Michael P Ayers, MD
Cardiology
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Bio & Overview
Michael Ayers, MD, is a specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and inherited heart disease. As director of UVA’s Center for Excellence in HCM, he serves as a primary investigator of both large international and investigator-initiated clinical trials.
He is sought after as a lecturer regionally, nationally, and internationally. He first gained interest in HCM through his experiences in sports cardiology, as HCM is one of the most common conditions diagnosed in competitive athletes.
With an eye towards prevention, he is board-certified in advanced lipidology and cardiac prevention. He manages patients with a strong family history of premature heart attacks, cholesterol or lipid disorders, or high individual risk for cardiac events.
Dr. Ayers has advanced imaging expertise, with board certifications in advanced echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography (CT), and nuclear cardiology.
Growing up in rural western North Carolina, Dr. Ayers was his high school’s salutatorian and was a multi-letter athlete, receiving all-regional and all-state honors in football and track and field. He then attended Duke University, where he played collegiate rugby.
He majored in theater studies, with a minor in biological anthropology and anatomy, and graduated with highest honors. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he took three years to pursue his passion for theater. As a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors’ Equity Association, he performed in major productions in New York, Sacramento, and Chicago.
In 2007, Ayers changed paths by applying to medical school. He attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. At Columbia, Ayers met his wife, Emily, who was also an aspiring physician.
The couple left New York City to train at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Ayers completed a residency in internal medicine, a fellowship in medical education, and a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine in Philadelphia.
During his training, he was voted Best Resident Teacher by fellow interns and received the Penn Pearl award, a teaching award by the entire medical school student body. He was one of five national finalists for the American Heart Association’s Laennec Young Clinician Award, which recognizes outstanding clinical acumen, analytic skills, and teaching ability in future academic cardiologists.
At UVA, he has won teaching awards from the medical school, fellowship, and university.
The American College of Cardiology chose him as the field's most outstanding educator by naming him as a Proctor Harvey Award recipient.
He is director of the cardiovascular medicine and the cardiac intensive care elective for UVA School of Medicine, and is the director of cardiovascular medical education for the internal medicine residency program.
Dr. Ayers joined the UVA faculty in August 2020, along with his wife, a lymphoma specialist in the Division of Hematology and Oncology. The couple has two boys, a girl, and two dogs. In his free time, Ayers loves sports, particularly basketball and football, and is an avid runner and cyclist.
Academic Information
- Department
- Medicine
- Academic Role
- Assistant Professor
- Division
- Cardiology
- Research Interests
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, advanced lipid disorders, sports cardiology, cardiopulmonary exercise stress test, cardio-oncology, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- Spanish, English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Residency
- Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
- Fellowships
- Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
- Certification
- American Board of Internal Medicine (Cardiovascular Disease), National Board of Echocardiography (-), American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine)
Highlights
Meet Cardiologist Michael Ayers, MD
My name is Michael Ayers, and I'm a cardiologist at UVA Health. Within cardiology, I have two realms that I sort of operate in. The first is in imaging. Reading of the stress tests and the echocardiograms at UVA. The second is the more clinical side, and on outpatient I see a couple different groups of patients. Patients with something called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a thick heart disease that's inherited. The second group of patients that I see is in preventative cardiology. So these are patients with either a strong family history or a disease that predisposes them, or puts them at risk for heart conditions in the future. I think from a young age, I really wanted to have a job where I felt like I was contributing in some tangible way to society. My grandfather, who was a very big influence in my upbringing, always talked about serving your fellow man. And then my mother was a nurse. So between the two of them, I think I found my way to medicine pretty naturally. I think what patients can expect is that we're going to share our time together and we're going to slow things down and we're going to really, especially when I meet patients for the first time, go through their story. I want to get to know what your priorities are, what your worries are, and what your expectations are. I love figuring out what it is that a patient values in his or her life, and then helping design a treatment plan that aligns with that value.
Awards
- UVA Physician Awards Recognition: American Heart Association‚ Fellow-in-Training Clinician Award Finalist, 2019
- Vincent and Bonnie Anderson Award for Outstanding Teaching at The Perelman School of Medicine of The University of Pennsylvania, 2018
- Penn Pearl Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Fellow-In-Training, 2018
- Maurice F. Attie Teaching Award, 2016
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