Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/556451
E VEN IN ANCIENT times, the heart was thought to be central to life. But it took hundreds of years after the discovery of circulation in the 1600s for medical scientists to truly begin to understand the heart's functional and anatomic complexities. Since the 1940s, much of that understanding has arisen from pioneering translational research at Cleveland Clinic. Cardiologist Fetnat Fouad-Tarazi, MB, BCH, MD, was one of those trans- lational researchers. She moved to the U.S. from Egypt in the late 1970s. Having just completed a thesis on pharmacological cardiac stress testing (a very new concept at the time), she joined Cleveland Clinic to delve deeper into hypertension and circulatory regulation under the direction of Harriet P. Dustan, MD, and then Robert C. Tarazi, MD, whom she later married. F. Merlin Bumpus, PhD, was the Research Division Head at that time. "I wrote to various medical institutions in the U.S. who were doing work in this field, and Dr. R. C. Tarazi responded to me first," says Dr. Fouad-Tarazi. "He told me that there was the opportunity at Cleveland Clinic for both research and clinical practice in hypertension, so I was thrilled to join the Cleveland Clinic." During her 35+ years there, Dr. Fouad- Tarazi was involved in more than 30 pivotal research studies on hypertension and syncope and established Cleveland Clinic's Syncope Clinic, later named Center for Syncope and Autonomic Disorders. It was the first of its kind in the world. She also authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, wrote several book chapters and gave multiple invited presentations. Now retired from full-time practice and research, Dr. Fouad-Tarazi is associated with the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and is devoting much of her time to writing a book on the legacy of Cleveland Clinic in advancing worldwide understand- ing of the cardiovascular system. Focus on Hypertension Cleveland Clinic's leadership role in the areas of heart disease and hypertension dates back to the 1940s and the arrival of Irvine Page, MD. Internationally recognized at Cleveland Clinic Continuing the Legacy of Cardiovascular Care THE LEGACY OF PIONEERING CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH AT CLEVELAND CLINIC IS VAST AND LONG-STANDING. MANY ESTABLISHED RESEARCHERS ARE CONTINUING THIS LEGACY OF CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH IN THEIR OWN FIELDS AT THE CLINIC. WHILE IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ALL OF THEM, DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS THIS STORY FOCUSES ON ONLY THREE OF THEM. By Alex Strauss Irvine Page, MD Harriet P. Dustan, MD F. Merlin Bumpus, PhD Bernadine Healy, MD COV ER FE AT UR E PHOTOS COURTESY OF CLEVELAND CLINIC 8 | Cleveland/Akron/Canton MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M ■ S E P T E M B E R /O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5