RESEARCH PARTNERS

The Steven M. Gootter Foundation has partnered with the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center and Stanford University in the fight against sudden cardiac death. To date, the Foundation has endowed the Steven M. Gootter Chair for the Prevention and Treatment of Sudden Cardiac Death. Ongoing efforts will fund research and continue its mission of providing life saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) throughout Southern Arizona.

Overview of Sarver Heart Center

The UA Sarver Heart Center (Center) was founded as the University Heart Center in 1986 under the direction of Drs. Jack G. Copeland and Eugene Morkin with only a few members. In 1991, Dr. Gordon A. Ewy was appointed director, and led the campaign to fund a heart center building. Renamed in 1998 in recognition of generous support from the Sarver family, the Sarver Heart Center developed a vision of a future free of heart disease and stroke, with the goal of preventing and curing cardiovascular disease through the academic pillars of research, education and patient care. In the fall of 2000, the UA Sarver Heart Center dedicated its new home, a 30,000-square-foot, three-story addition to the original College of Medicine building that became the administrative “heart” of the Sarver Heart Center.

The Center now is composed of more than 175 physicians and scientists with national and international reputations working on the University of Arizona Health Sciences campuses in Tucson and Phoenix. The Center brings together clinical and basic scientists to work collaboratively to prevent, treat, cure and rehabilitate cardiovascular diseases–the number one cause of mortality in the United States.

Equipped with several state-of-the-art research laboratories, the Center’s major early focus was on the heart transplant and artificial heart programs, resuscitation research and preventing congenital heart abnormalities through research and development. Increasingly, emphasis has grown with basic science researchers who developed the Molecular Cardiovascular Research Program. Housed in the UA College of Medicine’s Medical Research Building, under the leadership of Carol Gregorio, Ph.D., a co-director of the Sarver Heart Center, basic scientists are studying the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease with the goal of developing new preventive and therapeutic approaches.

The UA Sarver Heart Center has several focus areas, including Cardiocerebral Resuscitation, molecular and cellular biology, physiology and pathology of microvascular and vascular circulation, heart failure, congenital heart disease, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac transplantation and artificial heart, cardiovascular disease in specific populations, such as Native, Hispanic and African Americans, women and the elderly, and prevention, cure and rehabilitation.

Overview of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute

The Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, was established in 2004 and currently consists of 110 faculty members representing, engineers, physicians, surgeons, basic and clinical researchers. The core of the Institute is integrating fundamental research across disciplines and applying technology to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease. In an era of constant change and innovation the Cardiovascular Institute leverages the incredible intellectual manpower found within Stanford University. The Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Humanities & Sciences, Engineering, and Business schools are all located entirely on Stanford’s Silicon Valley campus. This intimate proximity promotes creative collaborations among a diverse mix of students, faculty and scientists.

Joseph C. Wu MD, PhD is the Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. Whether it’s stem cells, big data, clinical science, imaging, women’s health or biomaterials and devices, the mission of the Institute is to propel research that ensures a future in which we minimize damaging one of nature’s most delicate organs.