Kendrick Shunk

Kendrick Shunk is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. He is affiliated with the UCSF Medical Center and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, where he contributes to interventional cardiology and cardiovascular research programs. His primary roles include academic faculty leadership and clinical practice in cardiac interventions.

Dr. Shunk completed his BS in Biological Sciences at Stanford University (1987), followed by joint MD and PhD degrees in Molecular, Cellular, and Pathobiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (1993). He undertook Internal Medicine residency at the University of Chicago (1996) and Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins (2000).

His research focuses on interventional cardiology, particularly in coronary artery disease, stent technologies, and vascular imaging. Key areas include optimization of PCI techniques for calcified lesions, outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and comparative effectiveness of drug-eluting vs. bare-metal stents in saphenous vein grafts. He has led major trials like the DIVA trial and contributed to guideline development for PCI practices.

His articles analyze procedural innovations (e.g., orbital atherectomy), stent-related complications, and imaging modalities for guiding interventions. He collaborates extensively on VA healthcare system initiatives, including heart team approaches for TAVR and surgical aortic valve replacement at federal facilities.

Notably, Dr. Shunk has no explicitly mentioned scientific awards. However, his work has been cited extensively, particularly in high-impact trials such as the 2004 NEJM study on preoperative coronary revascularization and the 2018 Lancet DIVA trial. He advises on VA Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking programs and has participated in multiple grant-funded studies evaluating vascular procedures and patient outcomes.

He is involved in the development of hybrid operating rooms for TAVR and has pioneered techniques for complex PCI cases, such as managing coronary steal syndrome and radial artery access strategies. His contributions also extend to improving imaging techniques for aortic disease assessment, including transesophageal MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy applications.