A Richmond native, Dr. Kontos completed his medical degree in 1988 at the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University), where he continued on to finish his internal medicine and cardiology training. After completing a second fellowship in echocardiography at VCU, Dr. Kontos joined the university’s faculty as assistant professor of internal medicine and cardiology in 1995, with a joint appointment in Emergency Medicine, and a subsequent appointment to Radiology.
Among his many honors, Dr. Kontos won a research award from the American Heart Association, Virginia affiliate, in 1992-93 for his investigation of oxygen-free radicals, ischemia/reperfusion, and gene expression of heat shock proteins. He also has won several awards at state and national meetings, including the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Astra Zenica National Young Investigators Meeting. A fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, Dr. Kontos also is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Echocardiography. At the MCV campus, he is the Co-Chair of the Chest Pain Center Committee, and is medical director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit.
Dr. Kontos has been active on a national level with the American College of Cardiology on the ACTION Acute MI Registry, the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (now the Accreditation service of the American College of Cardiology) and the American Heart Association’s Mission:Lifeline Acute MI committee.
Dr. Kontos has served as co-investigator on multiple clinical investigations and has published more than 150 research papers, more than 100 abstracts and eight book chapters and monographs. Dr. Kontos has made a number of oral presentations and has been an invited presenter at a variety of venues, including locally, the state, nationally and internationally, as a recognized expert in the evaluation and management of patients with chest pain and myocardial infarction.
