The mission of the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center is to advance the care of patients with diseases of the Heart, Blood, and Circulation by encouraging basic, preclinical, and applied research to unravel the causes of cardiovascular disease and to provide new tools for diagnosis and treatment to promote the well-being of our patients.

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death and disability in the state of North Carolina and in the United States as a whole. The spectrum of cardiovascular diseases is enormous. At one extreme, there are strictly genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and coagulation disorders that often severely affect otherwise healthy young individuals. At the other extreme lie common diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis (the most common cause of heart attacks) that afflict over half of our population and that have environmental and poorly understood genetic components.

Although members of the Center study many different diseases, the unifying features of the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center are the application of advanced biomedical technologies and the close interactions between clinicians and basic scientists to share information that will provide benefits to patients now and in the future. Specific research programs are organized within the center in the areas of thrombosis and hemostasis, vascular biology, and clinical trials and translation research. The goals of this multidisciplinary Center are to:

• Address fundamental issues in cardiovascular science that will directly impact the medical care of patients with all cardiovascular diseases
• Establish and maintain a leadership role for UNC in determining the direction of cardiovascular research at the international level
• Provide a basis for interactions between basic science and clinical departments to facilitate cardiovascular research
• Educate the university and local communities about advances and emerging issues in cardiovascular research
• Service the cardiovascular research community with an efficient and organized administrative staff
• Develop training programs and career development tracks to instruct the next generation of cardiovascular scientists