Samuel A. Wickline, MD, recently joined the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine to lead a state-of-the-art heart institute that will integrate biomedical research with advanced clinical care to find new ways to detect, treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases and improve the heart health of the Tampa Bay community.

As the first director of the USF Health Heart Institute, he will be instrumental in helping design, build, equip and staff the Heart Institute to be co-located with the new Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa. Among his responsibilities will be the recruitment of a critical mass of cardiovascular scientists at the forefront of interdisciplinary biomedical research to define the root causes of heart and vascular disease leading to new diagnostics and treatments.

“Heart disease is the number one killer of people in the world and the United States, and there are still innumerable problems to solve,” said Dr. Wickline, who is in the process of setting up his own laboratory at USF. “I have been impressed by the energy and commitment here at the University of South Florida to invest substantial resources in a heart institute… And from the perspective of what is done in the laboratory, I believe we have a lot to offer in terms of bench-to-bedside research that could solve some of the major cardiovascular problems.”

» Read more about Dr. Wickline's nanotechnology research and vision for the USF Health Heart Institute