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Dr. Joseph Krepp Awarded $82,560 Research
Grant from Pfizer
Dr. Joseph Krepp was awarded a research grant of $82,560 from Pfizer to study Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis in Patients with Suspected Hypertensive Heart Disease. Cardiac Amyloidosis is an uncommon disease in which proteins can abnormally deposit into the heart muscle leading to thickening and stiffening of the heart, leading to heart failure. This disease has traditionally been underdiagnosed and confused with heart disease from hypertension. Using nuclear imaging techniques, cardiologists are now able to screen and identify cardiac amyloidosis at earlier disease stages. The GW Division of Cardiology has established an Infiltrative Cardiomyopathy team led by Dr. Joseph Krepp and Dr. Gurusher Panjrath, who use cutting edge technologies and novel therapies to diagnose and treat patients with cardiac amyloidosis. This investigator initiated research grant will help our team to better target which patients have cardiac amyloidosis, leading to earlier identification and improved patient outcomes.
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Echocardiogram in an Amyloidosis Patient
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GW Heart & Vascular Institute's Medical Mission to Honduras Awarded $10,000
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| Eli Sevilla and Marco Mercader with Donation from FYM Foundation |
The GW Medical Mission to Honduras is celebrating its 10th anniversary this September. The Mission was awarded a $10,000 donation from the Felix Y. Manalo (FYM) Foundation, the charitable arm of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC or Church Of Christ) on August 12th. Community organizations, leaders and hundreds of residents from Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia gathered in Prince George's County at the FYM Foundation's Aid to Humanity event to support organizations that provide positive social impact. Six local organizations were honored including the GW Heart & Vascular Institute. Dr. Marco Mercader accepted the $10,000 award on behalf of the GW Medical Mission to Honduras. The ceremony included additional words from distinguished guests Prince George's County Council Member The Honorable Rodney C. Streeter with Monica Watson, Minister of Economic Affairs Jose Victor V. Chan of the Philippine Embassy and Maryland's 24th District Delegate Andrea Harrison.
The GW Medical Mission to Honduras team has implanted nearly 350 pacemakers and defibrillators and evaluated hundreds of patients with heart arrhythmia disorders over the last 10 years. Dr. Cynthia Tracy who leads the Mission has acquired over $3.5 million in donated heart devices and medical equipment.
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GW Heart Failure Team Making Strides
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| Ashley Young, Linda Bostrom, Erin Breen, Gurusher Panjrath |
GW Heart Failure section has continued to grow over the past few years. The section takes a truly multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach and comprises of an experienced and compassionate team. The section offers a spectrum of heart failure related care starting from prevention to advanced heart failure management including L
eft Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) and transplantation. The heart failure team includes: Dr. Gurusher Panjrath, Dr. Richard Katz, heart failure nurse practitioner Linda Bostrom, heart failure nurses and LVAD coordinators Ashley Young and Erin Breen, nutritionist Kelli Metzger, social worker Leah Vandermark, and community health workers
Kim Desormeaux and Sawa Kamara. The team offers a range of services including: a comprehensive heart failure disease management clinic, cardiomyopathy center, an outpatient intravenous diuretic program, a robust and successful readmission reduction program involving community health workers, advanced heart failure clinic and evaluation, implantation and management of left ventricular assist devices and evaluation for heart transplantation. The team comprises of talented nurses, nurse practitioners, community health workers, board certified heart failure cardiologists , dieticians and social worker and finance specialist. The heart failure team works closely and collaboratively with cardiac imaging specialist, electrophysiologist, interventional cardiologist and cardiac surgeons to tailor care to individual patient needs. The section is also involved in a wide range of research activities and continues to present abstracts and presentations both nationally and internationally and publish research papers.
Highlights of the clinical program:
- Heart Failure Disease Management Clinic
- Nurse practitioner supervised Diuretic clinic
- Cardio-Oncology program
- Cardiomyopathy Center involving a multidisciplinary approach on inherited and infiltrative cardiomyopathies (such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, sarcoidosis, amyloidosis) including multimodality imaging, endomyocardial biopsy, genetic testing, immunosuppressant
- Readmission Reduction Program involving Community Health Workers
- Food and nutritional security program in partnership with Food and Friends
- Advanced Heart Failure Program offering latest technology durable left ventricular assist devices and short term mechanical circulatory devices
- CRM Device Based HF Diagnostics
- Palliative and bridge to decision Home inotropes program
Newer procedures and therapies soon to be available:
- CardioMEMS
- Iv therapies for Familial amyloid polyneuropathy
- Access to ongoing drug and device based clinical trials
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Support the GW Heart & Vascular Institute!
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