The American Heart Association and Macy’s have awarded 16 scholarships of $2,500 each to increase culturally-sensitive, patient-centered care.

The New York Times published a feature article that detailed a research effort to unravel the genetic underpinnings of cardiovascular disease. Members of one family with a history of heart-related deaths have agreed to participate in the study.

The Watchman wait may be over. An analysis of long-term data found the Watchman left atrial appendage closure device to be superior to warfarin for primary efficacy and mortality.

UnitedHealth Group and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, in conjunction with Allina Health and the community of New Ulm, Minn., recently announced two grants from the company totaling more than $1 million. The grants will fund weight management and nutrition initiatives for Hearts Beat Back: The Heart of New Ulm Project (HONU), a research and demonstration project with a goal of reducing heart attacks in New Ulm, Minn.

As we approach the summer season of doomsday movies in all their cinematic gore-y, it may be no surprise that nuclear catastrophe enters into a few imaginations. But at the FDA, it is science and not science fiction that is under discussion as the agency reviews an animal study on Amgen’s leukocyte growth factors as a nuclear countermeasure. The FDA will discuss whether a human study is warranted on May 3. The Bloomberg article includes a link to the FDA backgrounder.

CVRx, Inc., a private medical device company, received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE) approval, allowing the company to proceed with its hypertension study.

Garret FitzGerald MD, FRS, chairman of the Pharmacology Department and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2013 Grand Prix Scientifique by the Institut de France.

The New York Times revisited the controversy over chelation therapy, allowing the TACT (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) lead investigator Gervasio A. Lamas, MD, to share his observations: “If you had asked any cardiologist, to a man or to a woman, they would have said this study would be negative, and that included me and my associates. But it wasn’t, and that’s the one thing we should be focusing on.” Cardiology guru Eric Topol, MD, also weighs in.