Sanjiv M. Narayan, MD, PhD

Expert Publications

• Women's approaches to decision making about mammography.
• Demonstration of the proarrhythmic preconditioning of single premature extrastimuli by use of the magnitude, phase, and distribution of repolarization alternans.
• Exploiting rate-related hysteresis in repolarization alternans to improve risk stratification for ventricular tachycardia.
• Coronary care nurses' clinical decision making.
• Alternans of atrial action potentials during atrial flutter as a precursor to atrial fibrillation.
• Ventricular filling slows epicardial conduction and increases action potential duration in an optical mapping study of the isolated rabbit heart.
• Temporal and spatial phase analyses of the electrocardiogram stratify intra-atrial and intra-ventricular organization.
• Separating atrial flutter from atrial fibrillation with apparent electrocardiographic organization using dominant and narrow F-wave spectra.
• Abnormal heart rate turbulence predicts the initiation of ventricular arrhythmias.
• Implantable defibrillators with and without resynchronization for patients with left ventricular dysfunction.
• T-wave alternans and the susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias.
• What is the best endpoint for ablating atrial flutter?
• Diagnostic accuracy of irregularly irregular RR intervals in separating atrial fibrillation from atrial flutter.
• Cardiac-directed expression of adenylyl cyclase VI facilitates atrioventricular nodal conduction.
• Acute volume overload elevates T-wave alternans magnitude.

Clinical Trials

• Ablation of Sources for Rapid Heart Rhythms
• The Maintenance of Human Atrial Fibrillation

Media Releases

Get to know Cardiac Electrophysiologist Dr. Sanjiv M. Narayan, who serves patients in Stanford, California.

Dr. Narayan is a reputable cardiac electrophysiologist specializing in adult congenital heart disease, cardiac electrophysiology, and interventional cardiology. He serves as a Professor of Medicine within the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Co-Founder of the Arrhythmia Center, and Director of the Atrial Fibrillation Program at Stanford University Medical Center in California.

Voted a “Top Doctor”, he directs the Computational Arrhythmia Research Laboratory at Stanford University, whose goal is to define the mechanisms underlying complex human heart rhythm disorders, and to develop bioengineering-focused solutions to improve therapy that will be tested in clinical trials. Achievements include the first reports of focal and rotational drivers for atrial and ventricular fibrillation in patients, now confirmed by optical mapping in human hearts. Dr. Narayan is a dedicated mentor (K24 HL103800; 2010-2020), and over 80% of his trainees remain in academia. 

Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, he and his parents moved to Birmingham, United Kingdom. He trained in medicine (MB, ChB) at the University of Birmingham Medical School and in software engineering focusing on neural networks (MSc, 1990). He then moved to the renowned computational neuroimaging lab of Dr. Arthur Toga, PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles where he used optical mapping to study somatosensory cortex in rodents (Research Doctorate, 1995). Dr. Narayan trained in internal medicine at Harvard/Mount Auburn Hospital under Dr. Charles Hatem, and in cardiology/EP at Washington University School of Medicine under Drs Michael Cain and Bruce Lindsay. 

A Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the doctor is board-certified in cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). The ABIM is a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world.

Pertaining to his roles with boards, advisory committees, and professional organizations, Dr. Narayan is Co-Chair of Data Sciences Study Section at the AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine (2019 – Present); Chair of the Research Committee at the Heart Rhythm Society; Section Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2017 – Present); Associate Editor of the Journal of the American College Of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology (2014 – Present); Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology (2013 – Present); Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology (2012 – Present); and Member of the Editorial Board of the Heart Rhythm Journal (2007 – Present).

Clinical cardiac electrophysiology (also referred to as cardiac electrophysiology, arrhythmia services, or electrophysiology), is a branch of the medical specialty of cardiology and is concerned with the study and treatment of rhythm disorders of the heart. An electrophysiologist is a type of cardiologist. They focus on the heart’s timing, or electrical system, and on diagnosing and treating irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias. They are also qualified to perform special tests of the heart’s electrical system, such as an electrophysiology study or an ablation.

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