USF Health-UT Southwestern Medical Center preclinical study suggests inhibiting PPP1R3G/PP1γ may protect against tissue damage from heart attacks, other diseases linked to inflammation

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TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2022) – Cell death plays an important role in normal human development and health but requires tightly orchestrated balance to avert disease. Too much can trigger a massive inflammatory immune response that damages tissues and organs. Not enough can interfere with the body’s ability to fight infection or lead to cancer.

Zhigao Wang, PhD, associate professor of cardiovascular sciences at the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine, studies the complex molecular processes underlying necroptosis, which combines characteristics of apoptosis (regulated or programmed cell death) and necrosis (unregulated cell death).

During necroptosis dying cells rupture and release their contents. This sends out alarm signals to the immune system, triggering immune cells to fight infection or limit injury. Excessive necroptosis can be a problem in some diseases like stroke or heart attack, when cells die from inadequate blood supply, or in severe COVID-19, when an extreme response to infection causes organ damage or even death.

A new preclinical study by Dr. Wang and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center identifies a protein complex critical for regulating apoptosis and necroptosis — known as protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit 3G/protein phosphatase 1 gamma (PPP1R3G/PP1γ, or PPP1R3G complex). The researchers’ findings suggest that an inhibitor targeting this protein complex may help reduce or prevent excessive necroptosis.

The study was reported Dec. 3, 2021, in Nature Communications.

Zhigao Wang, PhD, associate professor of cardiovascular sciences, in his laboratory at the USF Health Heart Institute. Images on the monitor depict two types of cell death: apoptosis (left) and necroptosis. — Photo by Allison Long, USF Health Communications

“Cell death is very complicated process, which requires layers upon layers of brakes to prevent too many cells from dying,” said study principal investigator Dr. Wang, a member of the USF Health Heart Institute. “If you want to protect cells from excessive death, then the protein complex we identified in this study is one of many steps you must control.”

Dr. Wang and colleagues conducted experiments using human cells and a mouse model mimicking the cytokine storm seen in some patients with severe COVID-19 infection. They applied CRISPR genome-wide screening to analyze how cell function, in particular cell death, changes when one gene is knocked out (inactivated).

Receptor-interacting protein kinase (RIPK1) plays a critical role in regulating inflammation and cell death. Many sites on this protein are modified when a phosphate is added (a process known as phosphorylation) to suppress RIPK1’s cell death-promoting enzyme activity. How the phosphate is removed from RIPK1 sites (dephosphorylation) to restore cell death is poorly understood. Dr. Wang and colleagues discovered that PPP1R3G recruits phosphatase 1 gamma (PP1γ) to directly remove the inhibitory RIPK1 phosphorylations blocking RIPK1’s enzyme activity and cell death, thereby promoting apoptosis and necroptosis.

Dr. Wang (back) and laboratory associate Ken Chen. — Photo by Allison Long, USF Health Communications

Dr. Wang uses the analogy of a car brake help explain what’s happening with the balance of cell survival and death in this study:  RIPK1 is the engine that drives the cell death machine (the car). Phosphorylation applies the brake (stops the car) to prevent cells from dying. The car (cell death machinery) can only move forward if RIPK1 dephosphorylation is turned on by the PPP1R3G protein complex, which releases the brake.

“In this case, phosphorylation inhibits the cell death function of protein RIPK1, so more cells survive,” he said. “Dephosphorylation takes away the inhibition, allowing RIPK1 to activate its cell death function.”

The researchers showed that a specific protein-protein interaction – that is, PPP1R3G binding to PP1γ — activates RIPK1 and cell death. Furthermore, using a mouse model for “cytokine storm” in humans, they discovered knockout mice deficient in Ppp1r3g were protected against tumor necrosis factor-induced systemic inflammatory response syndrome. These knockout mice had significantly less tissue damage and a much better survival rate than wildtype mice with the same TNF-induced inflammatory syndrome and all their genes intact.

Overall, the study suggests that inhibitors blocking the PPP1R3G/PP1γ pathway can help prevent or reduce deaths and severe damage from inflammation-associated diseases, including heart disease, autoimmune disorders and COVID-19, Dr. Wang said. His laboratory is working with Jianfeng Cai, PhD, a professor in the USF Department of Chemistry, to screen and identify peptide compounds that most efficiently inhibit the PPP1R3G protein complex. They hope to pinpoint promising drug candidates that may stop the massive destruction of cardiac muscle cells caused by heart attacks.

The research was supported by grants from the Welch Foundation and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

Graphic created with Biorender app by Zhigao Wang, USF Health Heart Institute.

USF Health preclinical study finds that inhibiting lipoxygenase with a drug alters
innate inflammatory response, delaying heart tissue repair after cardiac injury

TAMPA, Fla. (May 10, 2021) — Blocking the fat-busting enzyme lipoxygenase with a synthetic inhibitor throws the immune system’s innate inflammatory response out of whack, compromising cardiac repair during acute heart failure, USF Health researchers found.

Their new preclinical study was published April 13 in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.

In search of individualized heart failure therapies, Ganesh Halade, PhD, leads a USF Health Heart Institute team studying unresolved inflammation after heart attack. | Photo by Allison Long, USF Health Communications

Acute heart failure – triggered by a heart attack, severely irregular heartbeats, or other causes — occurs suddenly when the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands.

Following a heart attack or any cardiac injury, signals to immune cells called leukocytes carefully control physiological inflammation. Normally, there are two distinct but overlapping processes: an acute inflammatory response (“get in” signal), where leukocytes travel from the spleen to the injured heart to start removing dead or diseased cardiac tissue, and a resolving phase (“get out” signal), where inflammation is cleared with the help of macrophages that arrive to further repair the damage and form a stable scar.

A delay in either the initiation of inflammation or its timely clearance (resolution) can lead to impaired cardiac healing and progression to heart failure, said study principal investigator Ganesh Halade, PhD, an associate professor of cardiovascular sciences at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and a member of the USF Health Heart Institute.

The USF Health researchers applied three investigational approaches (in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo) to assess whether a potent lipoxygenase (12/15 LOX) inhibitor ML351 could selectively alter inflammatory responses in adult mice following cardiac injury similar to a heart attack. Previous studies by Dr. Halade’s laboratory reported that lipoxygenase-deficient mice showed improved cardiac repair and heart failure survival after cardiac injury.

“We wondered if blocking a lipoxygenase with an external pharmacological compound (drug) would have the same beneficial effect — but the answer was no,” Dr. Halade said. “Instead, the collective results of our study indicate that ML351 dysregulated control of the normal physiological pathway of inflammation in cardiac repair, causing collateral damage.”

In the mice treated mice with ML351, leukocyte recruitment to the site of cardiac injury was delayed, which subsequently amplified inflammation at the site. At the same time, instead of leaving once the repair job was done, the immune cells remained at the site beyond the typical acute (and beneficial) inflammatory response phase. Basically, the late arrival (get-in signal) and delayed clearance (get-out signal) of immune cells impaired cardiac repair, Dr. Halade said.

A delay in either the initiation of inflammation or its timely clearance (resolution) can lead to impaired cardiac healing and progression to heart failure.

The latest study helps explain one more piece of the puzzle about the important role of immune-mediated acute inflammation and its clearance – both in promoting cardiac health and stopping the progression of heart failure, Dr. Halade said. Lipoxygenases, fatty-acid modifying enzymes that control metabolic and immune signaling, can promote either resolving (beneficial) or nonresolving (harmful) inflammation, he added.

“The take-home message is do not mess with (block) the lipoxygenase. Preserve it, because it’s a key enzyme for our defensive, innate immune response,” he said. “Knowing how drugs interact with the body’s precisely-balanced immune responses will be critical for understanding mechanisms to prevent, delay or treat the unresolved inflammation influencing heart failure.”

The USF Health study was supported by grants from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The targeted growth will help extend the reach of the academic medical center into national spotlight.

In just over eight months, Guilherme Oliveira, MD, MBA, has reimagined USF Health’s cardiovascular program and established the foundations of a new cardiovascular institute – a collaboration of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) and Tampa General Hospital (TGH).

“It’s been a busy year,” Dr. Oliveira said. “And there’s much more to come.”

Dr. Guilherme Oliveira

Dr. Oliveira joined USF Health in January 2020 as chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in MCOM and director of the USFH/TGH Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI), as well as associate director of the USF Health Heart Institute, dedicated to research.

Effectively, he serves as the executive responsible for the entirety of the heart services at USF Health and TGH, a position that provides the opportunity to redesign patient care, strengthen the scientific mission, and elevate the reputations of USF Health and TGH as national leaders in cardiovascular care.

“By redesigning our overall operations and expanding our areas of expertise through recruitment of talented physicians, we are developing greater depth and breadth in every aspect of our mission as an academic medical center: clinical care, research and education,” Dr. Oliveira said. “This all-encompassing approach will not only result in improved patient care and outcomes, but also stronger collaborative research and discovery, putting a national spotlight on our entire program.”

USF Health and TGH have coordinated cardiology efforts for many years and the collaboration has led to significant gains in national rankings – TGH just earned a #1 ranking in Florida by U.S. News & World Report for cardiology and heart surgery, programs led by USF Health faculty with full TGH support.

Designing a framework for comprehensive care and quality education

One of the first steps on the academic and clinical sides, Dr. Oliveira said, was to create dedicated specialty sections within the MCOM Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, which include electrophysiology, interventional, imaging, heart failure, education, and general cardiology/prevention. Careful growth in all sections is the plan, he said, but the general cardiology section will see the biggest push because of the ever-growing demand by patients for general and preventative heart care, especially among women.

“Our general cardiology program needs to meet patient demand and that includes adding a stronger focus on women’s health and prevention,” he said. “We are also taking advantage of our faculty expertise and establishing ultra-specialized programs, including cardiovascular genetics, cardiac amyloidosis, hypertrophic and inflammatory cardiomyopathies, pulmonary hypertension and a pericardial clinic.”

In addition, Dr. Oliveira said he is focused on expanding the aortic, mitral valve, and neurocardiology programs, bringing new and innovative technology to patients in Tampa Bay and beyond.

In partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center, Dr. Oliveira said he is also planning to expand cardio-oncology, transitioning from a small program to a full-fledged cardiology service line at Moffitt.

To support these and other areas, several talented faculty members have been successfully recruited, including two key hires he says will bring renowned expertise to the USF Health and TGH programs: the new chief of cardiothoracic surgery, Lucian Lozonschi, MD, whose expertise includes robotic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery, heart transplant and valve surgery, and Hiram Bezerra, MD, PhD, who, in addition to being an internationally recognized interventional cardiologist, brings with him a robust portfolio of clinical trials.

Dr. Lucian Lozonschi

In addition to leading cardiac surgery, Dr. Lozonschi serves as the associate director of HVI. He is also the surgical director of heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support, and associate director of the Transplant Institute.

Dr. Hiram Bezerra

And Dr. Bezerra is the section chief of interventional cardiology at USF Health and directs the Interventional Cardiology Center within the HVI. With more than 160 peer-reviewed research articles and memberships at numerous editorial boards and professional committees, Dr. Bezerra brings to USF Health and TGH his research experience in interventional cardiology and optical coherence tomography.

Building a new destination cardiovascular center

The new USF Health/TGH Heart and Vascular Institute is designed to be a destination cardiovascular institute built on the best clinical and scientific expertise available at both USF Health and TGH. It also benefits from collaboration and innovative opportunities provided by organizations outside of the academic medical center, including private practices and biomedical industry.

“Our main goal is to conduct high-impact, disruptive cardiovascular research,” Dr. Oliveira said. “And our collaborative reach will go beyond just TGH and USF Health and stretch well into the greater Tampa Bay area physicians in private practice. Together, we are building an institute that is unparalleled in Florida.”

The HVI comprises several centers of excellence focusing on core areas of cardiovascular care: cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, interventional, electrophysiology, heart failure, imaging, and prevention. In addition, Dr. Oliveira created centers for education and cardiovascular research, with a quality office that ties all the centers together and ensures world-class outcomes.

A central advantage of the HVI will be its ambulatory headquarters – within the new Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute tower, just opened in January 2020. On the ninth floor of the new building, HVI team members will offer direct patient care for the most complex cardiovascular conditions, which often require a multidisciplinary approach. There, patients can expect to have a wide range of cardiac testing followed by consultations with a multidisciplinary team of cardiologists, pulmonologists, geneticist and surgeons. Because clinical care at the HVI will take place adjacent to the world-class research facilities of USF Health Heart Institute, it will enable conduction of bench-to-bedside science that hopefully will impact cardiovascular disease for generations to come. Added to that is the proximity to TGH, where surgical intervention and transplant programs round out the entire spectrum of patient care.

“This will be a highly integrated, synergistic union of every facet of heart care,” Dr. Oliveira said. “Consider it the trifecta of clinical, translational and basic research within a clinical care setting. In other words, a one-stop shop for superior academic cardiovascular care.”

Mice deficient in a receptor needed to safely clear unresolved cardiac inflammation may help in discovering therapies for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

TAMPA, Fla (June 22, 2020) — A receptor that plays an essential role in safely clearing chronic unresolved cardiac inflammation may offer new targets for treating an increasing type of heart failure associated with age-related obesity, suggests a preclinical study led by researchers at the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Heart Institute, Morsani College of Medicine.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, is one of two types of heart failure – both characterized by shortness of breath, exercise intolerance, fatigue and fluid retention. Unlike the second type of heart failure, known as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, HFpEF currently has no FDA-approved drugs to improve the weakened heart’s pumping function.

Ganesh Halade, PhD, USF Health associate professor of cardiovascular sciences, was senior author of the The FASEB Journal paper on age-related obesity and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

More than half of all patients with clinical heart failure have HFpEF, a growing public health problem because of the aging population and growing incidence of obesity. In HFpEF, the heart contracts normally and seems to pump out a normal proportion of blood; however, the heart muscle can thicken and weaken causing the ventricle to withhold an abnormally small volume of blood. So, while the heart’s output as measured by ejection fraction may appear within the normal range, it is insufficient to meet the body’s demands.

In a study published June 16 in The FASEB Journal, the USF Health-led team identified a mouse model that thoroughly mimics HFpEF syndrome in humans. These obesity-prone mice lack the inflammation clearing (resolution) receptor, ALX/FPR2 or ALX for short — a deficiency previously shown to drive cardiac and kidney inflammation in aging mice.

Using this unique model, the researchers defined how the ALX resolution receptor promotes the activity of specialized proresolving mediators (SPMs), fatty-acid derived signaling molecules. These SPM molecules support the body’s innate immune response to help clear out chronic inflammation and advance cardiac repair following an acute heart attack. Conversely, the researchers noted that sustained, unresolved inflammation after heart attack can aggravate abnormalities in endothelial cells lining the heart and kidneys. These abnormalities prompt endothelial dysfunction that changes blood vessel integrity — a primary sign of both age-related obesity and HFpEF.

Dr. Halade (center) with his research team, postdoctoral fellow Bochra Tourki, PhD, (left) and research associate Vasundhara Kain, PhD, (right), in their USF Health Heart Institute laboratory.

“Remarkably, the deficiency of a single receptor triggers obesity in mice at an early age and this, in turn, gives rise to many molecular and cellular processes ultimately leading to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction,” said senior author Ganesh Halade, PhD, associate professor of cardiovascular sciences at the USF Health Heart Institute.

The FASEB study’s three key findings were:

• The obesity-prone ALX-deficient mice had increased food intake and impaired energy metabolism compared to normal mice (with a working ALX receptor) of the same ages. The obesity-driven metabolic dysfunction led to heart structural remodeling, defective cardiac electrical activity and weakened heart muscle.
• Deletion of the ALX receptor increased ion channel gene expression and disrupted multiple ion channels, which supported electrocardiogram evidence of heart rhythm disturbances in the mice.
• Obesity-prone, ALX-deficient mice develop heart muscle damage characteristic of HFpEF with steady inflammation in the heart and kidneys. This suboptimal inflammation is directed remotely by immune cells (leukocytes) in the spleen and advanced by dysfunctional (leaky) cardio-renal endothelial tissue in older ALX-deficient obese mice.

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Overall, the research describes the importance of the resolution receptor essential for SPM action, particularly resolvins that suppress the inflammatory response to acute injury without compromising a healthy immune response. In fact, a specific resolvin (D1) is a key that unlocks the ALX resolution receptor to enable pharmacological action and, eventually, safe clearance of inflammation, Dr. Halade said.

The study offers insight into potential targeted treatments for HFpEF that would harness the benefits of naturally-produced SPMs. Omega 3-rich diets and/or SPM supplements to preserve the receptor’s normal function may help prevent this type of heart failure, Dr. Halade said, while SPMs or other molecules specifically designed to reactivate a dysfunctional receptor might help treat existing HFpEF.

This latest research builds upon previous work by Dr. Halade’s laboratory – all focused on discovering the best ways to prevent, delay or treat the unresolved inflammation influencing heart failure. The team’s goal is to contribute to individualized therapies that may account for possible sex, racial/ethnic or age-related physiological differences.

Absence of the inflammation resolution receptor ALX triggers heart muscle endothelial dysfunction: Immunofluorescent microscopic image (below) shows a decrease in expression of CD31 (endothelial cells stained red)  in a 4-month old, obesity-prone mouse deficient in the ALX receptor, compared to same-age normal mouse with a functioning receptor (above).  Images courtesy of Halade laboratory; appeared first in The FASEB Journal, Jun 16, 2020, doi: 10.1096/fj.202000495RR

Approximately, 6.5 million Americans have heart failure, which contributes to one in every eight deaths, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The USF Health researchers collaborated with Charles N. Serhan, PhD, DSc, Harvard Medical School; Saame Raza Shaikh, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Xavier Leroy, Domain Therapeutics, France. The team science study was supported in part by grants from the NIH’s  National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute.

– Photos by Allison Long, USF Health Communications and Marketing

TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 29, 2016) – The University of South Florida announced today that it has received a $3.5 million gift from Tampa General Hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The gift will be used to establish an endowed faculty chair in cardiovascular sciences and to create a neurosciences research fund to examine brain and nervous system diseases through the Morsani College of Medicine and its Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.

Tampa General Hospital is USF Health’s primary teaching hospital and primary cardiology practice site.

Tampa General Hospital has served as USF’s primary teaching hospital since the medical school first opened in 1971, and hundreds of students from USF’s medical, nursing and physical therapy programs receive clinical training at Tampa General each year.

“Over many decades, USF and TGH have been dedicated partners in medical research and education; this donation underscores how deeply committed we are to improving the health and well-being of our community,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft.

“This gift highlights the continued investment in the Morsani College of Medicine that we’ve seen from the community, state and our philanthropic partners during the USF: Unstoppable campaign,” said Joel Momberg, CEO of the USF Foundation. “There is so much promise and possibility in this transformative project that began with the generosity of Carol and Frank Morsani, and continues with the support from the health care professionals at Tampa General Hospital.”

Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, said we are deeply grateful to Tampa General Hospital for their incredible generosity that will help fund and strengthen our key initiatives in cardiovascular sciences and neurosciences.

“By establishing an endowed chair in our Heart Institute, this gift will not only enable us to explore all aspects of cardiovascular health including sorting out the differences in heart disease between men and women, but also it will provide life-saving preventions and treatments for heart disease and other cardiovascular disorders,” Dr. Lockwood said. “We are also pleased that this gift will advance our research efforts in neurosciences at the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.”

Tampa General Hospital has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the top-ranked cardiology and heart surgery practice in Tampa Bay, and the specialty is ranked #35 in the nation. Tampa General is USF’s primary cardiology practice site, where most of the university’s inpatient and outpatient cardiac services are provided and all inpatient cardiovascular clinical trials are conducted. The hospital is also the flagship affiliate for USF’s department of neurosurgery and brain repair.

“We’re working with the Morsani College of Medicine every day to improve the heart and brain health of patients across Florida,” said Jim Burkhart, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “With this gift, we want to help USF Health expand its research efforts and help ensure that our patients receive the most innovative care possible.”

The USF Health Heart Institute integrates innovative biomedical research with advanced clinical care to find new ways to prevent cardiovascular diseases, tailor personalized treatments for patients, and improve the heart health of the Tampa Bay community. The institute will be co-located in the new USF Health Morsani College of Medicine building in downtown Tampa. The Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute is another premier academic research center at USF Health, dedicated to the prevention, treatment and cure of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

– USF Health –

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, and the USF Physicians Group. The University of South Florida is a top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit health.usf.edu.

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The USF: Unstoppable Campaign is a comprehensive fundraising effort by the University of South Florida System to celebrate the energy, vision, and future of one of the country’s most exciting and engaged universities. Our people and programs, our ideas, our research, and our solutions comprise an ambitious plan to enhance healthcare, science, technology, education, business, the arts, and global partnerships.

Media contact:
Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications, (813) 974-3303 or abaier@health.usf.edu

Tampa, FL (July 27, 2014) — Long-time Tampa cardiologist Xavier E. Prida, MD, joined the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Aug. 1 as an assistant professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences where he will play a vital role in clinical education and care.  He comes to USF Health from St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he practiced nearly 27 years.

Dr. Prida will help teach medical students and residents and see patients at USF Health’s south and north campus locations – the South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare adjacent to Tampa General Hospital and the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare on the USF Tampa campus.  He plans to join the TGH medical staff, providing consultative services and performing procedures in the hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratory.

Interventional cardiologist Dr. Xavier Prida joins USF Health from St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he practiced for nearly 27 years.

“Dr. Prida is one of the most well-known and respected cardiologists in the Tampa Bay region.  We are fortunate he joined us,” said Arthur Labovitz, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and an acting director of the USF Health Heart Institute. “His addition to the department will help advance our primary mission to elevate the level of cardiac care across the region.”

Dr. Prida specializes in consultative cardiology, which offers comprehensive analysis of an individual’s cardiovascular condition and related diseases to help the patient and doctor jointly develop the best treatment plan.  He is an expert in interventional procedures, such as cardiac catheterization, angioplasty and stenting, with a special interest in managing acute coronary syndromes, studying health and disease outcomes, and improving quality of care.

“We have added a superbly trained interventional cardiologist in Dr. Xavier Prida,” said Sally Houston, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officerwith Tampa General Hospital. “He is a welcome addition to our team and will only enhance the outstanding cardiac care we deliver every day at Tampa General.”

Dr. Prida is a fellow of three premier professional societies – the American College of Cardiology, the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, and the American College of Chest Physicians.

At St. Joseph’s since 1987, he held positions as director of the coronary care unit, chief of the Department of Cardiology, director of medical education and quality outcomes, and, most recently, medical director of the adult cardiac catheterization laboratories.

As regional co-director of the American Heart Association’s Mission Lifeline Accelerator program, Dr. Prida was instrumental in helping integrate local systems of care to improve outcomes for patients who suffer a life-threatening type of heart attack known as STEMI, out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, or both.

“Dr. Prida played a key role in working with the community and EMS to get patients into hospital cardiac catheterization labs faster, reducing the time it takes to open blocked arteries,” Dr. Labovitz said.

Dr. Prida received his MD degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 1980.  He completed residency training in internal medicine at New York Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College, and served as assistant chief resident at Memorial Hospital/Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute. Following a fellowship in cardiology at Shands Hospital/ University of Florida College of Medicine, he was appointed instructor of medicine/chief resident in the Department of Medicine there.

Dr. Prida says he looks forward to returning to an academic health center after many years in private practice.

“Students and residents ask questions from different, independent perspectives, and that often opens new avenues of inquiry and discovery,” Dr.  Prida said.  “I’m thankful to the all the patients, institutions, physicians and staff who have educated me over the years.  In this next stage of my career, I want to pass on what I’ve learned from others to help educate the next generation of physician leaders.”

He sees a bright future for USF’s growing clinical cardiology group – the largest in Tampa at the region’s only academic health center.

With Dr. Labovitz’s leadership over the last few years, Dr. Prida said, the USF Health Department of Cardiovascular Sciences “has become a flagship program increasingly relevant to the community it serves.”

                                                                                                                                      -USF Health-
USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

USF Health Communications media contacts: 
Lisa Greene, lgreene@health.usf.edu, or (813) 974-4312
Anne DeLotto Baier, abaier@health.usf.edu, or (813) 974-3303

Move strengthens cardiovascular services at region’s only academic health center

Tampa, FL  (Feb. 13, 2014) — Florida Cardiovascular Institute, a leading private cardiology practice, has joined forces with USF Health, creating the largest clinical cardiology practice in Tampa at the region’s only academic health center.

“We’re thrilled Florida Cardiovascular Institute is with us. When we looked at all the pieces, it was a natural fit,” said Jeffrey Lowenkron, MD, CEO of the USF Physicians Group.  “The attractiveness of the scope of services and expertise we offer is higher with the addition of FCI.”

Sitting, l to r, Dr. Arthur Labovitz, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with Dr. Fadi Matar, acting director of the department’s new FCI Division. Standing, l to r, Dr. Bengt Herweg, director of electrophysiology and arrhythmia services at USF Health with the FCI cardiologists who, along with Dr. Matar, have joined USF Health: Drs. J. Thompson Sullebarger, Joel Fernandez, Dany Sayad, John Ramirez and Olga Kuteyeva.

Adding six FCI cardiologists increases to 18 the number of full-time clinical cardiology faculty members in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences.  FCI also brings 7,500 patients and 33 full and part-time nurses, medical assistants, ultrasound technicians and administrative staff to the USF Physicians Group, the largest multispecialty practice on Florida’s west coast.

The group will continue to provide care at its current South Tampa location, 509 S. Armenia Ave. USF Health has leased the 10,000-square-foot, second-floor space occupied by FCI, and in March a new co-branded sign will appear on the building.

“These physicians are all high-quality clinicians who add depth and will enrich our overall practice,” said Arthur Labovitz, MD, professor and chair of the USF Health Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and an acting director of the USF Health Heart Institute.  “They will be a catalyst for advancing our department’s growing presence in the community. We will be better positioned to meaningfully affect how cardiovascular medicine is practiced in the Tampa Bay region.”

FCI was established in 1999 by founding physicians Fadi Matar, MD, and J. Thompson Sullebarger, MD, after they left USF’s medical school to go into private practice.  Dr. Matar, medical director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Tampa General Hospital, and Dr. Sullebarger, chief of cardiology at TGH, now return to academic medicine as associate professors in USF’s newly created Division of Florida Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Matar serves as the division’s acting director.

FCI considered several larger groups in the Tampa Bay area as potential partners. But, Dr. Matar said, the private practice’s longstanding interest in research and education and its work at Tampa General, the university’s major teaching hospital, made USF Health “the best fit.”

Dr. Labovitz and Dr. Matar

“We feel good about the move. We’re growing our family from six cardiologists to 18, and they are all colleagues we’ve worked well with in the past,” Dr. Matar said. “Being part of an academic group on the cutting-edge of studying and offering new therapies makes us better doctors who can provide the highest-level care to our patients.”

The transaction highlights a growing national trend of independent physician groups merging with larger partners as doctors seek to avoid being squeezed by shrinking insurance reimbursement rates, control expenses, and adjust to changes in the health care delivery system driven, in part, by the Affordable Care Act.  What cardiologists and other specialists are getting paid for certain procedures or visits is in many cases declining, while the expense and complexity of running a practice are increasing.

“There’s been downward pressure on payment,” Dr. Lowenkron said, “so if you’re in a bigger place it’s probably true you’re a little bit safer.”

USF and FCI say that the move made sense for more reasons than the financial advantages of building a bigger practice. There was alignment between the two groups in several key areas, including:

–          Like-minded patient-centered care philosophies.

–          A shared perspective on the importance of USF Health’s academic missions of education and research in making health care better.

–          The desire to train future cardiologists for the challenges and opportunities of a changing healthcare system

Dr.Matar speaks with a patient. He and his FCI colleagues have a keen interest in teaching future cardiologists and engaging in clinical research.

Together the two physician groups can offer patients a fuller spectrum of cardiovascular subspecialty services than either could alone.  For example, Dr. Lowenkron said, FCI will help cover USF’s gaps in interventional cardiology, while USF’s strength in electrophysiology appealed to FCI.

The university’s research infrastructure, including support for grant writing, biostatistics and outcomes research, and the opportunity to participate in investigator-driven studies also appealed to FCI, Dr. Labovitz said.

FCI adds about a dozen industry-sponsored clinical trials to USF’s mix of 24 federally-funded, private and pharmaceutical-sponsored trials testing new cardiovascular drugs or devices and evaluating standards of care.  That means USF Health cardiology patients have access to an impressive array of clinical studies involving heart failure, hypertension, arrhythmias and other cardiovascular diseases, as well as the first genomics trial, in partnership with the American College of Cardiology, examining the link between genetic information and the risk of developing these diseases.

In addition to Dr. Matar and Dr. Sullebarger, the other FCI cardiologists to join USF Health are Joel Fernandez, MD; Olga Kuteyeva, MD, John Ramirez, MD; and Dany Sayad, MD, all assistant professors.

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Media contact:
Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
(813) 974-3303,  or abaier@health.usf.edu