In a recently released update of guidelines issued jointly by the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA), and the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the short-acting anticoagulant bivalirudin received an upgraded recommendation as a measure that may improve the safety of angioplasty with stenting in people who are suffering a major heart attack. Bivalirudin, which belongs to a class of drugs known as direct thrombin inhibitors, is marketed as Angiomax.

This year’s Pulse of the City Gala, held on October 22 at the Waldorf=Astoria's historic Starlight Roof, honored a special member of the CRF family, Martin B. Leon, MD. More than 400 guests gathered to pay tribute to Dr. Leon for the decades he has spent mentoring young physicians and educating the interventional cardiology community.

Welcome to the Cardiovascular Research Foundation’s Summer 2009 Newsletter. The past few months have seen several milestones for both CRF and the field of interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Two physician leaders at The Jack H. Skirball Center for Cardiovascular Research—Medical Director Juan F. Granada, MD, and Director of Operations Greg L. Kaluza, MD, PhD—were recently honored for their research endeavors. The journal EuroIntervention chose an article by the researchers as one of the publication’s top five papers from the past year.