ICES Cardiovascular Center/Texas Heart Institute partnership receive grant

The ICES Cardiovascular Simulation Center partnership with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) received a $300,000 grant from the Fondren Foundation to provide fellowships to doctoral students and/or postdoctoral researchers during the initial three-year period of the ICES-THI collaboration. Recipients of these fellowships will be known as Fondren Fellows.

"The fellowships will enable recipients to pursue their education and research objectives on a full-time basis and will be highly prized by both the students and the faculty who supervise them," said ICES Professor Michael Sacks who directs the center. "This support from the Fondren Foundation will also help provide our center with the organizational capacity to fully develop the research collaboration with THI that was established to speed the conversion of scientific progress into life-saving therapeutic applications."

As part of its commitment to dramatically change the landscape of cardiovascular medicine, ICES' Cardiovascular Simulation Center (CCS) recently established a research collaborative with THI in Houston. THI, founded in 1962 by Dr. Denton Cooley and now led by Dr. James Willerson, an internationally distinguished cardiologist, research scientist and educator, is one of the country’s leading cardiology and heart surgery centers and is dedicated to advancing the treatment of cardiovascular disease through innovative programs in research, education and improved patient care. The CCS/THI partnership marries the computational with the clinical in an effort to more rapidly develop new, high-potential treatments for cardiovascular disease.