Gwinnett Medical Center’s (GMC) Strickland Heart Center, a 40,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility featuring the latest in life-saving technology, is slated to open in January 2012. Manfred Sandler, M.D., medical director of cardiology at GMC, led the successful campaign to obtain the required Certificate of Need for open heart services and helped raise more than $9 million to fund the new Heart & Vascular Center.
Sandler has been voted as one of Atlanta’s top cardiologist by his peers since 2005 in Atlanta Magazine’s annual Top Doctors issue. In addition, he was listed in US News and World Report as one of the top 10 percent of cardiologists in the nation in 2011. He currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Gwinnett Hospital System and as chairman of GMC’s Foundation Board of Directors, a position he’s held since 2008. However, his commitment to the community is most evident in his leadership circling GMC’s Open Heart Program, which the new Heart & Vascular Center will showcase.
Sandler said that the Strickland Heart Center is part of GMC’s response to a growing need among area residents.
“We built this facility because the community realized the importance of cardiac services in Gwinnett,” he explained.
The Strickland Heart Center represents a $33 million capital investment and includes two state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization labs, two open heart surgery operating rooms with LED lighting and high definition integrated video monitors, and 12 private recovery bays. Some of the open heart procedures that will be performed at GMC include coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement and repair of an atrial septal defect. GMC has projected an open heart surgery volume of about 340 patients in 2012.
In addition to his responsibilities at the hospital and with The Cardiovascular Group, P.C., where he has practiced for 13 years, Sandler volunteers his time by conducting annual cardiac physicals for Norcross High School athletes and the Georgia Force. He’s also worked with American Heart Association, Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Medical Association of Georgia, the American College of Cardiology, Gwinnett Chapter of the American Heart Association and Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful.
