We thank you for your support of our mission to promote heart and vascular health through collaborative research, public and professional education, and community outreach. It's been an exciting year with many accomplishments highlighted below. As 2012 comes to an end, please consider making a charitable contribution to the Institute so that we can continue our efforts to improve heart and vascular health in the Washington, DC region.

If you have already made a year-end gift to the Institute, thank you. If you have not and are able to do so, we would be deeply appreciative of your support.

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The following highlights accomplishments achieved in 2012:

Community Service:

• Drs. Cynthia Tracy and Marco Mercader led the third annual medical mission trip to rural Honduras providing $600,000 of donated medical equipment. In the last three years, Drs. Tracy and Mercader have evaluated more than 300 heart patients in Honduras, and implanted 88 heart pacemakers and defibrillators.
  Watch video of Honduras mission » 
• Drs. Allen Solomon and Brian Choi screened 50 high school athletes in Montgomery County using a new handheld portable echocardiogram device that provides more accurate information to determine if young athletes can safely participate in sports.
• The Institute obtained a $100,000 grant from the CTIA Wireless Foundation to provide wireless technology to 50 DC Fire & EMS ambulances to streamline care and enable rapid transmissions of electrocardiograms to DC area hospitals - GW Hospital, Washington Hospital Center, and Howard University. This system should accelerate care for patients with suspected heart attack by reducing the time from onset of chest pain to treatment.
• Dr. Jannet Lewis launched the Women's Heart Center at GW, which provides a free three-week workshop on nutrition education each quarter.
• The Institute organized training of 200 KIPP DC College Preparatory students in Anacostia on basic emergency response skills for sudden cardiac arrest. Students received 45-mintues of hands-on instruction on performing CPR and using automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
• Jonathan Reiner, MD, initiated introduction of a bill in U.S. House of Representatives to encourage use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The "Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2011" HR351 has been endorsed by 20 member organizations of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Coalition.

Education:

• The Institute supported four cardiology specialty fellowships training in electrophysiology and interventional cardiology.
• The Institute hosted visiting professors Drs. Clyde Yancy and Valentin Fuster, both past presidents of the American Heart Association, to GW's campus to meet with medical students, residents and cardiology fellows.
• The Institute hosted three nationally recognized visiting professors for the annual electrophysiology lecture series on heart rhythm disorders.

Research:

• The Institute awarded research grants to four cardiology fellows, which led to presentations at national heart association meetings and publications in academic medical journals
• GW researchers have been supported on multiple research projects including:
• Identification of genomic markers of early onset coronary artery disease.
• Development and testing new imaging techniques to improve the efficacy of cardiac ablation to cure atrial fibrillation.
• Investigation of genomic factors associated with advanced heart failure treatments.
• Assessment of the benefit of renal denervation for the treatment of drug-resistant hypertension.
• Adaptation of new cardiac ultrasound techniques to provide new insight into impact of hypertension on the heart.
• Conducting mHealth (mobile health) community-based research projects studying the impact of cell phone technology in improving health outcomes and managing care for hypertension and diabetes.
• GW researchers presented research results at national conferences of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, the FCC and FDA, mHealth Summit, American Society of Echocardiography and the Heart Rhythm Society.  

Our cardiology and vascular surgery physicians are committed to providing exceptional care and to extending and expanding the mission of the GW Heart & Vascular Institute. We hope that you will consider providing a gift to the GW Heart & Vascular Institute to enable our dedicated team to continue this work.

Thank you for your support.