Cardiology Research
Research That Transforms Care
The research direction of the Division of Cardiology is to pursue questions that arise as we care for our patients. Because our goal is to understand the causes and find treatments and cures as quickly as possible, we begin at the bedside, and then go to the bench.
One of our primary areas of focus is research into what causes heart muscle disease in children, and how heart muscle disease leads to heart failure and sudden death.
From the Bedside to the Laboratory
We work with patients to identify the clinical features of these disorders, and the questions we confront drive our research. Why is an infant born with heart disease? How does a child acquire a heart problem? What goes wrong in the biological mechanism that causes genes to go awry and results in a heart defect?
Discoveries for a Lifetime
We take these questions back to our laboratories and engineer animal models to study these mechanisms. This work is resulting in breakthrough insights into the causes of congenital and acquired heart problems. Our work is also leading to more effective, better targeted treatments that we hope will have a positive impact on individuals from birth through old age.
Steps Toward Progress
Even before we can find a cure for heart disease, we are applying what we have learned through our research to help families live fuller, healthier lives:
- We provide comprehensive cardiovascular genetic evaluation and follow-up.
- We counsel parents about genetic risks and evaluate at-risk family members.
- Our Fetal Heart Program (link here) provides in utero evaluation and helps manage pregnancies when the fetus is diagnosed with cardiovascular abnormalities.
- Through our Center for Better Health and Nutrition, we offer proven preventive methods to help children and families at high risk of developing heart disease.
