University of Arizona Sarver Heart Members Honored by Community Organizations

Several physicians from the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center received honors from community organizations this past spring for their achievements and contributions.

 

Frank I. Marcus, MD, professor emeritus at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson, was honored by the Pima County Medical Foundation “in recognition of lifetime achievement in the furtherance of medical education.”

 

Dr. Marcus expressed his gratitude for this unexpected honor and urged the Pima County Medical Society to consider making a major effort in spearheading preventative cardiology.

 

“Specifically, I encouraged the Society to perform research and implement efforts to decrease the epidemic of obesity that has led to a marked increase in diabetes, hypertension, hyper-lipidemia and the subsequent increase in coronary disease. This will eventually wipe out the gains we have made in both medical and surgical treatment of coronary disease and increase in life span. In addition, the costs of the complications of obesity are unaffordable by our society,” said Dr. Marcus.

 

The founding chief of the Section of Cardiology at the UA College of Medicine, Dr. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in electrophysiology and cardiac arrhythmias. In 1984, he pioneered the development of radiofrequency catheter ablation. In 1986, he and his colleagues published the first paper that systematically explored the use of radiofrequency energy for catheter ablation of arrhythmias. Today, this procedure is used all around the world.

 

Besides Dr. Marcus, Richard Dale, MD; James Dunn, MD; and John Wilson, MD, also were recognized by the Pima County Medical Foundation for exemplary lifetime achievements in the furtherance of medical education.

 

Gulshan Sethi, MD, professor of surgery and medical director of the Circulatory Sciences Program at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson, is the Pima County Medical Society Physician of the Year for 2012. The award is given annually to a physician who has made a significant contribution to the practice of medicine in Pima County.

 

“Nominations come from the medical community, are vetted by the PCMS Executive Committee and voted on by the Board of Directors. In 2012, we received several excellent candidates. Dr. Sethi was unanimously selected,” said Steve Nash, recently-retired executive director of the Pima County Medical Society.

 

"It is most gratifying to be recognized by your own peers,” said Dr. Sethi while accepting the award. He thanked his colleagues for giving him the opportunity to provide care for their patients and the patients who trusted him with their lives.

 

Dr. Sethi joined the UA College of Medicine in 1988. His primary specialties were in adult cardiac surgery and heart transplantation. He performed the first single-lung transplant in Arizona in 1989. That same year, he established the Circulatory Sciences Program, which is one of the original master-level programs in pharmacology and perfusion technology. In 2007, Dr. Sethi completed the UA’s two-year fellowship in integrative medicine.

 

Dr. Sethi’s research has focused on heart, heart-lung and single-lung transplantation; artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices; mechanical valves; coronary artery disease; congenital heart operations; coagulation/anti-coagulation; and myocardial preservation/reperfusion injury.

 

Lorraine Mackstaller, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson and holder of the Sarver Heart Center’s Bertram Z. and Hazel S. Brodie and the Edwin J. Brach Foundation Endowed Lectureship for Heart Disease in Women, received the inaugural “Community Impact Award” from the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Tucson Alumnae Chapter. The award recognizes “a woman whose selfless work positively reflects the sorority’s public service program.”

 

“During the past three years, Dr. Mackstaller has worked tirelessly to educate women and minorities on heart disease and how to prevent it,” said Wanda F. Moore, Arizona state coordinator for the Deltas Farwest Region, chair of the Tucson Alumnae Chapter’s Physical and Mental Health Committee and chair of the UA Sarver Heart Center’s Community Coalition for Heart Health Education for Women of Color.

 

“Her leadership and commitment to heart health education takes her to the pulpits of churches, school classrooms, minority women conferences, neighborhood centers and community meetings throughout Southern Arizona. Her work to reduce heart disease in women of color and help them lead healthy lives makes her an exemplary recipient of the first Community Impact Award,” added Mrs. Moore.

 

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The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center in Tucson, Ariz., emphasizes a highly interdisciplinary research environment fostering innovative translational or “bench-to-bedside” research. Working toward a future free of cardiovascular disease and stroke, the center’s more than 170 scientist and physician members collaborate with the goal of applying new findings from the basic sciences to the clinical arena as quickly as possible. 

Media Contact: Katie Maass