Interventional Cardiologist to Build Academic Research Program at Pepin Heart Hospital

Media contacts: University Community Health – Phoebe Ochman, (813) 615-7074, or [email protected] USF Health Public Affairs – Anne DeLotto Baier, (813) 974-3300, or [email protected] Interventional cardiologist to build academic research program at Pepin Heart Hospital

-- USF/Pepin Heart partnership gets a boost --

Tampa, FL (Sept. 25, 2006) – The partnership between USF Health and Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute has moved forward with the addition of Dr. Charles Lambert, Jr. as Pepin Heart Hospital’s Medical Director and Professor of Medicine at the USF College of Medicine. The university and hospital forged an affiliation agreement last year to work together in strengthening cardiovascular research, clinical care and educational opportunities in the Tampa Bay region. Dr. Lambert will help develop the USF/Pepin Heart fellowship programs in interventional cardiology and electrophysiology, direct the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute and outcomes measurement and analysis at Pepin Heart Hospital, and also provide patient care. Dr. Lambert is an interventional cardiologist who obtained his medical degree and a PhD in physiology from the University of Florida, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts. He spent the last three years at the University of Florida as professor and senior attending physician for interventional cardiology and seven years at UF as director of the Health First Heart Institute, an affiliation between the university and a three-hospital system in Brevard County. “The partnership between the USF College of Medicine and the Pepin Heart Hospital offers a truly innovative, cooperative platform for clinical, educational and research program development,” Dr. Lambert said. “The commitment to establish a true center of excellence in cardiovascular medicine and surgery here is held not only by organizational leaders but also by an excellent and supportive physician contingent. The environment is unique within the State of Florida.” “With the combined efforts of Pepin Heart Hospital and USF in bringing Dr. Lambert to Tampa, we are one step closer in our quest to create one of America’s leading cardiovascular treatment and research facilities,” added Brigitte Shaw, chief executive officer for Pepin Heart Hospital. “Dr. Lambert is a physician-scientist who brings to our Tampa Bay area a longstanding track record of cutting-edge research in interventional cardiology as well as an impressive business background,” said Anne Curtis, MD, professor and chief of cardiology at USF Health. “He will be instrumental in building the stature of the research program and USF’s educational presence at Pepin Heart Hospital.” USF, which currently oversees interventional cardiology and electrophysiology fellowship programs at Tampa General Hospital and James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, plans to expand the fellowhips to Pepin Heart Hospital. These programs provide physicians with advanced subspecialty training in cardiovascular procedures other than open heart surgery, like using angioplasty and stents (interventional cardiology), and expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders (electrophysiology) The USF College of Medicine expects to add two to three faculty members who primarily would be based at Pepin by next summer, Dr. Curtis said. Dr. Lambert is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, the American College of Physicians and the American Heart Association’s Council for Clinical Cardiology. He has published more than 140 journal articles, book chapters and reviews. # # #

PEPIN HEART HOSPITAL & DR. KIRAN C. PATEL RESEARCH INSTITUTE Opened in the Spring of 2006, Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute is the fifth hospital in the University Community Health network of hospitals, which was created to reflect the combined strength and partnership achieved through the union of University Community Hospital (UCH) and UCH- Carrollwood in Tampa, Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs, and Sun Coast Hospital in Largo. The hospital is positioned to transform the delivery of healthcare with its all-digital technology. Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute is located on the same campus as University Community Hospital at 3100 East Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, Fla., (813) 971-6000.

USF HEALTH USF Health is a partnership of the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of basic biomedical sciences and physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. It is a partnership dedicated to the promise of creating a new model of health and health care. One of the nation's top 63 public research universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, USF received more than $310 million in research contracts and grants last year. It is ranked by the National Science Foundation as one of the nation's fastest growing universities for federal research and development expenditures.