A SUN STAFF WRITER Published on May 10, 2003
© 2003- The Baltimore Sun The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has received a four-year, $24 million grant to establish a center for the study of sudden cardiac death, school officials said yesterday. The grant was made by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, a Las Vegas-based philanthropy founded in 1954 by the media entrepreneur for whom it is named. At the time of his death in 1993, Reynolds owned 75 newspapers as well as cable television and outdoor advertising companies. The Hopkins center will pursue therapies that include using stem cells to prevent sudden deaths and use modern imaging techniques to identify the abnormalities that put people at risk. Most sudden cardiac deaths occur when the electrical impulses in the heart became rapid or chaotic in the aftermath of a heart attack, according to the American Heart Association. "Sudden cardiac death is ripe for a biological revolution," said Dr. Eduardo Marban, a Hopkins cardiologist who is director of the new Reynolds center. "If we can understand why specific patients have arrhythmias, we can target those patients for intensive therapy while sparing others." All articles © The Baltimore Sun and may not be republished, copied or distributed without permission. | 
