The CRF Discovery Fund

The greatest achievements in medicine are not always born from a steady and logical process but rather by way of sudden and unexpected discovery. In 1975, Dr. Andreas Gruentzig, a young German physician working in Switzerland, happened upon the potential for balloon angioplasty while fashioning prototype catheters from household materials on his own kitchen table. Two years later, the first coronary angioplasty was performed on a human being, forever changing the field of cardiology and the fate of those diagnosed with heart disease. Dr. Gruentzig’s independent discovery set forth a true revolution in modern medicine. The remarkable progress made in interventional cardiology in such a short period of time suggests that even greater achievements are well within reach. Much like Dr. Gruentzig, today's leading physicians and scientists have identified a number of devices, techniques, and areas of research with the potential to further revolutionize the field. Quite often, however, these seminal discoveries fail to receive the sponsorship needed to bring them to light.

The CRF Discovery Fund has been established to support the novel concepts, pioneering treatments, and early device designs that will shape the future of interventional medicine. The need for such a fund is more critical now than at any other time in history. The World Health Organization estimates that 16.7 million people die from heart disease each year and projects an increase to nearly 25 million by 2020. This grim statistic can—and must—be diminished through the discovery and investigation of innovative therapies.

With a unique ability to generate vital research questions, to test and refine groundbreaking inventions, and to secure the availability of advanced therapies to patients at the earliest possible opportunity, CRF has become the preeminent research and educational organization in the field of interventional medicine. It is now prepared to make even greater strides in the ongoing battle against heart disease.

A time of tremendous opportunity, challenge, and promise is upon us. Building on our successes and ensuring that further contributions are realized requires generous and loyal support from those who share in our commitment to discovery, invention, and achievement.

The research and educational initiatives that will benefit from The CRF Discovery Fund include:

• New therapies to save lives of patients with heart attack and heart failure
• The further development of disease-specific minimally invasive cardiac therapies
• Analytical tools to assess vascular healing
• Adjunctive pharmacology to improve outcomes of interventional procedures
• Development of novel cell therapies to regenerate damaged heart muscle and coronary arteries
• "Late stage" testing of techniques for heart repair prior to first uses in humans
• Diagnostic imaging to facilitate early detection of heart disease
• Endowed fellowships to train tomorrow’s physician-investigators
• Validation of investigation techniques to help determine why people develop atherosclerosis
• Evaluation of a unique method to assess how some stents safely heal and why others do not—crucial to preventing sudden stent thromboses (clotting)
• Tissue characterization to analyze diseases at the "micro" level in order to predict cardiac dysfunction before it occurs