The primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases has been both a clinical and research goal of Dr. Farquhar for over 18 year. Over these years Dr. Farquhar and his colleagues have conducted extensive investigations into the psychological, physiological and environmental factors associated with coronary heart disease and its prevention. This Preventive Cardiology academic Award (PCAA) would allow Dr. Farquhar to use this extensive multidisciplinary background to coordinate existing activities and to provide a focal point for a preventive cardiology training effort at stanford. It would also allow Dr. Farquhar to develop and expand his ability to teach preventive cardiology using new and innovative teaching developed at Stanford and elsewhere. The preventive cardiology program proposed for this PCAA would coordinate and enrich existing courses and training programs at Stanford. It would also allow new training programs, derived for Dr. Farquhar's new teaching skills, to be developed and implemented for medical students, fellows, residents, and faculty form the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics. Within these departments several divisions would receive particular attention: Cardiology, Family and Community Medicine, General Internal Medicine (all in the Dept. of Medicine), and Pediatric Cardiology (Dept. of Pediatrics). Issues to be addressed explicitly in the curriculum include: 1) guidelines/information about CHD risk factors and their modification, 2) modeling behavior modification techniques for reducing cardiovascular risk, 3) awareness of CVD risk by assessing trainees' physiological risk factors, and 4) opportunity for resident sand fellows to apply their learned skills with themselves and patients. Following their training in preventive cardiology residents and fellows will see patients in several existing clinics: General Internal Medicine Clinic, Family Practice Clinic, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, and Preventive Cardiology clinics within the Divisions of Cardiology and Pediatric Cardiology. All participants in the PCAA curriculum would have their knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practices applicable to preventive cardiology assessed via questionnaires. In addition, residents would participate in intensive evaluations of their clinical skills by the use of simulated patients. Lastly, a well defined on-going faculty training program will assist in the institutionalization of the preventive cardiology curriculum at Stanford.
