Biography

Brian Hoffman was born in New York, attended Princeton University, and received the M.D. degree at the Long Island College of Medicine in 1947. After an internship and assistant residency in Medicine at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, he commenced his research career as an Instructor in Physiology at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in 1949. He was appointed Professor of Physiology at Downstate in 1960, and 3 years later he accepted the David Hosack Professorship and Chair in Pharmacology at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, a position he held for over 30 years.

Brian Hoffman’s contributions in research have centered on three areas: study of the basis of normal cardiac impulse initiation and conduction; identification of the mechanisms responsible for cardiac arrhythmia; and application of the results of basic research in electrophysiology and pharmacology to the improvement of patient care. His work on arrhythmogenic mechanisms has been visionary, highlighted by his studies on slow propagation, summation and cancellation of impulses that provided a seminal step in our understanding of reentry. He was also a pioneer in the introduction of “mapping” techniques for the human heart, facilitating the tracing of cardiac activation during normal rhythm and arrhythmias. His investigations of antiarrhythmic drugs have provided a firm electrophysiologic and biophysical basis for understanding their mechanisms of action.

Brian Hoffman is justifiably considered a central figure in the growth and development of cardiac electrophysiology as a basic and clinical science. His intellectual grasp of the entire field from biophysical studies of basic mechanisms through clinical studies of arrhythmias has focused the direction of research and its application and has provided guidance and inspiration for his peers as well as for succeeding generations of investigators. No less than 70 of the leading contributors to the electrophysiological literature have trained directly or worked concentratedly with him.

Dr, Hoffman has received worldwide recognition for his endeavors. He has been a member of numerous national and international societies, was editor of Circulation Research; and has received a number of awards, including: Orden Nacional de Cruzeiro de Sul, “ awarded by the Brazilian Government; the William D. Studenbord Professorship of Cornell Medical College; the Distinguished Alumni Award from Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York; the Lewis A. Connor Lectureship of the American Heart Association; the Research Achievement Award of the American Heart Association; a Wellcome Professorship at the Medical College of Georgia; a Sterling Professorship at Cornell Medical College; the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; the Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Heart Association; the Stevens Triennial Award of the College of Physicians and Surgeon of Columbia University, and the Academy Medal of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Hoffman has also been president of the New York State Society for Medical Research, of the Cardiac Muscle Society, and of the New York Heart Association.

Not only has Brian Hoffman been a dominant figure in 20th Century biomedical research, but he has communicated his knowledge and research effectively to students, to the scientific community and to the practicing physician. There are few individuals whose contributions and abilities have been so diverse and so consistently endowed with excellence. There are even fewer who have shown comparable leadership and insight in spanning the spectrum from basic sciences to clinical cardiovascular medicine.

- Michael R. Rosen MD