ANN ARBOR, MI - From the development of a method to repair the heart’s mitral valve to the creation of a statewide program to improve the outcomes for patients undergoing the coronary artery-widening procedure known as angioplasty, the University of Michigan Health System has been an integral part of some of the past decade’s greatest advancements in cardiovascular care.

And now, on Sept. 5, the next era in the battle against Michigan’s and the nation’s leading killer will begin when the U-M Health System breaks ground for its new, state-of-the-art Cardiovascular Center building.

Unlike any other facility of its kind in the country, this new clinical heart and vascular care facility, set to open for patient use in 2007, will bring together operating rooms, patient rooms, clinics, classrooms and laboratories to meet the surging demand for cardiovascular services. In the past five years alone, outpatient visits and inpatient cases at U-M have risen 30 percent.

The groundbreaking, which follows the U-M Regents’ May 15 approval of the facility’s schematic design and renderings created by architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the footprint of the Old Main Hospital, located between Medical Science Building I and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

At the ceremony, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman and Interim Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Lazar J. Greenfield, M.D., will be joined by special guest speaker Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., scientific director, Clinical Research Program, Division of Intramural Research, National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute. Nabel was the Chief of the Division of Cardiology at U-M before taking a position within the National Institutes of Health in 1999. Nabel is one of the nation’s leading cardiovascular scientists and promoted the idea of the Cardiovascular Center, along with other U-M leaders, during her time at UMHS.

In addition, Cardiovascular Center co-directors James C. Stanley, M.D., vascular surgery director, and Kim A. Eagle, M.D., clinical director, will discuss the history and future of cardiovascular treatment and research at U-M, along with David J. Pinsky, M.D., scientific director. The new center’s senior leadership also includes Richard L. Prager, M.D., cardiac surgery director, and Linda Larin, MBA, administrative director.

“We’re breaking ground for a new building that will become the home of compassionate, scientific and technologically state-of-the-art care that will provide seamless treatment, healing and hope for tens of thousands of patients with cardiovascular disease,” says Eagle. “The Center will not diminish or abandon the rich heritage of prior or current clinical and administrative structures at U-M, but allow us to consider how together we can find the best integrated solution for each patient.”

The U-M Cardiovascular Center building concept received its initial approval in the fall of 2000, allowing UMHS to raise funds for the $199 million building project, which will not use public funds. This spring, the schematic design for the 350,000 square foot clinical facility, with an adjoining 465-space parking deck and connectors to existing UMHS buildings, was approved.

Set to rise from the “heart” of the U-M medical campus, the new Cardiovascular Center building will bring together specialized services and facilities that are now located throughout the medical center. This unified effort will enable more patients to receive coordinated care from multidisciplinary U-M clinical teams, creating a single location for testing, imaging, invasive procedures, major surgery and intensive inpatient care.

The Cardiovascular Center will include eight operating rooms dedicated to cardiac and vascular surgery, 24 intensive-care patient beds, 36 outpatient exam rooms and 14 procedure labs for heart and blood vessel procedures, and a state-of-the-art noninvasive diagnostic facility. Nearby teaching space woven into the various areas of the new building will allow UMHS to educate future cardiovascular specialists as it continues to promote effective care of patients for generations to come.

The Center’s clinical care, research and teaching activities will focus on the entire spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure and stroke to aneurysms, heart valve disease, vascular disease and heart-related birth defects.

The building itself has been designed to maximize natural light to create a relaxed atmosphere for patients, families and visitors. In addition, there will be a five-story indoor healing garden that will connect to gardens outside. The facility will also link to other buildings on the U-M medical campus.

The center and its parking garage are to be built on the former site of the "Old Main" hospital that served U-M patients until the mid-1980s, along and behind a steep rise fittingly known as "Cardiac Hill."

Clinical services for infants, children and teens provided by the world-renowned U-M Congenital Heart Center, part of the Cardiovascular Center umbrella, will remain in U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and pediatric outpatient facilities.

For more information on the U-M Cardiovascular Center, visit www.med.umich.edu/cvc.

Written by: Krista Hopson

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