Association of University Cardiologists
Home
Constitution and
Bylaws
Upcoming
Meetings
Officers
Membership
Roster
Deceased
Members
Membership Nomination
Abstract Forms
How to Contact Us
Ralph Shabetai, MD
1924 - 2010
Dr. Shabetai was an internationally recognized expert on the pericardium, a thin fibrous sack that surrounds the heart. His single author monograph, The Pericardium, was published in 1981, followed by a second edition in 2003. He ran a heart failure clinic at the Veterans Hospital until his retirement. Dr. Shabetai was recognized as an international authority in his field, contributing 73 book chapters in major textbooks in cardiology and medicine, and he published over 125 articles of original research. His intellectual curiosity was insatiable and included studies at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and SeaWorld.
Ralph Shabetai was born in Manchester, England, and graduated from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Faculty of Medicine in 1952. He came to the United States in 1955 earning faculty positions at the Universities of Cincinnati, Kentucky and Texas. He was recruited to San Diego in 1976 as Professor of Medicine and Chief of Cardiology at the VA Hospital in La Jolla and Associate Chief of Cardiology at UCSD. He established an excellent clinical program at the VA Hospital, was a mainstay of the teaching program at UCSD, and role model as the consummate and caring clinician. He mentored generations of physicians who would become academic and community leaders.
He was a lover of poetry and his love of literature was complemented by a lifelong passion for classical music.