Cardiovascular Research

Our Vision and Mission: The Cardiovascular Research laboratories at Henry Ford Health System function as a multidisciplinary center fully focused on understanding the pathophysiology of heart failure and on the development and testing of novel therapeutic modalities for the treatment of this disease syndrome. Our vision is to provide effective therapy aimed at improving survival and quality of life of patients with heart failure. Ultimately we hope to meaningfully contribute to the prevention of heart failure and/or at the very least, retard its progression.

To achieve our vision and mission, our program is guided by a multidisciplinary and translational approach to research. The motto of “bench-to-bedside” is a strongly adhered to guiding principle.

To afford an ability for completely exploration of the causes and consequences of heart failure and to develop the tools needed to treat and ultimately prevent the disease, the program relies on a full range of integrated laboratories with complementary yet diverse, state-of-the-art expertise in:

• Organ and whole body physiology
• Interventional cardiology
• Cardiac surgery
• Electrophysiology
• Traditional biochemistry
• Molecular biology
• Pathology and immunohistochemistry

This multidisciplinary approach is designed to achieve a “critical mass” of expertise designed to address as completely as possible, questions that arise in the conduct of research focused on heart failure.

Overview

Heart failure affects over 6 million people in the United States alone. Nearly 500,000 new cases are identified each year and over 250,000 people die annually from the disease. The current direct and indirect costs of heart failure in the United States alone exceeds 37 billion dollars annually. By all measures, heart failure has reached epidemic proportions. The long-term expectation is that the disease frequency will continue to increase as the population ages and longevity increases. These statistics clearly point to the presence of an “unmet need”.

Cardiovascular Research is currently made up of:

• 5 full-time research scientists and physicians
• 1 administrative manager
• 5 full-time licensed veterinary technologists
• 2 scientific technical support personnel, and

Various medical, graduate and undergraduate student interns

Cardiovascular Research receives over 2 million dollars annually in research grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health and various pharmaceutical and biotechnology concerns.

Contact info: Hani “Tony” Sabbah, Ph.D., Section Head, Cardiovascular Research