Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series

Steven O. Marx, MD

Dr. Marx is the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Cardiology (in Medicine) to Honor Dr. Le Roy E. Rabbani (in Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics), professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics and professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the program director of Columbia’s ACGME-accredited Cardiovascular Fellowship Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He received his BS degree in Biology from Union College and his MD from Albany Medical College. Dr. Marx completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital and fellowships in Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. 

Since joining Columbia in 1997, Dr. Marx has made significant scientific contributions to the cardiovascular field. Working with Dr. Andrew Marks, the Chair of Physiology, his research established the scientific basis for the development of the FDA-approved rapamycin-eluting coronary stents and identified dysfunctional ryanodine receptor activity as a molecular basis for arrhythmias and heart failure. More recently, his laboratory has focused on how activation of the sympathetic nervous system modulates calcium influx, which has been debated since the 1970s. The lab demonstrated that sympathetic nervous system regulation of calcium influx in the heart is not dependent upon phosphorylation of the channel subunits, overturning long-accepted dogma. Utilizing state-of-the-art proximity proteomics, they identified a small G-protein, Rad, as the long sought-after link to PKA-mediated activation of calcium channels. Phosphorylation of Rad is essential for sympathetic nervous system regulation of the heart rate and contraction of the heart. Studies currently underway in the Marx laboratory are exploring whether modulating the function of Rad can be a therapeutic target for heart failure and arrhythmias, diseases associated with abnormal calcium regulation in the heart.

Dr. Marx’s honors and awards include the Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, the Lewis Katz Cardiovascular Prize from Columbia, the 2016 Mentor of the Year Award from the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, the 2016 Department of Medicine Ewig Teaching Award, and the 2024 Irene and Arthur Fishberg Prize. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

2022–23  Anne Catrin-Uhlemann

2021–22  George Hripcsak

2020–21  Ali G. Gharavi

2019–20  Jahar Bhattacharya

2018–19  Ira Tabas

2017–18  Alice Prince

2016–17  Timothy Wang

2015–16  Domenico Accili

2014–15  Megan Sykes

2013–14  Wendy Chung

2012–13  Siddhartha Mukherjee

2010–11  David P. Roye

2008–09  Angela M. Christiano

2007–08  Donald W. Landry

2005–06  David A. Brenner

2003–04  Rudolph Leibel

2002–03  Barbara Barlow

2001–02  Anne Gershon

2000–01  Myron L. Weisfeldt

1999–2000  Alan R. Tall

1998–99  Donald Klein

1997–98  Richard Mayeux

1996–97  Herbert D. Kleber

1995–96  Leonard Chess

1994–95  Eric A. Rose

1993–94  Harold C. Neu

1992–93  Nancy S. Wexler

1991–92  J. Thomas Bigger

1990–91  Robert Canfield

1989–90  I. Bernard Weinstein

1988–89  Qais Al-Awqati

1987–88  Lewis P. Rowland

1986–87  L. Stanley James

1985–86  DeWitt Goodman

1984–85  Salvatore Di Mauro

1983–84  Arthur Bank

1982–83  Keith Reemtsma

1981–82  Robert Mellins

About the Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series