GALVESTON, Texas - Dr. Ken Fujise, who has been named director of the Division of Cardiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, has pledged to build a comprehensive cardiology division that would provide the best possible care, research and education.
Fujise, who starts Dec. 1 at UTMB, had been at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In Houston, he has led a molecular biology laboratory, within the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases and served as an interventional cardiologist at Memorial Hermann Hospital for the past 11 years.
Fujise said that Galveston and UTMB have "everything needed for success for somebody like me who would like to be a cardiologist and, at the same time, do meaningful cardiovascular research."
He said that he had three main goals: to provide top-notch cardiovascular care, to mentor and educate UTMB students, residents and fellows in his field, and to conduct cardiovascular research that benefits patients.
Fujise said he intended to build on his experience at Houston and said he would strive to provide "the very best cardiology care to everybody, the people of Galveston Island and the mainland. We will be comprehensive and compassionate in caring for our patients."
He also looked forward to teaching at UTMB, encouraging students, residents and fellows to provide care that is "state-of-the-art and also understandable to lay people and, above all, care that is compassionate." Fujise is a recipient of the Master Teacher Award from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston for a Web-based learning system that he and his team have developed.
Fujise, who is triple board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine for general internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology, said that, at UTMB, he'd continue to pursue what he called his passion - cardiovascular research.
"UTMB is a very prestigious school with over 100 years of excellence. And as such, we have to generate knowledge beneficial for the prevention and treatment of heart diseases. We have to discover something new," Fujise said. "Because if we do not make discoveries, we are going to use up all the knowledge that we have generated in the previous generations. Not science for science but science for medicine and patient care."
"We will have nothing new to offer to our patients and coming generations. So we have to constantly be making discoveries; generating knowledge for medicine and for the sake of patients."
As an example of research that can make a difference in patients' lives, Fujise noted that his laboratory team in Houston identified the protein fortilin as a facilitator of atherosclerosis. They then worked on ways of inhibiting fortilin's role in the hardening of arteries. Clinical trials may start soon. Fujise is an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. His research has been supported by numerous funding sources, including the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Randall J. Urban, chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, said that Fujise possesses outstanding skills and credentials in research and patient care.
"The real excitement we have about Dr. Fujise is because of his strong research and his strong devotion to patient care," Urban said. "We feel that he can be the translational leader in cardiology that we think will serve the institution outstandingly."
"He is a person who is very committed to the care of patients and the improvement of patient care," Urban continued. "And he is very committed to building a highly effective cardiology division."
Fujise said that he was quickly won over by UTMB and Galveston Island.
"I came down and started to talk to people and meeting people and explore the island and UTMB research operations, clinical operations and I started to think, ‘oh my God, this Galveston is a hidden gem.' " Fujise added that he had been much impressed by the strong community support for UTMB, collegial and supportive academic atmosphere of the school, and the natural beauty of the island.
Dr. Garland D. Anderson, dean of the School of Medicine, also said that Fujise would be a great asset to UTMB.
"We're delighted to have recruited Dr. Fujise, who will be an outstanding division chief of cardiology," Anderson said. "We are impressed by his expertise, his thoughtfulness and his attention to detail."