Two Christiana Care health professionals visited the White House this year as part of their efforts to keep our community healthy and safe.

Timothy Gardner, M.D.
Timothy Gardner, M.D.

Tim Gardner, M.D., medical director of Christiana Care’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health and executive director of the Value Institute, attended a special event Sept. 9 at the White House. Titled “Making Health Care Better,” the event was part of a series launched this year to highlight the progress made in the United States in reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke over the past seven years. The event also addressed what remaining and important work needs to be completed in order to improve the cardiovascular health of the U.S. population.

Heart disease kills about 610,000 people in the United States each year and accounts for one of every four deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stroke kills nearly 130,000 Americans each year and accounts for one out of every 20 deaths. Previous “Making Health Care Better” events have centered on diabetes and mental health.

Speakers included Tom Frieden, M.D., MPH, director of the CDC; Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director of the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and Robert M. Califf, M.D., MACC, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Gardner was invited because of his role with the American Heart Association, the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to educating about and stopping heart disease. An internationally-known heart surgeon and leader in cardiovascular medicine, Dr. Gardner was the AHA national president in 2008-09. In that role, he served as the association’s chief volunteer science and medical officer responsible for medical, scientific and public health matters.

Cybersecurity expertise

Louis Tomczak III, an information security analyst with Christiana Care’s Information Technology Department, participated in a meeting at The White House July 28 that centered on the value of cybersecurity competitions.

Tomczak was invited to the White House after a regional team that he was a member of took first place in a computer security competition that serves as an educational exercise to give participants experience in protecting and responding to cybersecurity threats.

Tomczak was selected to participate in the computer security competition after excelling in a test on various aspects of cybersecurity — such as network analysis and forensics — that is run by the U.S. Cyber Challenge, a national program focused on identifying and developing cybersecurity talent to meet the nation’s cybersecurity workforce needs.

In addition to the trip to the White House, Tomczak was congratulated for his team’s victory and his dedication to cyber-safeguarding efforts by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott and Delaware CIO James Collins.

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