Presented on May 2 at the organization's national congress, the annual award is named after one of the society's founders and honors individuals who demonstrate extraordinary excellence, vision and leadership in advancing healthcare.
Fonarow, Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science and director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, has made major contributions in his role in leading cardiovascular registries, initiatives, and clinical research that have greatly advanced the care of patients with acute coronary syndromes and acute heart failure.
Fonarow chairs the American Heart Association's Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) programs. These innovative quality improvement initiatives provide hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures for heart and stroke patients, which help improve care. Currently over 1,600 hospitals nationwide are participating and close to two million cardiovascular disease patients are enrolled.
The GWTG programs were partly modeled after a UCLA initiative called the Cardiovascular Hospitalization Atherosclerosis Management Program or CHAMP that was designed by Fonarow. CHAMP was the first hospital-based program of its kind in the country.
In addition, Fonarow serves as vice-chair of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry ACTION Registry-GWTG Program. He also co-chaired the writing group that created the Society of Chest Pain Centers' guidelines for the management of acute heart failure patients. Such registries, protocols, and guidelines help clinicians improve clinical outcomes and optimize patient care.
Associate chief of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Fonarow has published over 300 articles, studies and reports about heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, preventative cardiology, as well as quality of care and outcomes research.
The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a non-profit international society dedicated to the belief that heart disease can be eliminated as the number one cause of death worldwide. The Society bridges cardiology, emergency medicine and other professions jointly focused upon improving timely, quality care for cardiac patients.
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