In Memoriam

The cardiology and nuclear medicine communities are saddened by the passing of Mario S. Verani, MD, who died on 30 October 2001 after a battle with cancer.

Dr. Verani was born in Brazil and received his undergraduate medical education at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, graduating in 1967. After a research fellowship at the Cardiovascular Research Center in Rio de Janeiro, he came to the United States for further training. He served an internal medicine internship and residency at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and completed his cardiology fellowship at the University of Iowa in 1974. After an initial appointment at Iowa, Dr. Verani joined the faculty of the Cardiology Section of the Department of Medicine of Baylor College of Medicine in 1977 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1983 and Professor in 1990. He was a member of the medical staffs of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, The Methodist Hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston. Dr. Verani was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology. He was a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and its subspecialty board in Cardiovascular Diseases. He was also certified by the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology.

It is for his work in the field of nuclear cardiology that Dr. Verani is best known. Early in his tenure at Baylor, while serving as the director of the Hemodynamics Laboratory at the VA Medical Center, Dr. Verani received training in the relatively new field of nuclear cardiology. In 1982, he was appointed co-director and in 1984 director of the Nuclear Cardiology Laboratories at The Methodist Hospital, a position that he held until his death. During his career at Baylor, Dr. Verani oversaw the exponential growth of the field of nuclear cardiology here and made consistent contributions. His interests covered the gamut of activities in the field, but he is best known for his work with myocardial perfusion imaging. His laboratory served as the core site for the development of adenosine infusion as an adjunct to perfusion imaging with both thallium-201 and Tc-99m labeled radiotracers. The laboratory's other work included both basic science and clinical research programs in the performance and interpretation of isotope-imaging data and continues today with further studies to assess the prognostic value of perfusion scanning in patients with chronic and acute forms of coronary artery disease. His approach to quantification has become a routine part of daily patient care among many cardiologists.

In addition to his local responsibilities, Dr. Verani was an enthusiastic advocate of the modality of nuclear cardiology on the national and international levels. He was a frequent presenter at educational seminars of the Heart House, as well as at medical meetings of cardiology and nuclear medicine organizations. A founding member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Dr. Verani held numerous positions within the organization, and served as its president in 1996–97. Even after his presidency, he continued as a member of the board of ASNC and served as a hard-working member of more of its committees. Dr. Verani was the founder and principle organizer of the Southeast Texas Working Group of ASNC, a regional organization dedicated to bringing the best investigators and practitioners in the field to Houston for the purpose of elevating the quality of nuclear cardiology practice and research locally. He extended this goal nationally as a founding member of the Certification Committee (later Board) of Nuclear Cardiology. From 1999 to 2000, he served as chairman of the Training and Credentialing Committee of ASNC. Always dedicated to improving the practice of the modality, he also served as a member of the board of directors of the Intersociety Commission for Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories.

Dr. Verani's personal research efforts covered many areas of investigation and resulted in the publication of over 200 articles and abstracts in national and international journals. His efforts in this regard were recognized by his appointment to the editorial boards of all of the major American cardiology journals and to an associate editorship at Circulation. With Dr. Ami Iskandrian, he published two well-received textbooks on nuclear cardiology. ^1,2

Dr. Verani's legacy includes establishing Baylor College of Medicine as a leader in the field of nuclear cardiology and—of even more importance—serving as a role model for many a physician and scientist. He combined creativity and determination in the development of new applications in his field, yet he always remembered that the ultimate purpose of the modality was to aid in the care of individual patients. Despite his erudition and his position at the forefront of the development of nuclear cardiology, Dr. Verani tempered his presentations with reminders of the practical applications of the techniques that he described.

Dr. Verani's premature death at the age of 58 leaves a void, personally and professionally, for all who knew him, but we continue to be led forward by his ethic, scientific integrity, insight, and perseverance.

Our deepest sympathies are extended to his wife, children, and extended family.

Figure. Mario Verani and his family at an inn on Cape Cod, September 2000. This photograph was taken on the day before his son Andre's marriage. Left to right: Andre and his fiancée, Jennifer; Mario and his wife, Regina; Lucio; and Fabio and his wife, Simone.