From Left to Right – George Foreman and Dr. James T. Willerson

Press Release

On September 15, 2009, Mr. George Foreman, two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist and Successful Entrepreneur visited the Texas Heart Institute and generously committed to function as the Spokesperson for the new Center for Coronary Artery Anomalies (hereinafter “CCAA”) at the Texas Heart Institute. 

Dr. Paolo Angelini (Medical Director of the CCAA), Stephen Myers (President of the CCAA), were joined by Dr. James T. Willerson (new President of the Texas Heart Institute) and Dr. Denton A. Cooley (ex-President of the Texas Heart Institute) to welcome and thank Mr. Foreman and his 2 children, George III and George IV, who were accompanying the guest of honor.  Mr. Foreman declared his “full support to the cause of preventing sudden cardiac death in the athletes” and underscored the long-overdue efforts to move ahead in this sore aspect of sporting activities.

Two CCAA organized, groundbreaking studies (being conducted under the direction of Dr. Angelini, an authority in this field) will clarify the incidence of the most frequent predisposing conditions that lead to such sudden cardiac death during sporting activities and to quantify the entity of such risk. The expectation is also that such projects will contribute to better understand and more effectively treat the predisposing conditions of sudden death while establishing new directives to prevent catastrophic emergencies. 

The CCAA will work both with private and public schools to conduct a large population-based screening with a new MRI (Magnetic Nuclear Imaging) program, in 10,000 individuals in the Houston area.  Additionally, the CCAA is joining efforts with the Harris County Forensic Center to produce a large survey of the causes of death and the incidence of the same predisposing conditions, in some 6,000 cases referred to the Forensic Center. 

A formal inauguration of the new CCAA will occur during a public event in October of 2009.

Toast - from Left to Right – Stephen Myers, JD, LLM, Paolo Angelini, MD, Carlo Uribe, MD and Philip Salem, MD of The Salem Oncology Centre.

Texas Heart Institute Joins Fight to Prevent Sudden Death in Young Athletes

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http://www.texasheartinstitute.org/AboutUs/News/NoN4-21-09.cfm