Stephen E. Epstein, M.D, is a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

. Formerly Chief of the Cardiology Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland

Bethesda, Maryland

Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...

 for over 30 years, became Director of Vascular Biology Research at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 in 1998.

In 1999 he became the Executive Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Washington Hospital Center

Washington Hospital Center

Washington Hospital Center is the largest private hospital in Washington, D.C.. It serves as a teaching hospital for Georgetown University School of Medicine....

. Dr. Epstein has a long and distinguished career in the care of cardiac patients and the study of the cardiovascular system. His research has involved coronary, valvular and myocardial disease. Recently he has focused on understanding and treating cardiovascular disease at the molecular level and the study of the potential role of infection in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...

 and in restenosis following angioplasty

Angioplasty

Angioplasty is the technique of mechanically widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel, the latter typically being a result of atherosclerosis. An empty and collapsed balloon on a guide wire, known as a balloon catheter, is passed into the narrowed locations and then inflated to a fixed size...

.