Maryland Heart Center

Heart of Collaboration

The Heart of Collaboration | Personalized Care | Unique Collaboration | Research Vision | The Future is Bright

The Future is Bright

Dr. Barry Reicher, (left) with Dr. David Zimrin, who is director of cardiac catheterization. Both cardiologists collaborate with cardiac surgeons in hybrid procedures that combine bypass surgery with stented angioplasty.

As for the future of the University of Maryland Heart Center, both Dr. Griffith and Dr. Mehra foresee growth in existing programs, the development of even more innovations, and continuing improvements in patient care delivery.

For Dr. Griffith, innovation is the key. "I think the only way we can expect to have a viable, healthy, growing heart center is if we're bringing innovations to health care. We have the core people here necessary to make this all happen, and I think the core people will be able to bring the next generation of bright stars here to take us to the next step," he says.

Dr. Mehra predicts a gradual merging of cardiovascular medicine and cardiovascular surgery. "The surgeons will be less surgical and the cardiologists will become more surgical. Minimally invasive procedures will move into the entire realm," he says.

Further, he says genomic medicine will become a clinical reality. Simple blood tests will enable the development of a risk profile based on a person's genes. "From genetic profiling, we're going to learn your risk of obesity, what kind of obesity you will have. Will it be more responsive to running, to aerobic exercise, or more responsive to stretching exercises like yoga? So we're going to develop a personalized profile and then well tackle it preemptively and in a predictive way," he says.

Says Dr. Mehra, "The future, as I see it, is the elimination of crisis intervention. Heart attacks will be only for the very few."

Please call if you would like to make an appointment or talk to someone about our services. Patients dial 1-800-492-5538 or 410-328-5842, physicians dial 410-328-6622 or 1-800-318-1019.