Dr. Frank Franklin is applying for a Preventive Cardiology Academic Award (PCAA) from Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Medicine in New Orleans. This will establish a PC educational program in a school with a tradition in research in the roots of atherosclerosis starting in childhood. The objective of the program is to modify physician's knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors in the assessment and modification of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. The multidisciplinary and multidimensional PC educational program for students provides role models and encourages active involvement and mastery experiences to develop their perceived efficacy in PC clinical care. This program consists of four components: A personal health promotion program beginning during freshman orientation, a PC curriculum with clinical correlations and case correlations integrated throughout key required courses including biochemistry, physiology, pathology, introduction to clinical medicine (ICM)/epidemiology, the clerkships of pediatrics, medicine, psychiatry and senior topics (nutrition). Students will be offered a PC elective, a PC research elective and community activities including health fairs and public education sponsored by the American Heart Association. The resources in PC research at LSU include lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in peripheral tissues and hepatocytes, pathological determinants of atherosclerosis in youth, the Bogalusa Heart Study of the natural history of CV risk factors in children and young adults in a biracial community; a CV Health Promotion Program for Elementary School Children and the Diet Intervention Study in Children (DISC) Trial. A major resource in clinical PC is the Center for Atherosclerosis Risk Evaluation (CARE) Clinic for the assessment and treatment of families with adverse CV risk factors. This program will be implemented by a PC core of Dr. Franklin, Rosanne Farris, MS, Hyg RD, nutritionist and coordinator, Tom Wolf, Ph.D., psychologist, Janine Edwards, Ph.D., curriculum developer, Luis Soto, M.D., cardiologist and an educational evaluator. This PC core will be assisted by volunteer PC course coordinators in each of the key courses. A PC Advisory Committee of key course department heads, PC principal investigators and medical school deans will review the PC program. The evaluation of the program will assess the changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors of the New Orleans students compared to a control group at the LSU Medical School in Shreveport.
