his is the second of three stories featuring presenters at OU-COM’s 3rd Annual Continuing Medical Education Conference and All Class Reunion, to be held this weekend. This story features Mitchell Silver, D.O. (’89). Earlier in the week we featured Karen Thomas, D.O. (’96); next is Bernie Siegel, M.D., the keynote speaker for this year’s conference and who also will speak at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium Friday evening. The CME/All Class Reunion brings back alumni to Athens for three days of continuing medical education seminars, reunites classmates and makes new colleagues and friends. For more information, call (740) 593-2176 or e-mail Sharon Zimmerman, director of alumni affairs.

By Brooke Bunch

Mitchell Jon Silver, D.O. (’89), will soon be returning to his old home to share his knowledge on revolutionary new treatments for heart disease to former classmates.

On Oct. 2 at OU-COM’s CME Conference and All Class Reunion, Silver will be giving a 30-minute lecture on newer management strategies for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease and carotid artery disease, which he said involves new technology that offers patients a safer and more noninvasive way to be treated other than traditional vascular surgery.

Silver is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Vascular Medicine and Biology. He completed a cardiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1996, after which he completed a vascular medicine fellowship and interventional cardiology fellowship at the clinic.

“I’m going to talk about the new procedure in treating carotid artery disease called carotid stenting, a new technology FDA approved just two weeks ago,” Silver said. “I’m also going to talk about limb salvage procedures for patients with severe peripheral vascular disease.

“I think I can provide an update on cutting-edge technology to primary care doctors whose knowledge of these new treatments wouldn’t have come so soon.” 

Silver joined the MidOhio Cardiology and Vascular Consultants in 2000. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. Silver specializes in interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular disease.

The OU-COM graduate has presented at several national conferences and authored more than 41 original articles, book chapters and abstracts.

This is Silver’s second time speaking at OU-COM’s annual conference, but he admits he returns to Athens on a weekly basis. He is playing a major role in starting a new cardiovascular and diabetes care center at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital, called the Cornwell Center for Cardiovascular and Diabetes Care, where patients can receive care for heart and vascular disease as well as diabetes using a cardiocatherization lab and other vascular procedures.

“Patients will have the opportunity to participate in clinical research trials and therefore have exposure to pioneering devices and medications they otherwise wouldn’t have,” he said.

Silver said the Cornwell Center, made possible by a $1.3 million donation from the Cornwell family, should be completed in about nine months.

He is also a member of the International Society of Cardiovascular Interventionists, the American College of Cardiology, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Osteopathic Association, the Cleveland Academy of Physicians and the Society of Vascular Medicine and Biology.

Silver was awarded the first prize in a Fellows Abstract Competition at the annual Scientific Session in San Diego in1998, hosted by the Society of Vascular Medicine and Biology. He also received the honors of first prize in the non-clinical category of the William E. Lower Fellowship Thesis Prize, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1998.

The Cleveland Clinic Educational Foundation also recognized him in 1995 with the International Traveling Fellow Award.

Prior to his fellowships, Silver completed a residency in internal medicine at the clinic, where he was honored as the Distinguished Senior Resident in the Department of Internal Medicine. He completed his internship at Doctors Hospital North in Columbus.

Silver resides in New Albany with his wife, Janice, and their two daughters, Leah, 11, and Rachel, 14.