Dr. Jeffery Meadows is a cardiologist who specializes in treating complex heart disease with cardiac catheterization (minimally invasive procedures in which a thin, flexible tube called a catheter is threaded into a blood vessel to reach the heart). He cares for infants and children whose conditions existed at birth or developed later, as well as adults born with heart disorders.
Meadows directs the cardiac catheterization laboratory for pediatric and adult patients, where he performs diagnostic and therapeutic catheter-based procedures that result in less patient discomfort and faster recoveries than traditional methods. He also directs the cardiopulmonary exercise laboratory, which performs comprehensive testing of heart and lung function before, during and after exercise. These studies help doctors and patients understand their heart and lung health and limitations, and help guide treatment decisions.
In research, Meadows focuses on developing and improving cardiac catheterization procedures for treating a variety of congenital heart conditions. He is part of the Congenital Catheterization Research Collaborative, a multicenter research group whose mission is to advance interventional cardiology research and improve outcomes for children and adults with congenital heart disease. He also works on quantitatively assessing function of the heart's ventricles and vessels, particularly in patients with complex single ventricle anatomy (heart defects in which there is one pumping chamber instead of two).
Meadows earned his medical degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed a residency in pediatric internal medicine and fellowships in pediatric cardiology and pediatric interventional cardiology at Boston Children's Hospital. He also has a master of advanced study degree in clinical and epidemiological research from UCSF, where he has worked for more than a decade.
