September 29, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama system has approved the creation of a new Center for Heart Failure Research at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Directed by Dr. Louis J. Dell’Italia, clinical director in the division of cardiovascular disease and Ahsan Husain, Ph.D., in the department of physiology and biophysics, the center will coordinate the large number of research efforts related to congestive heart failure already underway at UAB.

The establishment of the center will provide a framework for these researchers to work together in a coordinated effort to develop new drugs, new surgical techniques and new approaches directed at regenerating new heart muscle. The center will link scientists from the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Optometry and Engineering, as well as the basic health science departments, other existing centers and outside institutions.