Overview
Dr. Sana M. Al-Khatib is a tenured Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, a board-certified clinical electrophysiologist and an experienced clinical researcher in cardiac arrhythmias. She is currently the Director of the Fellowship Program at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. As a graduate of the NIH-funded Clinical Research Training Program, she is one of a few electrophysiologists nationwide with expertise in quantitative research methods. Her clinical expertise is in sudden cardiac death prevention, atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias, and implantable cardiac devices. Her research expertise lies in the design and conduct of clinical trials, outcomes research, and cost-effectiveness analyses. She is a recipient of a National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s R-01 grant titled “Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Therapy in Patients with Heart Failure” (2009-2013) and of an American Heart Association Career Development Award (2002-2006). She is a Co-Principal Investigator on an NHLBI-funded T-32 Postdoctoral Training in Cardiovascular Clinical Research and is a co-investigator on several NIH-funded projects. She has more than 350 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has established several collaborative research efforts both within and outside her institution. The goals of these collaborations are to synergize efforts aimed at improving the survival and quality of life of patients at risk for sudden cardiac death and those with atrial and ventricular arrhythmias through clinical trials and outcomes-based research and to evaluate study design and data analysis in order to improve the quality of research done in these arenas. Dr. Al-Khatib is a Senior Associate Editor for Circulation and is on the Editorial Board for Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, Heart Rhythm, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, JACC:EP, the Cardiovascular Digital Health Journal, and the American Heart Journal. Dr. Al-Khatib has served on multiple national committees including the Heart Rhythm Society Board of Trustees (current), the Heart Rhythm Society Finance Committee (current), the Heart Rhythm Society Audit Committee (current), the Heart Rhythm Society Health Policy committee (past), the Heart Rhythm Society Legislative subcommittee (past), and the Heart Rhythm Society Program Planning committee (past). She chaired the 2017 AHA/ACC/HRS Guideline for the Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
REPLY: Revisiting ICD Therapy for Primary Prevention: The CONTEMP-ICD Trial.
Journal Article JACC Heart Fail · May 2025 Full text Link to item CiteSame-Day Discharge After Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation in the United States.
Journal Article J Am Heart Assoc · April 16, 2025 BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation have historically been hospitalized overnight or longer postprocedure. National rates of same-day discharge (SDD) following AF ablation remain unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: The NCDR (Nationa ... Full text Link to item CiteClinical phenotypes and outcomes associated with improved left ventricular ejection fraction after biventricular pacing.
Journal Article J Interv Card Electrophysiol · April 9, 2025 BACKGROUND: In some patients who receive a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device, the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) does not improve. METHODS: We analyzed patients enrolled in the REVERSE, MADIT-CRT, and BLOCK-HF trials, restricting th ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
CCC: The Regional Approaches to Cardiovascular Emergencies- Cardiac ARreSt (RACE-CARS) Cluster-Randomized Trial 1/2
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2027Postdoctoral Training in Cardiovascular Clinical Research
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEProgram Director · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2003 - 2025QT prolonging medications and sudden cardiac death among individuals on hemodialysis
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2020 - 2025View All Grants