The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – Okyanos Heart Institute plans to begin cardiac stem cell therapy on patients in Grand Bahama in February 2014.

According to Erika Mangrum, senior vice president of communications, many of patients they are going to be treating have no credible options for the treatment of advance coronary heart disease.

She said coronary heart disease is prevalent and is the number one killer in the world.

“Beyond bypass surgery and stents, there really have not been any options for people who have advanced coronary heart disease,” she told persons at an educational seminar on Tuesday at the Pelican Bay Resort.

Okyanos Heart Institute will be located in the First Commercial Center Building in the mall.

The company says it aims to bring a new standard of care and better quality of life to patients with coronary heart disease using cardiac stem cell therapy.

Ms Mangrum indicated that they were aware of the debate on stem cell research in the Bahamas.

“We heard there is still some confusion about what stem cell therapy is, and when does it get to be an ethical question, so we wanted to get through those questions and tell you what we will be doing,” she said.

Dr Howard Walpole, chief medical officer and interventional cardiologist at Okyanos, heads the institution in Grand Bahama.

He practiced for 25 years, and was the chief of Cardiac Sciences at St Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr Walpole received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Georgia, his M. from the Medical College of Georgia and his MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.

He did his fellowship at Vanderbilt University.

Dr Walpole is also involved in the American College of Cardiology. He has served as one of 30 board trustees at American College of Cardiology.

Dr Walpole said stem cell is a new field in medicine and there is tremendous amount of research ongoing throughout the world.

“We are still learning, and great deal of information we do know.

“One of the things we decided when we began this venture was bring in many people, true experts, in stem cell research,” he said.

He said Dr Les Miller has been brought on board as an advisor and has been doing stem cell research for about 12 to 14 years.

Dr Walpole said construction of the institute is “coming along quite well.”

He said they are in the process of building the clinical area of the facility on the third floor, which has already been gutted. The second floor will house their business operations.

“We toured there… but it still has few months to get ready,” he said.

He commended the Bahamian government on looking at legislation to regulate stem cell research and therapy in the Bahamas.

“I appreciated that the government have tried to look at the science and come up with good regulation to make sure it is a safe procedure,” he said.

The new investment will bring employment opportunities to Grand Bahama. Already, more than 70 jobs have been created in Freeport.