Letter from Founding Director

Dear Colleagues, Supporters and Friends:

I am delighted to provide a letter of introduction for this, the 28th annual report from the Michigan Clinical Outcomes Research and Reporting Program.

When I was recruited to come to the University of Michigan in 1994, one of my recruitment mandates was to establish a rigorous and impactful outcomes research laboratory that would serve patients at the University of Michigan, those cared for across the state and region and hopefully well beyond, to other states and nations. This mandate came with significant support from the hospital, the Medical School, the Department of Medicine, the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and more recently the Frankel Cardiovascular Center to accomplish this purpose. Looking back, it is extremely exciting to reflect that the recruitment mandate has been fulfilled, and indeed surpassed, through the efforts of so many committed individuals.

Over the years, our team has taken on a host of clinical research challenges, which are leading to better care for a variety of conditions. No doubt our efforts to establish statewide registries in coronary angioplasty and peripheral intervention are having a lasting effect on care for citizens throughout the state of Michigan. Importantly, our work to establish a multicenter international effort to study acute aortic syndromes has had a profound effect on the field. Indeed the reports from our core laboratory now provide the basis for our current understanding of this rare and deadly disease and its various complications and most effective management. In recent years, we have been able to take on other rare diseases, such as fibromuscular dysplasia (with the Fibromuscular Dysplasia Society of America) , Cardiac Sarcoidosis , cardiac involvement with COVID-19 and others.

In thinking about global health care, in our program entitled Project My Heart Your Heart, we are trying to make pacemaker recycling a reality in the world, hoping to extend pacemaker care to patients in low income countries who otherwise would die from lack of a pacemaker. It is also appropriate that the University of Michigan would take a leadership role in community health. Through Project Healthy Schools, our team is now trying to fight the ravages of childhood obesity in 140 schools throughout Michigan and in other states as well. Our work to study and improve quality of care has led to significant changes in the way that we manage acute coronary care and heart failure both in our center, and in the state. This is especially true for the management of anticoagulation through our joint project with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. This project is improving health of patients in Michigan, the U.S. and across the world.

The impact of our research is great. Equally important is the impact MCORRP has had on education. We have given the opportunity to participate in clinical research to numerous medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty. MCORRP provides a research home for developing outcome scientists interested in a variety of conditions and procedures. We also highly value our summer internship program, which in our most recent iteration served 27 students from 15 different universities to spend a summer with us learning about health care, immerse in a clinical research project, partner with World Medical Relief in Detroit to deliver used medical supplies to needy nations, and experience a variety of shadowing experiences to help them discern whether a health care profession is the right choice for them. Through the years, we have touched more than 450 students who have gone on to medical school, nursing programs, public health degrees and other health related fields.

We are very fortunate to be at a place like the University of Michigan, which has allowed us to develop and grow MCORRP and its various initiatives. Equally, we are extremely fortunate to have an incredible group of staff, faculty, residents, students, and fellows who honor and care for one another as individuals, seek our mutual goals of collaboration and innovation and are firmly committed to excellence, in everything that they do. As you read our 2023 report, I hope that you capture the depth, quality, and amazing range of the work that MCORRP is currently doing and will do as it proceeds into the future. Importantly, our work would not be possible without critical support from granting agencies, foundations, the University and Frankel Cardiovascular Center and individual donors who extend our impact through their generous support.

With gratitude,
Kim A. Eagle, M.D.
Founding Director, MCORRP