James E. Muller, M.D. is an American cardiologist and medical device executive. He was a member of the faculty of Harvard Medical School for over 25 years, where he studied triggers of coronary artery plaque rupture and sudden cardiac death. He is believed to have coined the term “vulnerable plaque

Vulnerable plaque

A vulnerable plaque is a kind of atheromatous plaque – a collection of white blood cells and lipids in the wall of an artery - that is particularly unstable and prone to produce sudden major problems, such as a heart attack or stroke.In many cases, a vulnerable plaque has a thin fibrous cap and a...

” to denote the plaques at high likelihood of rupture and causation of coronary thrombosis.

He co-founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

is a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 63 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens who share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation...

.

He is CEO of InfraReDx, Inc. which manufactures a catheter-based near-infrared spectroscopy system used to identify cholesterol rich plaques in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization

Cardiac catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart. This is done for both investigational and interventional purposes...

. This system was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use to identify lipid core in coronary plaques of interest.