MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — It may be cold and windy, but that isn’t stopping Dr. Tony Singh, a South Bay physician, from launching a grueling 500 mile bike-a-thon through the Bay Area communities of San Francisco, Fremont, Milpitas, Sunnyvale and San Jose to help combat the global epidemic of South Asian heart disease.
Singh’s one-man fund raising and awareness campaign started on Dec. 20 in front of the South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital and ended there on Dec. 24. Along the way, he visited local community centers and places of worship.
Singh conceived the project after attending a Physician’s Symposium sponsored by the South Asian Heart Center in September, where research data collected from 800 participants during the Center’s initial 17 months of operations were released.
“Tony was so motivated by the speakers and impressed by the research/data that he decided to contribute in his own unique way to our mission,” development director Radhika Ramachandran said. “His 500-mile-long, five-day bike marathon will support our cause and raise funds. We think it’s a fantastic way to mark the end of the year for the South Asian Heart Center and another milestone for voluntary community participation.”
“As a physician, I found the Center’s research and its focus on identifying the causative factors for coronary artery disease, educating physicians and creating objective risk prediction tools laudable,” Singh said. “It’s incumbent upon the South Asian community to contribute meaningfully to support this effort, which benefits the entire community.”
The data collected by the South Asian Heart Center track closely, with a large international case control study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in early 2007, and demonstrate that South Asians have higher levels of risk factors for heart disease. They also have a four-fold higher incidence of coronary artery disease when compared to the general population, with the disease often developing at an earlier age.
To learn more about the South Asian Heart Center or to schedule a screening, visit the Web site at www.southasianheartcenter.org or call (650) 940-SAHC (7242).
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