“CHRIS” (Cerebrovascular, Heart Failure, Rheumatic Heart Disease Interventions Strategy)

Ed Havranek, David Kao, and Tom Maddox worked on the project “CHRIS” (Cerebrovascular, Heart Failure, Rheumatic Heart Disease Interventions Strategy). CHRIS was an initiative based in Zimbabwe. It was funded by NIH (NHLBI and the Fogarty Center), and was part of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) that paired medical schools in the United States with medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa for the purpose of enhancing medical school capacity. This cardiovascular disease initiative was linked with a larger partnership known as NECTAR between the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences, also funded under the MEPI program. The CHRIS initiative primarily sought to train UZ post-graduates in cardiovascular disease so that they might become future cardiology faculty members. Activities included visiting professorships from UC cardiology faculty, an exchange program that has brought UZ trainees to Denver for brief attachments, and development of patient registries for clinical research in peripartum cardiomyopathy, pediatric rheumatic heart disease, stroke, and atrial fibrillation. We have also provided instruction in cardiovascular disease for clinical and pre-clinical medical students, and have worked to transfer responsibility for this activity to our UZ trainees. The project began in late 2010 and was funded through 2016. You can contact Dr. Havranek at ed.havranek@ucdenver.edu.