Virna L. Sales, MD, MPH, FESC, FACC

Dr. Sales is a cardiovascular physician with clinical experience in Germany/US/UK. She has a deep research background in the field of cardiology and cardiac surgery and advanced training in epidemiology, healthcare finance & management, patient safety, quality improvement, economic evaluation & outcomes research and health informatics. Dr. Sales has clinical and research interests in cardiac valve replacement & repair and surgical and therapeutic treatment strategies in heart failure. She has long history working on pre-clinical development and outcomes studies, registries and clinical trials within the academic, industry and Veterans Affairs settings. She has 90+ peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, reviews & scientific abstracts and 30+ national, international presentations/invited lectures. She was a principal investigator of foundation and federal grants and a recipient of numerous local, national awards and scholarships. Dr. Sales earned her medical degree from the University of Heidelberg, followed by cardiovascular medicine residency at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover in Germany, postgraduate research fellowships in Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern University & Thoracic Surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a degree in Masters of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She became the Director of Cardiology Grants at the NY-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital & a Senior Medical Director in the CV Medical Device and Health Economics Outcomes Research consulting organizations in NY. Upon her return to Boston, she served as a Senior Medical Researcher for the Heart Failure Program, National VA Cardiology Consortium, Clinical Trial Network. Dr. Sales is an Elected Fellow of the NY Academy of Medicine & European Society of Cardiology, American College of Cardiology & a Member of the AHA Council of CV Surgery & Anesthesia.