- March 2013 -
National Doctor's Day Please support Doctor's Day on March 30, 2013

 

Every year on March 30, patients and their families have a special opportunity to thank those who are most responsible for their healthcare. National Doctor's Day is an opportunity for physicians and patients to come together for the important cause of advancing medicine. A charitable gift to honor a physician at the GW Heart & Vascular Institute will empower them and give them the resources to continue their important work in research, community outreach, and education which is essential to our goal of improving the quality of life of individuals with heart disease. To make a donation, please visit: https://my.gwu.edu/mod/heartandvascular/

 

doctor's day Currently, the physicians at the GW Heart & Vascular Institute are working in many innovative ways to improve outcomes in heart disease. The following are a few examples of their initiatives:

  • Dr. Richard Katz is developing interventions using mobile technology including cell phones to help individuals better manage hypertension and diabetes.
  • Dr. Brian Choi has developed a novel non-invasive way to measure key hemodynamic parameters that have traditionally required invasive cardiac catheterization.
  • Dr. Jonathan Reiner is expanding the mission of ReStart DC, an automatic external defibrillator donation program by spearheading legislation that will address uniform Good Samaritan laws throughout the United States and increase the access to and use of automated external defibrillators.
  • Dr. Jannet Lewis is focusing on women's heart health using personalized risk assessment tools to individualize care and help women prevent heart disease - the number one killer of women.
  • Dr. Cynthia Tracy is leading medical missions to rural Honduras to implant pacemakers and defibrillators in patients who would otherwise not be able to receive such treatment. She is also training Honduran physicians and technicians on device maintenance for continuing care in Honduras.
  • Dr. Ramesh Mazhari is using DNA sequencing techniques to research therapy options for heart failure patients using left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).
  • Dr. Allen Solomon is leading fellows in cardiology training and creating unique learning opportunities. He also provides free heart screenings for student athletes in the Washington region annually.
  • Dr. Lisa Martin is continuing her focus on preventive cardiology and research with the NIH Women's Health Initiative.
  • Dr. Marco Mercader is working with our GW pharmacologists to improve treatment of cardiac rhythm problems.

These are just a small sampling of the many ways we are working to advance medicine. We hope you will take the opportunity this Doctor's Day to play a part in the future of research, education and outreach initiatives at the GW Heart & Vascular Institute. Thank you for your consideration. To make a donation please visit:

 https://my.gwu.edu/mod/heartandvascular/   

  

 
GW Cardiologists presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference in San Francisco, CA, March 9-11, 2013

Gurusher S. Panjrath, MD, our new director of advanced heart failure services, won the American College of Cardiology's top Young Investigator Award for his research on "Impaired energetics and heart failure: rates of adenosine triphosphate transfer through creatine kinase predict clinical heart failure events and death."  A continuation of Dr. Panjrath's research will be funded by the GW Heart & Vascular Institute.

 

Benjamin Yang, MD, interventional cardiology fellow and Brian Choi, MD, assistant professor of medicine, presented research data on "Contrast Echocardiography Transit Time Accurately Estimates Cardiac Index and Pulmonary Vascular Resistance", a study initially funded by the Institute.

 

Monica Mukherjee, MD, a 2012 GW Cardiology Fellow graduate, along with Drs. Choi, Katz, and Lewis, presented the results of her GW Heart & Vascular Institute funded research project, "Abnormal Longitudinal Strain Using Left Ventricular Speckle Tracking in Ambulatory Hypertensive Patients with Preserved Ejection Fraction."

 

panel discussion GW Heart & Vascular Institute presented "Heart Healthy Women," at GW's Frontiers in Medicine program on March 13, 2013

 

A panel of GW Heart & Vascular Institute experts discussed advances in the detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease and the role that lifestyle modification plays in prevention. The program was moderated by Alan Wasserman, MD, MACP, Chairman, Department of Medicine, Eugene Meyer Professor of Medicine; and include speakers Richard Katz, MD, Director, GW Heart & Vascular Institute; Jannet Lewis, MD, Director, Women's Heart Center; Richard Neville, MD; Co-Director GW Heart & Vascular Institute and Kelli Metzer, MS, RD, Women's Heart Center. Thank you to all who participated in this program.