Miami Heart Day Symposium at FIU

On Friday, February 18, 2022, as part of the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Seminar Series, the Biomedical Engineer Department in collaboration with Florida Heart Research Foundation presented its annual Miami Heart Day Symposium at Florida International University. Now in its fourth year, the symposium serves as a platform to gather cardiovascular researchers from across South Florida to learn from each other and discuss current research and lingering challenges in cardiovascular medicine.

To solidify the importance of cardiovascular health, the event opened with Dr. Keith March, Professor of Cardiology and Director of the University of Florida Center for Regenerative Medicine who presented a seminar entitled Next-Generation Cell-Based Therapies: Cellular Therapies in A Bottle, On the Shelf, and Treating Hearts. Following the seminar, Biomedical Engineering students took the stage to share their research via poster presentation with peers, guest speakers, and professors during the Poster Symposium portion of the program. To examine and dispel misconceptions about cardiovascular disease, Dr. Tarak Rambhatla, Cardiology, Medical Director of Inpatient Cardiac Services, Baptist Health South Florida, took to the stage to present and discuss preventive methods designed to avoid treatment.

 According to Dr. Rambhatla, when it comes to cardiovascular conditions, prevention is the best medicine. Even when heart disease runs in your genes, living a healthy lifestyle is a critical ingredient in preventing heart problems. To tie it all together, the event concluded with a talk by registered dietician Claudia Correa, who among other dietary topics, addressed the issue of recognizing challenges in cardiovascular disease among underrepresented minorities.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people in the United States, and it is said that one person dies every 37 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease. With such dire statistics, it is critical to continue to bring awareness and solutions to this very important topic. That is the goal and guiding reason why the Biomedical Engineering Department at Florida International University is committed to continuing to hold this annual symposium and partnering with heart disease experts and students who will be the future of Biomedical Engineering and cardiovascular solutions.