Alexander Opotowsky, MD, MMSc

A photo of Alexander Opotowsky.

Director, Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program

Co-Director, Exercise Laboratory
Co-Director, The Heart Institute Research Core

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

513-803-2243

Board Certified

My Biography & Research

Biography

Alexander (Sasha) Opotowsky is director of the Cincinnati Adult Congenital Heart Disease (CINCH) Program. After medical school at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, he completed Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Cardiology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. After a year of specialized adult congenital cardiology and pulmonary hypertension training at Penn, Dr. Opotowsky completed a two-year senior fellowship and joined the staff of the Boston Adult Congenital Heart Service. Dr. Opotowsky founded the Boston ACHD Biobank in 2012, enrolling and collecting bio-specimens from over 1,600 patients. This resource has facilitated high impact research using circulating and urinary biomarkers to better understand and treat adults born with congenital heart disease.

Clinical Interests

Adult congenital heart disease; pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary arterial hypertension, heart failure; exercise testing; atrial septal defects; ventricular septal defects; patent ductus arteriosus; Eisenmenger syndrome; single ventricle heart disease; cyanotic heart disease; bicuspid aortic valve; aortic stenosis; aortic coarctation; tetralogy of Fallot; pulmonary atresia; pulmonary stenosis; transposition of the great arteries; Ebstein anomaly; valve disease; mitral regurgitation; health-related quality of life

Research Interests

Adult congenital heart disease; exercise testing and physiology; biomarkers; biobanking; pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary vascular disease; right ventricular function and failure; heart failure; health-related quality of life

Academic Affiliation

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Divisions

Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Institute, Heart Institute

My Education

MD: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, NY, 2003.

MPH: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York City, NY, 2003.

MMSc: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 2012.

Internship and Residency: Internal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2003-2006.

Fellowship: Cardiovascular Disease, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2006-2009.

Senior Fellowship: Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pulmonary Hypertension, Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2009-2011.

My Publications

Health-Related Quality of Life in Children, Adolescents, and Adults With a Fontan Circulation: A Meta-Analysis. Marshall, KH; D'Udekem, Y; Sholler, GF; Opotowsky, AR; Costa, DS J; Sharpe, L; Celermajer, DS; Winlaw, DS; Newburger, JW; Kasparian, NA. Journal of the American Heart Association : Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease. 2020; 9.

Thromboembolic Events Are Independently Associated with Liver Stiffness in Patients with Fontan Circulation. Alsaied, T; Possner, M; Lubert, AM; Trout, AT; Gandhi, JP; Garr, B; Palumbo, JS; Palermo, JJ; Lorts, A; Veldtman, GR; et al. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020; 9:418-418.

The art of caring for adults with congenital heart disease in the face of imperfect data. Menachem, JN; Opotowsky, AR. International Journal of Cardiology. 2020; 300:141-142.

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for thromboembolic prevention, are they safe in congenital heart disease? Results of a worldwide study. Yang, H; Bouma, BJ; Dimopoulos, K; Khairy, P; Ladouceur, M; Niwa, K; Greutmann, M; Schwerzmann, M; Egbe, A; Scognamiglio, G; et al. International Journal of Cardiology. 2020; 299:123-130.

Unexplained exertional intolerance associated with impaired systemic oxygen extraction. Melamed, KH; Santos, M; Oliveira, RK F; Urbina, MF; Felsenstein, D; Opotowsky, AR; Waxman, AB; Systrom, DM. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2019; 119:2375-2389.

Thromboembolic Risk After Atriopulmonary, Lateral Tunnel, and Extracardiac Conduit Fontan Surgery. Deshaies, C; Hamilton, RM; Shohoudi, A; Trottier, H; Poirier, N; Aboulhosn, J; Broberg, CS; Cohen, S; Cook, S; Dore, A; et al. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2019; 74:1071-1081.

Not Quite Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension But More Than a SOB Story. Opotowsky, AR; Wertheim, BM; Tedford, RJ. JACC-Cardiovascular Imaging. 2019; 12:1457-1459.

Creatinine versus cystatin C to estimate glomerular filtration rate in adults with congenital heart disease: Results of the Boston Adult Congenital Heart Disease Biobank. Opotowsky, AR; Carazo, M; Singh, MN; Dimopoulos, K; Cardona-Estrada, DA; Elantably, A; Waikar, SS; Mc Causland, FR; Veldtman, G; Grewal, J; et al. American Heart Journal. 2019; 214:142-155.

Reply to: Deeper Insights Into the Fontan Circulation. Rajpal, S; Wu, F; Opotowsky, AR. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Hearth Surgery. 2019; 10:521-521.

Nuanced Interpretation of Administrative Data: The Case of Hospitalization for Infective Endocarditis in Adults With Tetralogy of Fallot. Opotowsky, AR; Pickard, SS; Webb, GD. Canadian Journal of Cardiology. 2019; 35:688-691.