The Dr. Herbert J. Levine Foundation for Cardiovascular Clinical Research provides funding to advance research that is linked directly to improving clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients with cardiac disorders. The foundation also provides funds to senior and junior physician-scientists to focus on efforts to understand mechanisms of heart disease, develop and implement better diagnostic tools and pioneer new therapeutic means of prevention and treatment.
The Dr. Herbert J. Levine Foundation is a cornerstone of the philanthropic program at the CardioVascular Center (CVC). Founded in 2001 to honor Dr. Levine’s leadership in the field of cardiology, the Levine Foundation supports clinical research and education in cardiovascular disease at the CVC and at Tufts Medical Center’s Molecular Cardiology Research Institute (MCRI).
Gifts to the Levine Foundation provide invaluable assistance both to renowned cardiac researchers and to promising young clinical investigators and cardiologists-in-training at Tufts Medical Center. Philanthropy enables the CVC and MCRI to launch new projects that will have a direct bearing on improving outcomes for patients. It is critical to maintain projects by physician-scientists at all levels. Our senior faculty have well-recognized laboratories developing research that help patients lead healthier lives, while our junior faculty are the architects of novel investigations that will spur even further cardiovascular advances.
Clinical research grants supported by the Levine Foundation give young investigators the opportunity to pursue projects that might otherwise take many years to get off the ground. With a Levine Foundation grant, one of our junior physician-scientists can advance his or her research with the future goal of qualifying for a major foundation or government grant. A contribution designated for this area is an investment in saving the lives of the patients and families in our care and in the training of the next generation of cardiovascular physician leaders.
An example of the Levine Foundation’s exciting work is the research of Marwan Jumean, MD, a junior physician-scientist and 2012 recipient of the Beals Goodfellow Award in Cardiovascular Research within the Levine Foundation. Dr. Jumean’s efforts are focused on a problem known as “reperfusion injury,” which is defined as additional heart muscle damage that can occur in heart attack patients during the process of opening blocked arteries and restoring blood flow. Levine Foundation funding is allowing Dr. Jumean to test the hypothesis that by first reducing the heart’s workload through the use of a rapidly delivered mechanical pump, and then delivering a drug that limits reperfusion injury before restoring blood flow to the heart, the muscle damage from a heart attack can be reduced.
Preliminary data confirm the benefit of using the mechanical pump. Using those data, Dr. Jumean continues to research the impact of combining mechanical and drug therapy to limit this injury. In Dr. Jumean’s words, “Successful completion of these studies has the potential to change the paradigm of heart attack management.”
The innovative work of Levine Clinical Research Award recipients, such as Dr. Jumean, is made possible only through the continued philanthropy of generous donors. Please consider a gift to the Levine Foundation, as both a tribute to Dr. Herbert Levine and as a vote of confidence in all of our physician-scientists who bring the best cardiovascular care to our patients today, while striving to find improved treatments for the future. Every contribution makes a difference.
