Dr. Sweitzer has also received teaching awards from every institution at which she has worked.