Within the first decade, KIC researchers received a patent for the method of obtaining a fetal electrocardiogram and their first major grant from the National Institutes of Health and moved into their first building with 6,000 square feet of research and administrative space. Their success continued with Harvey Feigenbaum, MD developing the M-mode technique to measure left ventricular dimensions and Suzanne B. Knoebel, MD and her colleagues, devising a method to record the fetal electrocardiogram and maternal electrocardiogram simultaneously.
In the 1990s, Peng-Sheng Chen, MD, professor emeritus of cardiology, contributed to the understanding of the mechanics of fibrillation, defibrillation and the importance of the autonomic nervous system in cardiac arrhythmogenesis. By 1995, Douglas P. Zipes, MD, distinguished professor emeritus for the IU School of Medicine, became director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and KIC, and during his career was awarded 5 patents, including the synchronous intracardiac cardioverter, an implantable medical device to deliver cardioverting energy to cardiac tissue in synchrony with detected ventricular depolarizations. This type of energy reverts tachyarrhythmias to a normal sinus rhythm without the risk of stimulating the heart.
A resurgence of cardiovascular research continued during in the 2000s in electrophysiology, myocardial regenerative biology, equity research and cardiopulmonary research, and in 2021, the KIC was renamed Krannert Cardiovascular Research Center. Under the leadership of Rohan Dharmakumar, PhD, microcirculation and ischemic heart disease research expanded the research center portfolio, and within a short time, provided more knowledge about the breadth of tissue damage and heart remodeling that can occur after one or more heart attacks.
