Dr. Jeffrey Olgin is a cardiologist with particular expertise in electrophysiology, the study of the heart’s electrical activity. He is Co-Director of the UCSF Heart and Vascular Center as well as Chief of the Cardiology Division. A specialist in arrhythmias, he has developed techniques to treat irregular heartbeats and has a special interest in atrial fibrillation, often called A-fib.

Olgin studies the mechanism of arrhythmias, focusing on why people develop A-fib in particular. He has an active basic science laboratory as well as a clinical and translational research program on arrhythmias (translational studies are aimed at producing better patient care). He also has a research program that focuses on mobile health (using mobile technologies, such as cell phones, for health care) and on developing new technologies to enhance both patient care and research efficiency.

Olgin earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. At UCSF, he completed a residency in internal medicine, followed by fellowships in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. At the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Krannert Institute of Cardiology, he developed a program in cardiac ablation – destroying the heart tissue causing abnormal rhythms – for atrial fibrillation. In 2003, he returned to UCSF as chief of cardiac electrophysiology.

Olgin is active in the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society. He serves on the editorial boards of various cardiology and electrophysiology journals, and has authored chapters on arrhythmias for many major medical textbooks.