Healthcare Industry News: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
News Release - June 7, 2006
Dr. Bernard Salick Announces the Appointment of Dr. Gerald Pohost, a World-Renowned Cardiologist, as Chief Medical Officer of Salick Cardiovascular Centers
LOS ANGELES, June 7 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Dr. Bernard Salick, chairman and chief executive officer of Salick Cardiovascular Centers Inc., has announced that Dr. Gerald M. Pohost will join the company as senior vice president and chief medical officer. Dr. Pohost, who is currently chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, will assume the new position on a consulting basis effective immediately, and will join the company full-time on December 1, after completing his current duties at USC."Dr. Pohost is one of the world's most prominent experts in cardiac diagnosis and advanced imaging modalities for cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Salick. "He has made many major contributions to the field, including pioneering the use of thallium in cardiac nuclear imaging and developing applications for the use of MRI in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. Most recently, Pohost has created new methods to assist in diagnosing microvascular disease of the heart -- a previously undiagnosed syndrome that occurs frequently in women and diabetics. His vast knowledge and experience will be vital to Salick Cardiovascular Centers as it sets forth to dramatically improve the delivery system for cardiology services."
Dr. Pohost will focus on assisting Salick Cardiovascular Centers recruit key medical staff; design, develop and acquire state-of-the-art medical equipment and technologies; and build alliances with leading cardiovascular physicians and academic medical centers that will provide hospital-based care in affiliation with Salick Cardiovascular Centers. Dr. Pohost will also be instrumental in establishing the company's nationwide standardized clinical trials and research network.
"Salick Cardiovascular Centers offers me a unique and exciting opportunity to apply my professional experience and long-time passion -- noninvasive cardiac imaging -- to define a new model for the delivery of cardiovascular services," said Dr. Pohost. "I'm looking forward to working with Dr. Salick and his highly experienced executive team to advance this new model and to accelerate the detection, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease."
Dr. Pohost's distinguished medical career spans more than three decades, with numerous clinical, academic and research positions. For the past five years, he served as chief of cardiovascular medicine and professor of medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine, where he was responsible for developing a program in the diagnosis of heart disease in women using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Prior to USC, Pohost spent 18 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he developed one of the most prominent cardiovascular programs in the country. At UAB, he held the positions of professor of medicine and radiology and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease and the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and Development, and was responsible for building the first center focused on the application of MRI for cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Pohost has been involved as a member of the executive committee in the WISE (Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation) study, an NIH-sponsored nationwide, long-term and ongoing study addressing innovative strategies to diagnose heart disease in women. Through his center at UAB, he was responsible for one of the study's first four sites. Most recently, Pohost spearheaded the development and application of the MRI for the evaluation of chest pain in women. Through this work, it is becoming apparent that the MRI may be the best procedure for diagnosing microvascular disease, a condition prevalent in women and diabetics who despite having chest pain may have a negative angiogram.
He has authored more than 300 papers in peer reviewed journals, over 15 books on cardiovascular imaging, and is currently on the editorial board of several key publications, including Circulation, International Journal of Cardiology, Heart Disease and Stroke, Cardiology Today, Future Cardiology, and is the editor-in-chief of Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and Current Cardiology Reviews.
Dr. Pohost is a member of several distinguished organizations including the American Association of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American College of Cardiology, the Association of Professors of Cardiology, and the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. He participates in various additional prestigious professional organizations, such as the American Heart Association (AHA), for which he was most recently the president of Los Angeles County chapter and a member of the board of directors of the Western States Affiliate. He has received a variety of awards, including, most recently, the Passion of the Heart award from the AHA.
Dr. Pohost graduated from The George Washington University, completed medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, conducted his residencies at Montefiore Hospital/Medical Center and Albert Einstein School of Medicine and completed his cardiology fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and nuclear medicine.
About Salick Cardiovascular Centers
Dr. Bernard Salick founded Salick Cardiovascular Centers on the belief that successful diagnosis and treatment of chronic catastrophic illness requires a simplified, consumer-oriented approach. The company provides a new delivery system for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, giving patients immediate and ongoing access to comprehensive, innovative, high quality and cost-effective cardiovascular services in a patient-friendly, primarily outpatient environment. With improved access and a coordinated care system, Salick Cardiovascular Centers is dedicated to addressing the growing epidemic of diagnosed and undiagnosed cardiovascular disease in the U.S.
Source: Salick Cardiovascular Centers
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