David G. Benditt, M.D.

David G. Benditt (bendi001@umn.edu) received a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering and an M.D. degree from the University of Manitoba. Following postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, he completed cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology fellowships at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Thereafter, he joined the faculty of the Cardiovascular Division in Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), and is a member of European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of interventional Electrophysiology (JICE), a member of the Editorial Board arrhythmia Journal (Japan), and the Europace, and the Journal of Cardiac Electrophysiology. He is medical consultant to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and a member of the appeals panel of the ACGME Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology board. Dr. Benditt has been an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, President of the both the American Heart Association-Minnesota affiliate and the North American Society for Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE, now the Heart Rhythm society). He received the 2007 Pioneer in Pacing and Electrophysiology Award of the Heart Rhythm society, the 2010 Outstanding Clinician Award at the University of Minnesota, the 2011 American Heart Association Heart Hero and the 2012 Yang Wang Lifetime Achievement Award of the University of Minnesota, the 2017 Achievement award of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, and the 2018 Lifetime membership of the Chinese American Heart Association . Dr. Benditt has published 9 books, approximately 320 peer-reviewed papers, 215 book chapters and review articles, contributed to 10 practice guideline and/or consensus reports, and holds 10 patents. Dr. Benditt is currently Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia and Syncope center at the University of Minnesota. He has trained more than 30 clinical cardiac electrophysiologists and has been a member of the Ph.D. committee of postgraduate students in electrical and biomedical engineering. His principal research interests are evaluation of fainting spells and related autonomic disturbances.

Several representative publication from Dr. Benditt's studies include:

  • Benditt D.G., Roukoz H. Are Norepinephrine transport inhibitors A potentially useful therapy for vasovagal syncope? J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 24(7);804-5 PMID: 23574151

  • Benditt D.G., Chen LY (2012). Peptides in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome ( Editorial comment). JACC. 60(4):3321-323.

  • Saal D, Thijs R, van Zwet E, Bootsma M, Brignole M, Benditt DG, Gert van Dijk J. Temporal Relationship of Asystole to Onset of Transient Loss of Consciousness in Tilt-Induced Reflex Syncope. JACC: Clin EP, 2017.

  • Kohno R, Abe H, Akamatsu N, Benditt DG. Long-Term Follow-Up of Ictal Asystole in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Is Permanent Pacemaker Therapy Needed? Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiol. 2016;27(8):930-6.

  • Benditt D.G., Detloff B.L.S., Adkisson A., Lu F sakaguchi S schussler S., Austin E., Chen L.Y. Age-dependence of relative change in circulating epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations during tilt-induced vasovagal syncope. (2012). Heart Rhythm. 9(11):1847-52.

Research project available include the following:

  • Pathophysiology and treatment of Reflex syndrome

  • Autonomic disturbances in : 1) POTS, and 2) cough syncope

  • Neuropeptide abnormalities in 1) POTS, and 2) Orthostatic Hypotension

  • Non-invasive electrical bioimpedance to assess cardiovascular hemodynamics in arrhythmia