A recognized leader in the field of preventive cardiology, Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH has helped create an environment for and provides guidance to future preventive cardiologists at UAB. Dr. Bittner attended medical school at Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Frankfurt, Germany, and went on to receive her MD from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 1981. She completed her residency in internal medicine at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem in 1984 and her cardiology fellowship at the UAB in 1987. Dr. Bittner is currently a Professor of Medicine and Section Head of Preventive Cardiology.  She is a past president of the National Lipid Association, past chair of the American Heart Association Exercise, Prevention and Rehabilitation Committee and currently chairs the Prevention Committee of the American College of Cardiology.

Contact Information

310 Lyons-Harrison Research Building
701 19th Street South
Birmingham, Alabama 35294-0007


Email Address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   
Office Phone: (205) 934-7336
Office Fax: (205) 975-6237

Office Assistant

Linda Barber
Email Address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Office Phone: (205) 934-7336
Office Fax: (205) 975-6237

Professional

Training

Cardiology Fellowship
University of Alabama at Birmingham (1984-1987)

Internal Medicine Residency
Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem (1982-1984)

Master of Science (Epidemiology)
University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Public Health

Medical Degree
University of South Alabama College of Medicine (1981)

Professional Appointments

Professor of Nursing
University of Alabama at Birmingham (2001)

Professor of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham (2000)

Associate Professor of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham (1993-2000)

Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham (1987-1993)

Board Certifications

Society Memberships

Editorial Board Memberships

Clinical 

Clinical Interests

Acute coronary care
Cardiac rehabilitation
Coronary heart disease in women
Lipid management
Nuclear cardiac imaging
Preventive cardiology

Teaching 

Preventive Cardiology Fellowship Program

Educational
Publication

Research

Research Interests

UAB Center
Memberships

Selected  Journal

Articles

Arena R, Williams M, Forman DE, Cahalin LP, Coke L, Myers J, Hamm L, Kris-Etherton P, Humphrey R, Bittner V, Lavie CJ; on behalf of the American Heart Association Exercise, Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Committee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. Increasing Referral and Participation Rates to Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation: The Valuable Role of Healthcare Professionals in the Inpatient and Home Health Settings: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2012 Jan 30
PMID: 22291128

Balady GJ, Ades PA, Bittner VA, Franklin BA, Gordon NF, Thomas RJ, Tomaselli GF, Yancy CW; American Heart Association Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee. Referral, enrollment, and delivery of cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs at clinical centers and beyond: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2011 Dec 20;124(25):2951-60. Epub 2011 Nov 14. No abstract available.
PMID: 22082676

Vaidya D, Becker DM, Bittner V, Mathias RA, Ouyang P. Ageing, menopause, and ischaemic heart disease mortality in England, Wales, and the United States: modelling study of national mortality data. BMJ. 2011 Sep 6;343:d5170. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d5170.
PMID: 21896608

Davidson MH, Ballantyne CM, Jacobson TA, Bittner VA, Braun LT, Brown AS, Brown WV, Cromwell WC, Goldberg RB, McKenney JM, Remaley AT, Sniderman AD, Toth PP, Tsimikas S, Ziajka PE, Maki KC, Dicklin MR. Clinical utility of inflammatory markers and advanced lipoprotein testing: advice from an expert panel of lipid specialists. J Clin Lipidol. 2011 Sep;5(5):338-67. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2011.07.005.
PMID: 21981835

Miller M, Stone NJ, Ballantyne C, Bittner V, Criqui MH, Ginsberg HN, Goldberg AC, Howard WJ, Jacobson MS, Kris-Etherton PM, Lennie TA, Levi M, Mazzone T, Pennathur S; American Heart Association Clinical Lipidology, Thrombosis, and Prevention Committee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism; Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology; Council on Cardiovascular Nursing; Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease. Triglycerides and cardiovascular disease: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.
Circulation. 2011 May 24;123(20):2292-333. Epub 2011 Apr 18.
PMID: 21502576

PubMed Listings