Jeffrey C. Astbury, MD, FASE, FACC, FASA, MSBE, MSEE, Vice Chairman of
Cardiovascular Services and the Director of Intraoperative Echocardiography,
Dept. of Anesthesiology, Butler Health System, has been appointed to the
Steering Committee of the Council on Perioperative Echocardiography. This
branch of the American Society of Echocardiography focuses on echocardiography
for patients undergoing cardiovascular procedures, both invasive and minimally
invasive. Dr. Astbury is the first private practice physician ever to
be appointed to this Council.
The physicians on this committee help guide the practice of perioperative
echocardiography through research, teaching, and the creation of guidelines
and recommendations. Dr. Astbury will be collaborating with members of
the committee to revise the existing “Guidelines for Performing
Ultrasound Guided Vascular Cannulation: Recommendations of the American
Society Echocardiography and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists”,
in addition to several other educational initiatives. “This is a
tremendous honor and privilege to be appointed to this Steering Committee,”
said Dr. Astbury. “I plan to continue to elevate the field of echocardiography
in every way that I can.”
Over the past 23 years, Dr. Astbury has received several awards in cardiac
research and teaching. He has been very active inpatient care, research,
teaching, developing study guides for NBE examinations, publishing medical
articles, and has been invited to speak as an expert in his field on numerous
occasions. Most recently he presented the “Intraoperative Evaluation
of Mitral Regurgitation” at the American Society of Echocardiography
30th Annual Scientific Sessions in June 2019.
In addition, Dr. Astbury developed protocols for intraoperative echocardiography
for cardiac surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, electrophysiologic
procedures involving (atrial) transseptal puncture, and ultrasound-guided
vascular access. He has dual National Board of Echocardiography (NBE)
Certifications in Advanced Perioperative Echocardiography and Adult Transesophageal
Echocardiography. He was the first physician to be certified five times
by the National Board of Echocardiography since its inception in 1999.
Dr. Astbury has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biophysics from Edinboro University,
a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University
of Pittsburgh, a Master’s Degree in Bioengineering from the University
of Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine. Dr. Astbury is a Fellow in the American Society of
Anesthesiologists, the American College of Cardiology, and the American
Society of Echocardiography.

Dr. Jeffrey Astbury, MD, FASA, FACC, FASE, MSBE, MSEE