Paul A Sobotka

Paul Alan Sobotka is an American physician and academic. He is a professor at the University of Minnesota and Ohio State University.

Sobotka's research has focused on autonomic and sympathetic nervous system–targeted, device-based therapies for resistant hypertension, heart failure, and related cardiorenal disorders. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Heart Association.

Education Sobotka earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Leland Stanford Junior University in 1976, followed by a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago in 1980.

Career Sobotka began his academic career in 1983 as an instructor at Northwestern University Hospitals. In 1986, he was appointed assistant professor at Loyola University Medical Center, where he was promoted to associate professor in 1992. Between 1997 and 2002, he worked as a professor as well as vice chairman of the Department of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Since 2007, he has been a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, and since 2008, he has also held a professorship in medicine at Ohio State University.

Research Sobotka's research has centered on cardiovascular physiology and innovative diagnostic and therapeutic treatments for hypertension and congestion. Throughout his career, he has been involved in clinical research on endovascular and interventional therapies aimed at improving blood pressure control in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension. He has conducted clinical studies of renal sympathetic denervation, a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure that targets renal nerve pathways to achieve sustained reductions in blood pressure in patients unresponsive to conventional pharmacologic therapy. He also participated in long-term follow-up data from the Symplicity HTN-1 trial and reported durable blood pressure reductions over several years, highlighting the potential of this approach in selected patient populations.

In addition to working on renal denervation, Sobotka has contributed to interdisciplinary research on vascular and haemodynamic interventions and their implications for cardiovascular and systemic health. His work also spans broader discussions of hypertension management, including commentary on renal denervation's potential role in heart failure and related conditions. Additionally, beyond clinical trials and procedural innovation, his work has integrated insights from invasive and non-invasive diagnostic methods to better understand how autonomic nerve activity and vascular properties contribute to disease progression and treatment response.

Awards and honors 1976 – Dinkelspeil Award, Stanford University 1988 – Fellow, American College of Cardiology 1989 – Fellow, American College of Physicians 2013 – Fellow, American Heart Association

Selected articles Krum, H., Schlaich, M., Whitbourn, R., Sobotka, P. A., Sadowski, J., Bartus, K.... & Esler, M. (2009). Catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation for resistant hypertension: a multicentre safety and proof-of-principle cohort study. The Lancet, 373(9671), 1275–1281. Costanzo, M. R., Guglin, M. E., Saltzberg, M. T., Jessup, M. L., Bart, B. A., Teerlink, J. R.... & UNLOAD Trial Investigators. (2007). Ultrafiltration versus intravenous diuretics for patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 49(6), 675–683. Schlaich, M. P., Sobotka, P. A., Krum, H., Lambert, E., & Esler, M. D. (2009). Renal sympathetic-nerve ablation for uncontrolled hypertension. New England Journal of Medicine, 361(9), 932–934. Symplicity HTN-2 Investigators. (2010). Renal sympathetic denervation in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension (The Symplicity HTN-2 Trial): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, 376(9756), 1903–1909. Mahfoud, F., Schlaich, M., Kindermann, I., Ukena, C., Cremers, B., Brandt, M. C.... & Böhm, M. (2011). Effect of renal sympathetic denervation on glucose metabolism in patients with resistant hypertension: a pilot study. Circulation, 123(18), 1940–1946.