Dr. George S. Abela is currently professor of medicine, Chief of the Cardiology Division and director of the fellowship training program at Michigan State University. Prior to that he was an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Interventional Research and Cardiovascular Photobiology Laboratory at Deaconess Hospital as well as co-director of the Institute for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. He completed his residency and internship in medicine at Emory University and his fellowship in cardiology at the University of Florida. Dr. Abela has a master's degree in cardiovascular pharmacology, an M.D. from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and an MBA from Michigan State University. He was elected as vice president of the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery (1993-4) and was the recipient of the Mark B. Award and the Ellet Drake Lectureship Awards. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a member of the Association of Professors of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, The American Federation for Clinical Research, American College of Physicians, The Central Society of Clinical Research and the Sigma-Xi Scientific Society. He is past recipient of the Young Investigator Award and Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Abela is an internationally recognized pioneer in the development and evaluation of numerous laser systems for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and is actively continuing his research and publications in this area. He was the first investigator in the U.S. to receive FDA approval for using laser angioplasty in the peripheral circulation. Other work has included using laser for ablation of arrhythmia generating foci in the heart, detecting platelet aggregates in circulating fluids and evaluation of the mechanism of transmyocardial revascularization (TMR).