Cardiovascular Research
Cardiovascular research continues to be a major focus at Saint Luke’s Health System. The program currently encompasses research programs in each of the major clinical areas, including:
- Adult congenital heart disease
- Cardiac electrophysiology
- Cardiac imaging
- Cardiac surgery
- Cardiac transplantation
- Diabetes management
- Heart failure
- Interventional cardiology
- Preventive cardiology/lipid
- Women's heart health
Hundreds of patients enroll in these programs annually for a broad range of randomized trials and registry-based research studies, making the programs essential to the mission of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute. Research allows the Heart Institute to remain on the leading edge of cardiovascular care. In addition to these clinical research programs, many Heart Institute cardiologists participate in research through the Ben D. McCallister Clinical Scholars Program, which provides funding and support for investigator-initiated studies.
In addition to supporting clinical research, the cardiovascular research program encompasses centers of excellence and core laboratories in cardiovascular outcomes research, health economics and technology assessment, intravascular imaging, and noninvasive imaging. These centers of excellence currently serve as core laboratories for a wide range of studies that often involve collaboration with other leading cardiovascular centers and researchers from around the world. The Heart Institute continues to serve as one of the four Analytic Centers, along with Duke, Harvard, and Yale, for the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry.
In 2024, Saint Luke’s Muriel I. Kauffman Institute for Women’s Cardiovascular Research was launched with the support of a $10 million endowed fund from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation. The Institute is the first of its kind, dedicated to studying the unique aspects of heart conditions in women with the goal of narrowing the sex-specific research gaps both in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
For more information, call 816-932-4581.
