- June 2013 -
Nutrition Bloedorn Foundation awards $10,000 to Institute's nutrition education programs

 The Walter A. Bloedorn Foundation's $10,000 donation will support the Women's Heart Center's nutrition education programs. With a vision to promote nutrition advice and education, the GW Heart & Vascular Institute hired a registered dietitian, Kelli M. Metzger, MS, RD, LDN, CDE, to join our team. Kelli will organize and lead the following activities:  
  • Individual and group nutrition counseling for patients
  • Nutrition workshops offered at area community clinics
  • GW Student, resident, cardiology fellow, and faculty nutrition lectures
  • Deployment of a cell phone nutrition application

The Institute is working to launch a nutrition education program focused on the benefits on the Mediterranean Diet. The PREDIMED trial results recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that the Mediterranean Diet is a more effective way to reduce cardiovascular disease risks than low-fat diets. Our goal is to educate the Washington, DC community about the benefits of this diet and to use mobile phone technology to assist in changing behavior and improving health outcomes. The program will also address access to healthy foods in underserved areas and affordability and adoptability of the diet in culturally and economically diverse communities.

 

The Bloedorn Foundation has been a generous supporter of the GW Heart & Vascular Institute for the past six years providing funding for various professional and public education programs. The Institute is grateful to have their continued support.

  

Fellowship doctors Two GW Cardiology Fellows and Two Interventional Cardiology Fellows graduate this June

This June two cardiology fellows graduated and moved forward with their careers in cardiology. We would like to congratulate Jennifer Shea, MD, and Behnam Tehrani, MD, on this great accomplishment! Dr. Shea will join a private practice group in Northern Virginia. Dr. Tehrani will continue at GW as an interventional cardiology fellow training under Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Dr. Ramesh Mazhari.

 

Additionally, two interventional cardiology fellows graduated. Congratulations to Benjamin Yang, MD, and Brad Serwer, MD! Dr. Yang will join a private practice group in Denver, CO. Dr. Serwer will serve as an interventional cardiologists in the U.S. military stationed at Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. We wish our graduates the best of luck in their careers!

  

Honduras Medical Team
Institute raises more than $14,000 to support Fourth Annual Medical Mission to Honduras

 

On Sunday, June 23, 2013, Peter and Jan Marino opened their home to 30 guests to raise funds for the Institute's Fourth Annual Medical Mission to Honduras. The event raised more than $14,000! Dr. Cynthia Tracy and Dr. Marco Mercader lead the annual mission and are joined this year by Fernando Najera, John Naylor, and GW internal medicine resident Dr. Jeff Zweig. The medical mission provides a free, two-week heart failure and arrhythmia clinic to patients who cannot afford specialty healthcare. Since the first mission in 2010, the GW Heart & Vascular Institute medical mission team has evaluated more than 300 patients and implanted more than 88 donated heart pacemakers and defibrillators. Thanks to all of our donors! 

 

Your support is needed in 2013 to continue to fund this life-saving mission. Donate Now to support this program, or for more information, please contact Jessica Johnson: [email protected].