Rakesh Gopinathannair

Dr. Rakesh Gopinathannair is currently Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratories at the Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Dr. Gopinathannair currently serves as Chairman for the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Communications Committee and the American Heart Association (AHA) National Electrocardiography and Arrhythmias Committee. He is also a member of the AHA Clinical Cardiology Council leadership and American College of Cardiology’s National Electrophysiology Leadership Council.

Following graduation from University of Kerala, India, he completed a Master of Arts in Exercise Physiology from the University of Maryland, an Internal Medicine Residency from the Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowships from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He then served as Assistant Professor (2010-2015), Associate Professor (2015-2018), and Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology (2013-2018) at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. Gopinathannair serves as associate editor for Heart Rhythm Case Reports and as section editor for Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. He has served as a writing group member and peer-reviewer for AHA/ACC/HRS and AHRQ guidelines and as writing committee chair for AHA Scientific Statements. He peer-reviews for leading cardiovascular journals such as JACC, European Heart Journal, Heart Rhythm, JACC EP, Circulation Research, and JAHA and Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, among others.

Dr. Gopinathannair served as chair of the National Electrophysiology Clinical Standards Committee for Catholic Health Initiatives from 2013-2016, a large national healthcare organization with 97 hospitals across the country, and was instrumental in developing EP clinical standards and quality metrics across this large healthcare network. He has published 290 peer-reviewed articles and abstract presentations, along with several book chapters, and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings. His research interests mainly focus on arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathies, COVID-19 and cardiac arrhythmias, and implantable device therapy and complex arrhythmias in patients with advanced heart failure and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).