The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CVRF) was formed to support and fund innovative research as well as to provide physician and patient education that can advance the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. It was founded in 2007 as the non-profit research arm of the Cardiovascular Medical Group of Southern California (CVMG), a specialty consortium in practice for more than 35 years. CVMG was founded by Harold L. Karpman, MD, FACC, FACP, and Selvyn B. Bleifer, MD, FACC, FACP, who are Clinical Professors of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.

The 17 physicians comprising CVMG’s current practice have garnered individual and collective recognition both nationally and internationally for their contributions in clinical cardiac research. They established CVRF in order to make possible and support new and innovative research projects. Many qualified studies are often not initially support by pharmaceutical firms or equipment companies and end up being “orphaned” in the funding process. The premise that guides the Foundation’s mission is that by conceiving, supporting, and performing these “orphaned” research projects, significant improvements in patient care is likely to result and therefore these projects deserve to be adequately supported and funded.

CVRF also wants to make a larger and more humanistic contribution to advance cardiovascular knowledge worldwide using the many resources available in the medical group’s clinical practice and the Southern California cardiology community. In addition to working on advances in cardiovascular research, the CVRF plans to support specific community-based medical research and education not only for physicians but for the public. With these specific objectives, the Foundation can pursue research and education with far less overhead than university-based teaching hospitals, ensuring that the greatest proportion of donated funds will directly support research.