University of Pennsylvania Surgeon receives grant to develop "molecular cardiac surgery" as a possible alternative to heart transplant

TY - JOUR

T1 - University of Pennsylvania Surgeon receives grant to develop "molecular cardiac surgery" as a possible alternative to heart transplant

AU - Bridges, Charles R.

N1 - Funding Information: A Philadelphia native, he returned from Boston to complete residencies in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the hospital of University of Pennsylvania. He is currently associate professor of surgery, division of cardiothoracic surgery, and a member of the bioengineering graduate group in the department of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 2001, he has served as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital, University of Pennsylvania Health System. In August 1999, Bridges was one of the founders of the Association of Black Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons serving as president from its inception through January 2002. He is board certified in both surgery and thoracic surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. For the last three years he has served as the chairman of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Workforce on Evidence Based Surgery. In this capacity, within the STS leadership he has directed the development of the first series of practice guidelines in the field of cardiothoracic surgery, including coronary artery bypass surgery in women, antiplatelet therapy during coronary artery bypass surgery, transmyocardial laser revascularization, antibiotic duration, antibiotic selection, guidelines for reporting the results of atrial fibrillation surgery and blood conservation. Bridges is recognized nationally as an authority on the topic of cardiac surgery in African Americans and racial disparities in cardiac surgical care. His current basic and translational research interests include studies funded by the National Institute of Bioengineering and Biomedical Imaging and the NHLBI. He is principle investigator of a grant entitled “Translational Studies in Heart Failure Gene Therapy,” a $3.05 million four-year grant (2007–2011) funded by the NHLBI for the development of novel technology for highly efficient vector-mediated cardiac gene delivery using novel cardiac surgical techniques (“molecular cardiac surgery”). The goal of these studies is to develop revolutionary new therapies for advanced heart failure that may one day compete with transplantation and mechanical assist devices used for “destination” therapy. His interests in molecular/biomedical engineering include theoretical modeling of biological systems, cardiac mechanics and molecular evolution. His research has been published in several prestigious basic science and clinical medicine journals, including Nature, Circulation, the American Journal of Physiology, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. He was a coauthor of the cover article in the March 25, 2004, issue of Nature. This report received front-page coverage in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer … and was described in an editorial in Science magazine as one of the “most important discoveries in human genomics and molecular evolution.” He was honored in Philadelphia Magazine in 2001 as one of the “76 Smartest Philadelphians” and as a “Top Doctor” in thoracic surgery in the May 2004, May 2005, May 2006 and May 2007 issues of Philadelphia Magazine.

PY - 2008/5

Y1 - 2008/5

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=44149089355&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/S0027-9684(15)31306-7

DO - 10.1016/S0027-9684(15)31306-7

M3 - Article

C2 - 18507212

AN - SCOPUS:44149089355

SN - 1943-4693

VL - 100

SP - 575

EP - 577

JO - Journal of the National Medical Association

JF - Journal of the National Medical Association

IS - 5

ER -