Kenneth Bilchick

Cardiologist Kenneth Bilchick, MD, specializes in cardiac rhythm problems, including atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, supraventricular tachycardia, and ventricular tachycardia. He performs a full range of procedures to help correct rapid or irregular heart rhythms, which can cause a variety of symptoms (e.g., fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, light-headedness, and fainting). He is an expert in catheter ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and ventricular tachycardia and in device procedures, including implantation of pacemakers delivering conduction system pacing, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices. Dr. Bilchick is also an expert in advanced imaging modalities such as MRI to acquire important information about the structure and function of the heart, and he has developed innovative approaches use findings from cardiac MRI to enhance procedures such as cardiac resynchronization therapy. Dr. Bilchick continues to maintain three separate ABIM certifications in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, cardiovascular disease, and internal medicine. He has also been consistently recognized year after year by the UVA Health System with Outstanding Patient Experience Awards.

In addition to being a clinical cardiologist and electrophysiologist, he is also a clinical investigator and statistician. He came to the University of Virginia in 2007 after completing medical school, an internal medicine residency, a cardiology fellowship, and a clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He subsequently completed a Master of Science degree in Clinical Investigation in 2010 at UVA and a second Master of Science degree in Statistics in 2022, also at UVA. He participates in several research-related groups at UVA, including IPrecision Immunomedicine collaborative research program, the Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences Research, Cardiovascular Research Oversight Committee, External Funding & Research Administration Working Group, and the Cardiovascular Imaging Center. He is also dedicated to research mentoring, with service on several UVA doctoral thesis committees over the past 15 years and collaborations across Grounds with computer science, statistics, and engineering faculty members. On a national/international level, he also serves as the Chair of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Research Committee, Chair of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) Clinical Trials Committee, Member of the American College of Cardiology/National Cardiovascular Data Registry (ACC/NCDR) Research and Publications Committee, and Reviewer for NIH study sections. In his role as Director of Electrophysiology Research here at UVA, he has continued to maintain an innovative research program focused on the improvement of clinical care for patients with heart disease and applications of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) for patients with arrhythmias and heart failure, including studies with collaborators across the United States. In particular, he is very interested in applications of machine learning and innovative statistical methods in these research areas, and he presently has 115 peer-reviewed publications. Sources of support for his research program include R01 funding from the National Institutes of Health, and he has also been the recipient of grants from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and industry.

From a personal standpoint, Dr. Bilchick has lived in Spain, Latin America, and the Middle East and speaks Spanish fluently. He enjoys spending time with his family, coaching in supporting his kids in their athletic endeavors, playing tennis and golf, and playing the piano. He also is invested in the Charlottesville community through various activities, including outreach and education regarding heart rhythm conditions.