Senior Research Scientist, Columbia University • Honorary Principal Research Fellow, Imperial College London

Mathematical and computational approaches to cardiac arrhythmia mechanisms

Ventricular tachycardia, macroreentrant atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, celiac disease research, signal analysis, substrate mapping, and translational electrophysiology.

I develop whole-heart and automaton models of myocardial electrical activation to better understand the onset and perpetuation of ventricular tachycardia, macroreentrant atrial tachycardia, and atrial fibrillation. My work links arrhythmia mechanisms to electrogram patterns, activation maps, structural substrate, and translational electrophysiology, with the aim of improving substrate mapping and ablation strategies.

I also pursue celiac disease research, with recent work focusing on disease onset, the inflammatory milieu, and quantitative frameworks for understanding progression and maintenance.

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About

My research has shown how functional conduction block can form at lateral boundaries of the ventricular tachycardia isthmus, how source-sink mismatch contributes to block formation, and how fragmented or unstable electrograms can help identify arrhythmogenic substrate during therapy. More recently, I have found similar low-voltage and slow-conduction properties at atrial tachycardia bottlenecks, and have used automaton modeling to show how dispersion of refractoriness and fibrosis density can generate rotational activity in atrial fibrillation.

In parallel, I have contributed to biomedical signal analysis and informatics, and have served in major editorial roles including founding Editor-in-Chief of Informatics in Medicine Unlocked and Editor-in-Chief of Computers in Biology and Medicine.

Research themes

Ventricular tachycardia

Mechanistic modeling of post-infarct reentry, isthmus geometry, source-sink mismatch, and sinus-rhythm markers of inducible VT.

Prediction of VT isthmus location, shape, and exit orientation
Uniform slow conduction and low-voltage signatures during sinus rhythm
Electrogram fragmentation and instability as markers of arrhythmogenic substrate

Atrial arrhythmias

Modeling and mapping of macroreentrant atrial tachycardia and atrial fibrillation with emphasis on bottlenecks, fibrosis, and rotational activity.

Activation-signature prediction of macroreentrant AT bottlenecks
Voltage-based guidance for atrial fibrillation substrate mapping
Automaton models of refractoriness gradients and fibrillatory maintenance

Selected figures

Representative images from my work in ventricular and atrial arrhythmia mechanisms.

Paradigm for predicting ventricular tachycardia isthmus location, shape, and exit orientation from sinus rhythm activation and electrogram maps

Predicting VT isthmus location from sinus rhythm maps

A paradigm for predicting VT isthmus location, shape, and wavefront exit orientation based on canine post-infarction experiments and sinus rhythm activation/electrogram duration mapping.

Selected patient voltage and activation maps for macroreentrant atrial tachycardia with predicted and actual ablation targets outlined

Macroreentrant atrial tachycardia targets

Selected patient maps showing voltage, activation, and target locations. Predicted targets align with low-voltage, slowly conducting bottlenecks that may aid ablation targeting.

Schematic examples of single-loop, double-loop, and four-loop reentrant circuit patterns in arrhythmia

Examples of reentrant circuit patterns

Schematic examples of single-loop, double-loop, and four-loop reentrant patterns, illustrating how isthmuses, entrances, exits, and outer pathways can organize arrhythmia propagation.

Possible conduction patterns through arrhythmogenic substrate

Examples of possible conduction pathways through arrhythmogenic regions, including fixed channels, grid-like conduction, and block related to discontinuities or source-sink mismatch.

News

Accepted: Celiac disease onset and the inflammatory milieu (review), World Journal of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, 2026.
Submitted: Onset and Maintenance of Atrial Fibrillation (review), invited to a special issue of Life, 2026.

Selected publications and roles

Recent and representative work

Ventricular tachycardia substrate mapping: What's been done and what needs to be done. Heart Rhythm, 2025.
Structure and function of the ventricular tachycardia isthmus. Heart Rhythm, 2022.
Wavefront Curvature Analysis Derived from Pre-Procedural Imaging Can Identify the Critical Isthmus in Patients with Post-Infarcted Ventricular Tachycardia. Heart Rhythm, 2024.
Activation signature valleys are predictive of macroreentrant atrial tachycardia bottlenecks where uniform low voltage and uniform slow conduction reside. Heart Rhythm, in press.

Editorial leadership and honors

Founding Editor-in-Chief, Informatics in Medicine Unlocked (2015–2023)
Editor-in-Chief, Computers in Biology and Medicine (2013–2021)
Top Scholar, ScholarGPS (2024)
Multiple invited lectureships, editorial board appointments, and international grant peer review roles

Support and collaboration

If you are interested in supporting this work, collaborating on computational or clinical electrophysiology research, discussing invited lectures, or exploring translational projects in arrhythmia mechanisms and substrate mapping, please feel free to contact me using any of the methods below.

Contact

Email: ejc6@cumc.columbia.edu

Mailing address: Dr. Edward Ciaccio, HP-9-956, 180 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, NY 10032

Twitter / X: https://x.com/EdwardCiaccio

Google Scholar: Profile

NIH papers list: PubMed author query

Acknowledgment

This webpage was developed with assistance from OpenAI's ChatGPT, with final content selection, revision, and approval by Edward J. Ciaccio.