About the Center

Innovating. Life-Saving. Patient Care.

Since 1986, the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center faculty has pursued life-saving innovations, research and patient care. We have made progress since the 1960s when 40 percent of Americans died of cardiovascular disease. Today, that figure has decreased to 34 percent and death from the disease now occurs at an older age. Nevertheless, we cannot take much solace, as cardiovascular disease remains the No. 1 killer of Americans — a statistic that holds true for women as well as men.

The History of Sarver Heart Center

The Sarver Heart Center was founded as the University Heart Center in 1986 with the goal of preventing and curing cardiovascular disease through the three pillars of research, education and patient care. Renamed in 1998 in recognition of generous support from the Sarver family, the Center is composed of more than 160 physicians and scientists with national and international reputations. Their goal is to bring together scientists from complementary backgrounds and expertise to work collaboratively toward a future free of heart disease, vascular disease and stroke.

The Sarver Family

Jack Sarver died of heart disease in 1979 at the age of 58. The family struggle against heart disease began in the paternal lineage generations before his birth. The childhood memories of his young father's valiant struggle motivates Robert Sarver, with three sons beginning the next generation of the Sarver family, to end "the heritage of heart disease."