Andrew L. Wit, Ph.D., 2003 Distinguished Scientist
Distinguished Scientist Award Andrew Wit obtained his Ph.D. in neuropharmacology at Columbia University in 1968. He then entered the United Stares Public Health Service where he took part in the birth clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Working with Anthony D'Amato MD and his research team,
Dr. Wit was among the first to apply programmed simulation protocols to the investigation of human AV nodal conduction. He was the first to describe the gap in AV nodal conduction in the human heart. In 1971, Dr. Wit returned to Columbia University, holding a simultaneous position at the Rockefeller University and began his long collaboration with Brian Hoffman MD and Paul Cranefield MD, Ph.D. They showed that slow conduction in the specialized tissue of the ventricles could cause reentry and developed the concept of the "slow response". This was the beginning of 30 years of investigations of the electrophysiology of infarct border zones and reentrant excitation by Dr. Wit that led to the anisotropic reentry concept as a cause of ventricular tachycardia.
In addition, Wit and Cranefield showed that the musculature of the coronary sinus was capable of impulse initiation by triggered activity, a finding that presaged current day interest in the role of the cardiac veins in causing atrial arrhythmias. More recently, Dr. Wit has investigated pathological alterations of gap junctional connections between myocardial cells in infarct border zones. He and his collaborators have described changes in function that are likely responsible for reentrant arrhythmias. Dr. Wit has also had a commitment to medical student education throughout his career, having been the director of the General Pharmacology Course for second year medical students for 18 years and director of the fourth year medical Clinical Therapeutic Course for the past 10 years.
Recently he became chairman of one of the Medical Centers Institutional Review Bonds for Human Investigation. Dr. Wit is a master teacher as well as an accomplished scientist and a fine human being.
Written in 2003 by Melvin M. Scheinman, MD
