CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly five million Americans have congestive heart failure, half of which is classified as non-ischemic heart failure. The cause remains unknown, but it is not due to blockage of the heart vessels. Over a half million new cases are diagnosed each year.
Roger Hajjar, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Judith Gwathmey, VMD, Ph.D. of Gwathmey, Inc., both fellows of the American Heart Association, have teamed up on a promising new therapy for non-ischemic heart failure.
Dr. Roger Hajjar, a leading investigator in heart failure research and gene therapy will present “Delivery Systems” at “Approaches to Myocardial Regeneration” November 14 from 5:15pm to 6:45pm in room D222 at the Dallas Convention Center during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Dr. Hajjar is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and staff cardiologist in the Heart Failure & Cardiac Transplantation Center at MGH. He is the director of the Cardiovascular Laboratory of Integrative Physiology and Imaging at MGH.
Dr. Hajjar has developed gene transfer methods and techniques in the heart to improve contractility. Dr. Hajjar’s laboratory has focused on targeting signaling pathways in cardiac myocytes to improve contractile function in heart failure and to block signaling pathways resulting in cell death.
Dr. Hajjar explains “After many years of concentrating on the neurohormonal system in congestive heart failure, we are finally at a point where restoring contractility in the cardiac myocyte can be done safely and effectively by molecular therapy.”
Dr. Gwathmey is a highly respected and referenced thought leader in the area of cardiovascular disease. She wrote and edited a landmark book in cardiovascular disease entitled Heart Failure: Basic Research and Clinical Aspects. Her paper on calcium signaling and heart failure is listed on the Circulation Research website as one of the most cited papers in the past 25 years.
Gwathmey, Inc. has received $7.5 million dollars of funding to create genomic and proteomic profiling of failing human hearts of differing etiologies, develop methodologies, and identify novel targets for the treatment of heart failure by molecular therapies.
Dr. Gwathmey notes “This is an exciting opportunity to continue a twenty year history of collaboration with Dr. Hajjar. I am pleased Gwathmey, Inc. can provide the expertise and infrastructure to move Dr. Hajjar’s research from the bench to the bedside.”
Dr. Gwathmey is the founder and CEO of Gwathmey, Inc., a preclinical contract research organization (CRO) based in Cambridge, MA. The company has special expertise in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Gwathmey is a Professor of Medicine and Physiology at Boston University Medical Center and is also with the Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.
Dr. Gwathmey will moderate the Abstract Oral Sessions on “Mechanism of Heart Failure and Ventricular Remodeling” on Monday, November 14th from 9am to noon in room D166 at the Dallas Convention Center.
Gwathmey, Inc. will also exhibit at the Conference from November 13 through the 15th. They will be at booth 4225 at the Convention Center.
The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, from November 13 through the 16 in Dallas, Texas, encompass four days of invited lectures and investigative reports. Presentations represent all fields of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and related disciplines.
Information regarding Dr. Hajjar can be found online at http://www.massgeneral.org. Gwathmey, Inc., is a preclinical contract research organization (CRO) located in Cambridge Massachusetts. Information regarding Dr. Gwathmey and Gwathmey, Inc. can be found online at http://www.gwathmey.com or by calling 617-491-0022 x107. Further information about the American Heart Association and the 2005 Scientific Sessions can be found at http://www.aha.org.
Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Judith K. Gwathmey http://profnet.prnewswire.com/ud_public.jsp?userid=10004516
Gwathmey, Inc.
CONTACT: Christi S. Miller of Gwathmey, Inc., +1-617-491-0022 ext. 105
Web site: http://www.gwathmey.com//
