Rate My Professor Béla Merkely

Professor Béla Merkely is a Hungarian cardiologist and university professor at Semmelweis University. Born on 28 June 1966 in Budapest, he graduated as a general practitioner from Semmelweis University of Medicine in 1991. He earned his PhD in 1999 with a thesis on the mechanisms of ventricular arrhythmias, followed by habilitation and the Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (DSc) degree in 2006 in cardiology. He was appointed Professor of Medicine at Semmelweis University in 2008.

Merkely has held key leadership roles at the university, including Director and Chair of the Heart Center since 2007 and the Heart and Vascular Center since 2012. He served as Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs from 2015 to 2018 and has been Rector of Semmelweis University since July 2018. He also chairs the Department of Aviation and Space Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine since 2022. His professional appointments include President of the Cardiology Section of the Professional College since 2023, as well as prior leadership in Hungarian cardiology societies such as the Hungarian Society of Cardiology and the Hungarian Heart Rhythm Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC, 2011) and has received the Széchenyi Prize. Merkely directs one of Europe’s largest heart transplant programs and specializes in interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, heart failure, and sports cardiology.