William H. Sauer, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, where he serves as Network Director for Cardiac Electrophysiology and Director of Translational Research in the Section of Cardiology.
Dr. Sauer trained at the University of Pennsylvania, earning bachelor's degrees in bioengineering and biology followed by his MD, and completing residency and fellowship training in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the University of Colorado faculty in 2006 as the institution's sole cardiac electrophysiologist, building a world-class clinical and academic program there. In 2019, he moved to Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital as Section Chief of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service within the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine before being recruited to the University of Chicago in 2026.
In 2012, Dr. Sauer established an ablation biophysics laboratory, first at Colorado and later at Harvard, to systematically investigate how catheter contact, power, timing, and electrode configuration affect tissue heating and lesion formation. This work produced several innovations now used clinically, including bipolar radiofrequency ablation between two opposing catheter tips for deep intramural arrhythmia circuits, half-normal saline as an electrode-cooling irrigant to improve lesion depth, and heat-sensitive liposomal constructs that release cardiotoxic agents selectively into ablated tissue to improve lesion durability. He holds three US patents related to arrhythmia therapy delivery and ablation catheter design. His most recent work applies stored implantable defibrillator electrograms to guide targeted ablation of the fascicular Purkinje system in patients with ventricular fibrillation, and his laboratory is now focused on pulsed field ablation, a non-thermal electroporation-based energy source, including its interaction with metallic cardiac implants and strategies to optimize lesion selectivity.
Dr. Sauer is a founding member of the International Ventricular Tachycardia Center Collaboration and has contributed to multicenter analyses of ventricular tachycardia ablation outcomes. He co-chaired the Heart Rhythm Society's Expert Consensus Statement on the Diagnosis and Management of Arrhythmias Associated with Cardiac Sarcoidosis, which remains an authoritative international guideline, and continues to study arrhythmic risk and outcomes in cardiac sarcoidosis. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, along with book chapters, guideline documents, and contributions to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, and currently serves as principal or site investigator on multiple active clinical trials evaluating pulsed field ablation and other emerging arrhythmia technologies.
Mentorship of trainees has been a consistent thread throughout Dr. Sauer's research career: most of his highly cited research publications were written with him as senior author, and many of the fellows and residents he has trained have gone on to prominent faculty positions at academic medical centers. In 2020 he co-founded the Electrophysiology Fellows Summit and Global Arrhythmia Scholars Program, which now reaches approximately 900 cardiologists and electrophysiologists across 92 countries annually. At the University of Chicago, he is working to build a collaborative translational research infrastructure within the Section of Cardiology that connects laboratory discovery to investigator-initiated clinical trials.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
- Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
2006
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
- Cardiovascular Medicine
2003
University of Pennsylvania
MD - Medicine
1999
University of Pennsylvania
BA - Biology
1995
University of Pennsylvania
BS - Bioengineering
1995
Effect of Pulsed Field Timing Sequence and Electrode Cooling on Ablation Safety and Efficacy Surrogates: A Preclinical Study.
Effect of Pulsed Field Timing Sequence and Electrode Cooling on Ablation Safety and Efficacy Surrogates: A Preclinical Study. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2026 Sep 23; e015042.
PMID: 42775459
Thermal profiles of pulsed field ablation catheters.
Thermal profiles of pulsed field ablation catheters. Heart Rhythm. 2026 Aug 04.
PMID: 42551689
New Energy, Old Lessons: The Evolving Safety Profile of Pulsed Field Ablation.
New Energy, Old Lessons: The Evolving Safety Profile of Pulsed Field Ablation. JACC Case Rep. 2026 Jul 22; 31(29):108763.
PMID: 42530213
Ventricular tachycardia ablation using a lattice-tip ablation catheter and intracardiac echocardiography in the presence of a left ventricular assist device.
Ventricular tachycardia ablation using a lattice-tip ablation catheter and intracardiac echocardiography in the presence of a left ventricular assist device. Heart Rhythm. 2026 Jun 20.
PMID: 42323178
Limited benefit of half-normal vs normal saline irrigation for augmenting current delivery with open-irrigated temperature-controlled ablation.
Limited benefit of half-normal vs normal saline irrigation for augmenting current delivery with open-irrigated temperature-controlled ablation. Heart Rhythm O2. 2026 Aug; 7(8):1555-1563.
PMID: 42666866
Distinct Purkinje electrogram phenotypes at ventricular fibrillation trigger sites in idiopathic and structural heart disease.
Distinct Purkinje electrogram phenotypes at ventricular fibrillation trigger sites in idiopathic and structural heart disease. Heart Rhythm. 2026 Apr 27.
PMID: 42055102
Adjunctive Purkinje Denetworking During Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation in Patients With Prior Ventricular Fibrillation.
Adjunctive Purkinje Denetworking During Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation in Patients With Prior Ventricular Fibrillation. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2026 Apr 23.
PMID: 42024566
Trigger- vs Substrate-Based Purkinje De-Networking for Ventricular Fibrillation: Insights From a Multicenter Study.
Trigger- vs Substrate-Based Purkinje De-Networking for Ventricular Fibrillation: Insights From a Multicenter Study. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2026 Apr 23.
PMID: 42029374
A Pulsed Field Ablation-Based Endocardial Strategy for Ventricular Tachycardia in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy.
A Pulsed Field Ablation-Based Endocardial Strategy for Ventricular Tachycardia in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2026 May; 12(5):1167-1170.
PMID: 42029373
Impact of age and diagnosis-to-ablation time on sex differences in 12-month outcomes after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: An admIRE subanalysis.
Impact of age and diagnosis-to-ablation time on sex differences in 12-month outcomes after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: An admIRE subanalysis. Heart Rhythm. 2026 Apr 17.
PMID: 42002012