New Executive VP of WVU Medicine Children's arrives

J. Philip Saul, M.D., who this summer was named executive vice president of WVU Medicine Children’s and executive director for children’s health, WVU Medicine, has begun his duties.

Dr. Saul, who will also serve as a professor in the WVU Department of Pediatrics, joins WVU from The Ohio State University, where he was chair of pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and associate dean for children’s and transitional health at The Ohio State University.

He earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Duke University and completed his residency in pediatrics, as well as clinical and research fellowships in pediatric cardiology, at Children’s Hospital, Boston.

Saul is credited with performing the first radiofrequency catheter ablation for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in a child (1990), and the first catheter cryoablation procedure in a child in the U.S. (2003). He has continued to pioneer new techniques for the minimally invasive treatment of arrhythmias in children and adults with congenital heart disease. In recent years, his interests have included preventive cardiology to address the epidemic of childhood obesity, sudden unexpected death in the young and the role of genetics in the new era of “personalized medicine.”

He has published more than 270 articles, chapters and books, and holds eight patents. Saul has lectured extensively throughout the world, directed and organized numerous conferences, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors and grants.