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• Lester R. Sauvage, MD founds the Reconstructive Cardiovascular Research Laboratory as a branch of Providence Seattle Medical Center (renamed The Bob Hope International Heart Research Institute in 1980, and the Hope Heart Institute in 1988).

• Two successful operations developed to treat diseased human heart valves.
• Significant advances made in artificial heart valve development.

• World's first successful experimental Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) operation using the patient's own vein as a bypass graft.

• First team to use the sac around the heart (the pericardium) to repair the heart's mitral valve.
• Operation developed to prevent leg amputation in older adults.
• First use of a two-branched artificial graft for use when both leg arteries are blocked. This graft carries a blood supply from healthy arm arteries to the legs.

• Improved artificial grafts designed and developed.
• Standardized method developed for using a patient's own blood to "pre-clot" artificial grafts. This process prevents internal bleeding and helps healing after grafts are implanted.
• Supported, coil grafts developed for use at joints - such as the knees - where frequent flexing stresses grafts and can cause them to collapse.

• Patent granted for Sauvage Grafts - improved artificial grafts made from synthetic fibers - now in use worldwide.

• Institute investigators publish Prosthetic Replacement of the Aortic Valve, describing 10 years of research on aortic heart valves.

• Forty articles published on the healing and design of artificial arteries and heart valves.

• HOPE Publications© launched with distribution of the first HOPE Health Letter®. Today, products include a wide variety of booklets, brochures, videos and health newsletters. Readership numbers over 5 million annually.

• First team to bypass blockages in all of the main coronary arteries using only the patient's internal thoracic (chest) arteries.
• Discovery: The potential for a patient's blood to clot affects the success of replaced arteries.

• Platelet aggregation (PA) scores predict the blood clot-producing potential of small-diameter artificial grafts.

• New method developed for producing leak-proof grafts to rebuild arteries.
• Discovery: Tiny blood vessels in the artery walls affect how injured surfaces heal.

• New compound (citramine) discovered to reduce the possibility of blood clots in patients living with heart disease.
• Development of a method - called Clinical Atherosclerosis Predisposition factors (CAP factors) - used to predict an individual's likelihood to develop blood clots.
• The Heart Improvement Program (H.I.P.) - a multidisciplinary, heart-healthy curriculum - piloted with fourth graders in three Seattle schools.

• Pretreated, leak-proof artificial grafts developed.
• Demonstration made that the microfilaments in the endothelial cell structure affect these cells' ability to stay connected to the blood vessel lining under the shear stress of blood flow.

• System created for viewing cultured endothelial cells (the protective cells that line blood vessels) under a microscope by time-lapse video.
• Study completed describing 1) the elasticity of different biocompatible materials used to seal pores in artificial grafts, and 2) the flexibility of the grafts made from these materials.

• Work completed showing that compliance mismatch (joining a stiff graft to an elastic artery) does not cause intimal hyperplasia (thickening of the wall where the host artery and graft are joined - which can cause the graft to become blocked).
• Building renovation completed, including space for visiting surgical Fellows.

• Discovery: The "healing" cells which accumulate on the inside walls of artificial grafts may come from the bloodstream - not just from neighboring tissues as was previously believed.
• Establishment of a successful national and international network of 62 prominent surgeons and institutions committed to sending explanted human grafts to The Hope for study.
• William P. Hammond, MD and Errol S. Wijelath, PhD recruited to lead The Hope's new research department, Molecular Biology.

• Founder Lester R. Sauvage, MD publishes The Open Heart: Secret to Happiness (stories of hope and healing) with forewords written by Mother Teresa and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop.

• William P. Hammond, MD named President & Medical Director of the Hope Heart Institute.
• Robert Lazzara, MD recruited to lead the Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures and Robotics team.

• Founder Lester R. Sauvage, MD founds Better Life Press, Inc. and publishes his second book, You Can Beat Heart Disease: Prevention and Treatment (how to live a longer, healthier life). Dr. Sauvage shares messages from his two books during numerous national radio and TV talk show appearances.
• Evidence indicates that "healing" cells - which line blood vessels and grafts and also "fall out" from the bloodstream - may come from the bone marrow.
• Robert Lazzara, MD performs the world's first open-heart surgery shown live over the Internet. Dr. Lazzara also named Associate Medical Director of the Hope Heart Institute.
• Collaborations begin with Computer Motion, Inc. and Providence Seattle Medical Center (PSMC) to test robotic methods for minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

• Pre-eminent vascular biologist E. Helene Sage, PhD and her research team join the Hope Heart Institute to study angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels.
• The Hope Heart Institute celebrates its 40-year history of groundbreaking cardiovascular research and education.
• An 11 year follow-up study assessing the predictive power of the Clinical Atherosclerosis Predisposition (CAP) factor confirmed the validity of this test for identifying people at risk for developing cardiovascular disease.
• The Hope presents a symposium on women and heart disease at BIO '99, an international biotechnology conference.

• The Hope launches its women and heart disease public education initiative with Women Take Heart TM
• Founder Lester R. Sauvage, MD publishes The Better Life Diet©.
• Robert Lazzara, MD hosts a live web cast of a transmyocardial laser revascularization procedure during bloodless surgery at Providence Seattle Medical Center.
• Phil Nudelman, MBA, PhD named President and CEO of The Hope Heart Institute.

• Pre-eminent vascular biology researcher Tom Wight, PhD and his team of researchers from the University of Washington join The Hope. Their studies focus on understanding the interactions of the cell and its matrix at the molecular level, emphasizing the development and function of mammalian connective tissue and blood vessels.
• Hope scientists join a collaborative five-year research project to "grow" a living heart, an undertaking that could lead to tissue engineered replacement hearts and the means to grow other major organs in the laboratory.
• Margaret Allen, MD, the first woman to perform a heart transplant operation in the US and the first and only female thoracic specialist to be elected president of the United Network for Organ Donation, joins The Hope. Her research focus is gene therapy and eradicating health disparities in diverse community-based populations.
• The Wellspring Group, an Employee Assistance Program, is acquired and becomes a subsidiary of The Hope.
• The Hope Heart Institute Foundation is formed.
• The Hope Heart Society is founded for donors contributing more than $500.
• The Hope becomes part of health Promotion Advocates, a national group working with Congress and federal health agencies to secure $200 million a year to focus on the basic and applied sciences of health promotion: $145 million will flow back to organizations like The Hope for collaborative research.

• The Hope joins University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center and MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) to create a comprehensive, cardiovascular education program for grades 6-12 called Youth Take Heart™.
• The Hope features Vicky Lawrence as its keynote speaker at Stress Less, Live More, a women's luncheon fundraiser.
• The Lester R. Sauvage Healing Heart Guild is founded by two young women whose mother is a Hope Heart board member. Their first annual Swing to Your Heart's Content event nets $11,000.
• The Hope collaborates with Powerful Schools to sponsor a highly interactive four part community seminar series called Women Take Heart™.

• The Hope, in collaboration with the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, moves basic scientific research into the new Hope Heart Program at BRI.
• Seattle Cardiovascular Research transfers all clinical research programs to The Hope Heart Institute. More than a dozen cardiologists conduct clinical trials on various medications and devices in the new Hope Heart Clinical Research program.
• Thomas A. Amidon, MD is named Medical Director of The Hope Heart Institute. James Leggett, MD is named Associate Medical Director.
• The Hope launches Kids Take Heart, an interactive educational program for children grades K-6.
• The Hope Heart Institute transfers ownership of The Wellspring Group to Family Services.

• The Hope Heart Institute works with Health Communications Inc. to publish Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living: Heart Disease.
• The Hope Heart Institute Clinical Research Program expands to include the research projects of physicians of Eastside Cardiology.

• Women Take Heart program expands to reach thousands of families in our communities with tools for preventing heart disease

• Free stroke screening program begins
• Kids Take Heart expands through a summer teacher institute, allowing us to reach more than 4,000 kids during the school year

• Teen Take Heart program launches for high school students