Comments from the Director, Dr. Greg Flaker
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine plays an important role in the three part mission of the University of Missouri-Columbia Health Sciences Center and the Harry S. Truman VA Hospital.
The first mission is to heal. We have busy CICU services which offer outstanding facilities and a dedicated team of doctors and nurses to provide top flight medical care. Our cardiac catheterization laboratories, electrophysiology laboratory, and non-invasive cardiology laboratories have state of the art technology and provide a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. Our quality is monitored by a variety of national standards including the American College of Cardiology catheterization data base.
The second mission is to teach. Cardiovascular Medicine conferences take place from 7:30-8:30 Monday through Friday. Cardiovascular Medicine Grand Rounds provides a comprehensive review of new developments in the field, and is presented by Department faculty or visiting faculty. The Cardiac Catheterization Conference brings cardiologists and thoracic surgeons together to solve cardiac challenges in patients with coronary artery and valvular heart disease. ECG interpretation by senior faculty is a popular teaching venue for medical students and residents in the Division. Our cardiology fellows are regularly cited for outstanding instruction in the medical student course Introduction to Clinical Medicine.
The third mission is to discover. Our Division takes part in many clinical trials involving a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. At the basic science level our faculty are interested in thrombosis, angiogenesis, exercise and many other relevant topics. Our faculty regularly present at national meetings and are considered opinion leaders in a number of areas including the management of myocardial infarction, cardiac arrythmias, and heart failure.
We are proud of our accomplishments but look forward to even bigger and better things in the future.
