In Memoriam: Ralph Shabetai, MD

Abstract

The world of cardiology has lost a great scientist, teacher, physician, and friend: Ralph Shabetai, who died on October 15, 2010. Dr. Shabetai’s interest in the heart developed from a very young age in his hometown of Manchester, England, as both he and his twin brother had heart murmurs. Evaluations by many consultants disclosed a wide range of opinions about the significance of the murmurs as well as about the twins’ prognoses. Ralph became fascinated with biology and specifically with the circulation of the frog while in grade school. He went on to medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland, and subsequently moved to the United States to the University of Cincinnati and the University of Kentucky. Like his mentors at these institutions, Ralph soon became a great clinician-scientist. Dr. Shabetai’s first paper, “Pulsus Paradoxus,” was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 1965. It roved to be a seminal work, as were many of Ralph’s 165 ublications. He wrote numerous papers on the pericardium n health and disease in both humans and nonhumans. His xperimental investigations on the pericardium involved emodynamic and Doppler echocardiographic studies in ifferent animal species, including teleost fishes (also nown as sharks!). Dr. Shabetai wrote 70 book chapters nd a single-authored textbook titled The Pericardium, first ublished in 1981 and revised in 2003. This book is considered a “classic” and remains a major reference for those seeking to learn about pericardial disease. Dr. Shabetai was recognized internationally and well appreciated as an expert in pericardial, myocardial, and valvular heart disease and heart failure. He was a master physiologist and an expert and curious investigator. He used cardiac catheterization, hemodynamics, Doppler, echocar-