CLARENCE JACOB DOODEMAN, a warm and gregarious man who worked as an automobile mechanic in Chicago, died of sudden cardiac arrest in 1957 at the age of 45. His older brother met the same fate while still in his 30s, and two of his younger brothers also suffered from heart disease. Clarence was a devoted father of three daughters. His daughter Loretta was 12 when her father died. She has vowed to do everything in her power to help others avoid such a devastating experience.
ROBERT G. WEISS, the Clarence Doodeman Professor of Cardiology, is an expert in myocardial metabolism and cardiac imaging. He came to Johns Hopkins in 1983 as a member of the Osler Medical House Staff, joined the faculty in 1989 after fellowship training in cardiovascular disease at Johns Hopkins and at the National Institute on Aging, and became a professor of medicine in the School of Medicine in 2001. Dr. Weiss is the director of the Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center on Sudden Cardiac Death at Johns Hopkins and holds a joint appointment in radiology. He is leading efforts to develop new, non-invasive imaging and spectroscopic techniques to identify individuals at greatest risk for sudden cardiac death and has maintained long-term clinical and basic science research interests in the role of altered cardiac energy metabolism in ischemia, heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Dr. Weiss has received awards including Clinician Scientist and Established Investigator Awards from the American Heart Association in 1990 and 1994, the David E. Gibbons Memorial Research Award in 2006, and membership into the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2004. Dr. Weiss is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. With a broad spectrum of clinical and basic research interests in cardiovascular medicine and imaging, Dr. Weiss has a strong track record of innovation and leadership at Johns Hopkins.