News
KOSAIR CHARITIES GIVES $5 MILLION TO CREATE PEDIATRIC HEART RESEARCH CENTER
Ellen de Graffenreid
Jan 18, 2005
502-852-7504
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Gheens Foundation has committed $1.5 million to the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute (CII) to support research critical to the development, testing, and clinical trials of new heart assist devices that may provide hope and a better quality of life for desperately ill heart failure patients.
A partnership between the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital, the institute strives to improve quality of life for heart failure patients by building on the success of Dr. Laman Gray’s work with ventricular assist devices and artificial hearts.
Jim Davis, Executive Director of the Gheens Foundation, “The Gheens Foundation and its Trustees are honored to be a part of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute. We see this grant as a natural extension of our commitment to the community.”
The gift of $1.5 million over three years will create the Gheens Foundation Biosensor Research Center at the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute. The center will focus on developing new and improved biomaterials to make existing heart assist devices more compatible with the human body and on biosensor research that may lead to innovative new devices for patients with heart failure.
“This gift provides funding for two key initiatives within the CII,” said James Ramsey, U of L president and immediate past chairman of the CII Board of Directors. “We are grateful that the Gheens Foundation recognizes the potential of this innovative partnership, and their support will jump-start research programs in the critical areas of biosensors and biomaterials.”
“The CII is on a fast track,” said Hank Wagner, president of Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services and chairman of the CII board of directors. “Because of the Gheens Foundation’s vision, we will be better equipped to bring new heart assist devices from the bioengineer’s laboratory to the patient’s bedside as quickly as possible."
The institute’s program of clinically translational research includes six “centers of competence”: adult and pediatric patients, biomaterials innovation, biosensor innovation, future regeneration proteomics, information management and medical education.
The institute facility, to be located on the U of L Health Sciences Center campus in the Louisville Medical Center, will include an expanded research facility plus training and administrative space equipped with the latest technology. Funding includes a $15 million investment from Jewish Hospital, a $5 million grant from Kosair Charities, $6.8 million from the Office for the New Economy and nearly $6.2 million in federal earmarks secured by Sen. Mitch McConnell.
KOSAIR CHARITIES GIVES $5 MILLION TO CREATE PEDIATRIC HEART RESEARCH CENTER
Kathy Keadle
Jun 11, 2004
502-852-7504
LOUISVILLE -- The numbers are startling. Almost twice as many children die from congenital heart disease in the United States each year as die from all forms of childhood cancers combined, according to the American Heart Association. And at least eight infants out of 1,000 are born with a heart defect each year.
According to officials with the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, children suffering from heart disease will soon benefit from a center in Louisville that specializes exclusively in children’s heart research.
Kosair Charities has made a $5 million charitable commitment to the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, a partnership of the University of Louisville, Jewish Hospital and Kentucky’s Office for the New Economy, to create the Kosair Charities Pediatric Heart Research Center. The pediatric center will focus on assessing and developing better heart assist devices that meet the special needs of children.
"Kosair Charities has led the way in the medical care of children since 1923,” said Kosair Charities president Larry Hamfeldt. “We are delighted to aid this vital research so no child is born with a broken heart."
Specifically, the grant will be used to create the Kosair Charities Chair in Pediatric Heart Surgery Research, a position that will direct the research efforts of the center, according to James Ramsey, chair of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute board and president of U of L. The chair will receive state matching funds from the Research Challenge Trust Fund, more commonly called “Bucks for Brains.” The funds will also provide seed funding for laboratory and clinical studies.
“This is a major step forward for us in our efforts with the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute,” Ramsey said. “We are elated that our good friends at Kosair Charities have committed to partner with us on this important initiative.”
"I applaud Kosair Charities for its visionary leadership in funding a pediatric component for the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute,” said Hank Wagner, vice chair of the institute and president of Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services. “The grant adds another dimension to the already impressive goals for the institute. With Kosair Charities help, we will be better equipped to bring treatments for heart disease to the forefront and improve the quality of life for adults and children for generations to come."
According to Wagner, the institute will build on the internationally recognized work of U of L and Jewish Hospital surgeons Laman Gray, Erle Austin and Robert Dowling. The surgeons and their research teams will use their vast experience with cardiac devices, including the research and implantation of the world’s first totally implantable artificial heart devices, to focus new efforts on improving the performance of existing devices and developing the next generation of bio-adaptive heart innovations.
"This grant means a great deal to the children of Kentucky,” said Austin, a pediatric heart surgeon. “This has the potential to give kids more treatment options and a better quality of life. The research work we will be able to do now will give many of them a future they might not otherwise have.”
The institute facility, which is slated to open in 2006, will bring together biologists, cardiologists, engineers, physiologists and surgeons to work together in one place. The facility will house research labs, fabrication facilities, operating rooms, recovery rooms, diagnostic equipment, training facilities, medical imaging areas and mock circulation labs, institute officials said.
In addition to Kosair Charities’ support, funding for the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute includes $15 million from Jewish Hospital and $5 million from the Kentucky Office for the New Economy. Nearly $3 million in federal grants secured by Sen. Mitch McConnell will fund the facility’s state-of-the-art equipment.
Jan. 12, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kathy Keadle, 852-7504
Linda McGinity Jackson, 587-4230
Cardiovascular Innovation Institute
Board of Directors to host McConnell
LOUISVILLE, Ky. —Louisville’s Cardiovascular Innovation Institute will hold the second meeting of its board of directors on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 11:30 a.m. in the conference center atop the Rudd Heart and Lung Center at Jewish Hospital.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has supported the project and secured more than $3 million in appropriations from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services to equip the institute’s laboratories, will be a special guest at the meeting.
The institute will build on the successes of Dr. Laman Gray’s work with ventricular assist devices (VADs) and artificial hearts – both state-of-the-art treatments for end-stage heart failure. Cardiovascular devices are a $12.8 billion global industry. Heart assist devices and biofeedback sensors are among the most rapidly growing sectors in the industry.
The institute, to be located on the U of L Health Sciences Center campus, will include an expanded research facility plus training and administrative space equipped with the latest technology. Funding includes a $15 million investment from Jewish Hospital and $5 million from the Office of the New Economy.
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