Michael Rocco, M.D.

Michael Rocco, MD, is the Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Stress Testing, Section of Preventive Cardiology, and a Staff Cardiologist, Section of Clinical Cardiology and Preventive Cardiology, in Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. He also holds an appointment in the Section of Nuclear Cardiology in the Department of Molecular and Functional Imaging. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiology and nuclear cardiology. Dr. Rocco has a special interest in clinical cardiology, stress testing and cardiac rehabilitation, coronary artery disease, cardiac catheterization and the treatment of lipid disorders.

Dr. Rocco did his undergraduate work at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., graduating Phi Beta Kappa and valedictorian of his class. He received his medical degree from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He took his clinical training (internship and residency) at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. He became a Research/Clinical Fellow in Cardiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rocco completed the Henry J. Kaiser Fellowship Program at Harvard University, Boston, where he trained in epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical study design.

Since 1988, Dr. Rocco has been an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He has had several prior academic appointments: as a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School; as a Clinical Associate at Simmons College, Department of Nursing, in Boston; as Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and as Consultant for the Framingham Heart Study.

Prior to his 2002 appointment to Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Rocco was the Director of Stress Testing and Cardiac Rehabilitation for University Hospitals in Cleveland. He also served in that position for Mount Sinai Medical Center where he held a simultaneous appointment as Director of the Cardiovascular Fellowship Training Program.

His clinical research has focused primarily on the prognostic significance of asymptomatic ischemia, the evaluation of therapeutic interventions and exercise in the treatment and prevention of coronary artery disease, and the effect of drug therapy on lowering lipid levels.

Dr. Rocco is published in leading peer-reviewed journals on topics related to his clinical experience and research work. He has authored or co-authored several chapters in medical textbooks on his specialty interests, including screening for asymptomatic coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia management and a chapter on circadian rhythms and ischemic heart disease, among others.

Dr. Rocco is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the American College of Physicians. He serves on the Council of Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association.
 
Watch a video about Dr. Rocco and his views about statin intolerance.

• Thomas Jefferson Award, Duke University Medical School, Durham, N.C., 1980

• Henry J. Kaiser Fellowship Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston: Training in epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical study design under Lee Goldman, M.D.

Cardiovascular Disease

Internal Medicine

Awards and Honors:

• Sigma Xi, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 1974 
• Phi Beta Kappa, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 1974   
• Valedictorian, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 1976 
• Alpha Omega Alpha, Duke University Medical School, Durham, N.C., 1978

Research Funding:

• Co-Investigator. An Intervention to Increase Exercise Maintenance. NIH Funded (1RO1-NR04704-01AZ). Shirley M. Moore, Principal Investigator, Completed 2004 
• Co-Investigator. Exercise in Older Cardiac Patients. NIH, National Institute on Aging. Shirley M. Moore, Principal Investigator, Funded July 2006

• American College of Cardiology
• American Heart Association, Council on Clinical Cardiology
• American Society of Nuclear Cardiology

• Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
• Merck & Co., Inc.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Sanofi-Aventis US Inc.