Randall C. Starling, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, FESC, FHFSA was named the 2023 HFSA Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Read a Member Spotlight Q&A with Dr. Starling >>
Learn more about the HFSA Lifetime Achievement Award >>
Randall C. Starling is Professor of Medicine Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of the Case Western Reserve University, is a Staff Cardiologist in the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. Since March 1, 2022 he is serving as Interim Head of the Section of Heart Failure and Transplant Medicine and Medical Director of the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure Treatment and Recovery. Previously he served as Section Head of Heart Failure from 2003 – 2016. He also served as Vice Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine, Operations from 2006-2016. He was interim chair, cardiovascular medicine, Cleveland Clinic Florida from 2011 -2013. Dr. Starling was an elected member of the Cleveland Clinic Board of Governors from 2010-2015. He served on the Cleveland Clinic Board of Trustees 2013-2015 and the Cleveland Clinic Board of Directors 2014-2015.
Dr. Starling is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. He was appointed to Cleveland Clinic in 1995 as a Staff Physician and Director of the Heart Transplant Medical Services. He has a joint appointment as a Staff Physician in Cleveland Clinic’s Multi-Organ Transplant Center and Critical Care. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, European Society of Cardiology, and the Heart Failure Association of the ESC. He has served as UNOS Medical Director of the Heart Transplant Program from 2003 – 2018. He served on the American Board of Internal Medicine, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Exam Writing Committee from 2009-2015.
Education and Training: Dr. Starling completed his undergraduate work in biology and graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. He continued his education at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He received his medical degree at Temple University, Philadelphia, where he was an Honor Graduate, was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and was awarded the Mosby Book Scholarship. He returned to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to complete his internship and residency in internal medicine.
During the course of his clinical training and association with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Dr. Starling became Chief Medical Resident, Instructor in Medicine and Medical Director of the cardiac transplant program. Dr. Starling completed a fellowship in cardiology from the Ohio State University (OSU), where he was also Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the OSU Cardiac Transplant Program.
Research, Publications and Speaking: Dr. Starling has been a principal or co-principal investigator on numerous clinical trials, including National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant-funded trials and industry-sponsored trials. He has conducted numerous research trials including multicenter, randomized trials related to cardiac transplantation and heart failure. He served at Protocol Chair for Clinical Trials in Organ Transplant heart CTOT-05,011,018, and 023. Dr. Starling is particularly interested in devices and other forms of surgical therapy for patients with heart failure.
He has been published in scientific and professional journals and authored numerous chapters in medical textbooks. Dr Starling has published more than 500 peer reviewed articles and numerous book chapters. He has over 98,000 citations, h-index 108 and i10-index 442. Dr. Starling is a past member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, currently on the editorial board of JACC Heart Failure, Circulation and is an associate editor for Heart Failure Reviews, and is associate editor for the Journal of Cardiac Failure. He is past Editor of the chapter on Heart Failure in the American College of Cardiology Self-Assessment Program (ACCSAP VI). He has served as an editorial consultant on ABC’s “20/20,” CNN’s “Heroes in Medicine” and several PBS televised programs.
He has served on the board of directors of the United Network of Organ Sharing, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Heart Failure Society of America and is past treasurer of the Heart Failure Society of America and past president 2018 - 2019. He initiated the heart failure fellowship at Cleveland Clinic in 1995 which has trained and graduated over 100 fellows over the past 20 years. Numerous former trainees lead heart failure programs globally.