Richard V. Milani, M.D., FACC, FAHA

 

milanir

Richard V. Milani, M.D., FACC, FAHA is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition to teaching and serving on the Ochsner Health System’s Board of Directors, Dr. Milani is an active researcher who has published several hundred journal articles throughout his career. Milani graduated from the University of Florida in 1976, and from the University of Florida College Of Medicine in 1979. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in internal medicine at UF’s satellite campus in Jacksonville in 1984.

Upon finishing his internship and residency, Dr. Milani completed a fellowship in preventive medicine and clinical epidemiology at Harvard University. Afterward, Dr. Milani taught Harvard medical students as a full-time faculty member of the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Milani also completed an additional fellowship at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in Cardiology in New Orleans in 1991.

Dr. Milani has since lived in New Orleans with his wife, Laurie, and their three children.

Dr. Milani currently serves as Chair for the Department of Population Medicine, Vice-Chair for the Department of Cardiology, Director of Non-Invasive Imaging, and the Medical Co-Director of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention at the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation Hospital and Clinic. Dr. Mialni also serves on the Ochsner Health System’s Board of Directors and since 1994 has been an adjunct associate professor for the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

When asked about his experiences during Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, he said: “I lost my house, my car, and all my possessions, except for the clothes on my back. The most important things, my family, were untouched, and we evacuated safely. After getting my family to safety, ultimately in Florida, I came back and worked in the aftermath. From a medical perspective, this was the most interesting period of my medical career. As a physician, we did everything we needed to take care of patients; we doctored, nursed, transported and sometimes carried, and even served food. I lived in scrubs and slept in my office for many months. Everybody in the hospital and even the city worked together for a common goal; there was never a ‘no’, and there were no time clocks to punch. Although I wouldn’t wish this catastrophe on anyone, I wouldn’t trade the experience either.”

Dr. Milani has served on many medical publications’ editorial boards, including The American Journal of Cardiology, Vascular Medicine, Preventive Cardiology, and Endovascular Today. Dr. Milani was named the University of Florida’s Teacher Of The Year in 1984 and received the Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Award in 2005. Dr. Milani is still heavily involved in research and leadership.

Dr. Milani said: “The Junior Honors program was a life-changing event for me and helped prepare me for a career as a physician-scientist. In addition to securing a spot in an excellent medical school, it afforded me the opportunity to develop an interest in medical research, which I have pursued throughout my career.”

Back to Former Student Profiles