March 9, 2007

A new day for cardiac care

MGHers gathered in the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care Feb. 26 to celebrate the official launch of the MGH Heart Center, which was created to combine the longstanding traditions of individualized care with contemporary, evidenced-based cardiology treatment. The foundation of the MGH Heart Center is its multidisciplinary approach to treat complex heart disease — not only to do what is best for patients, but also to keep pace with the rapid advances in cardiac medicine and surgery.

According to Michael Gillespie, MPH, executive director of Medicine and administrator for the MGH Heart Center, "The center was established because, in the cardiac environment, we needed to respond to current challenges with the best complement of programs, matching clinical care with translational research."

The center comprises nine clinical program which effectively combine the expertise of 58 cardiologists, 10 cardiac surgeons, 10 cardiac anesthesiologists and hundreds of skilled nurses to treat nearly 140,000 patients annually in both inpatient and
outpatient settings. The launch event was designed to increase awareness of the center in the MGH community and to thank the many staff members for their continued efforts in providing quality cardiac care. Attendees enjoyed presentations from a spectrum of the MGH Heart Center staff and affiliates, including MGH President Peter Slavin, MD, and longtime patient Deb Heffernan.

For more information on the MGH Heart Center, visit www2.massgeneral.org/heartcenter or call (866)-644-8910.