Rogers Heart Foundation

Our Founder

When it incorporated in 1959, the Foundation’s early name – the H. Milton Rogers Foundation for Heart Research, Inc. – honored its founder, a well-known cardiologist who first conceived the idea of establishing a cardiac catheterization lab. The Foundation was made possible through an initial patient donation, and filled a growing need for a diagnostic and research facility in St. Petersburg. Previously, local patients were sent to several other Florida cities or even out of state for sophisticated cardiac testing. The new lab’s first home was a converted patient room in St. Anthony’s Hospital in 1960. The hospital later offered more spacious quarters that allowed room for expansion of research and educational facilities.

Dr. Rogers’ legacy lives on through the Rogers Heart Foundation and its gifting programs.

H. Milton Rogers, M.D.

Dr. Frank LaCamera, Jr. came from the cardiac program at the Cleveland Clinic to be director of the new “cath lab.” Patients were referred from all over the state and, throughout the years, Dr. LaCamera and other area cardiologists performed more than 10,000 catheterizations in the lab. These cardiac patients enjoyed many years of healthy and productive life as a result of this diagnostic procedure.

Stress testing first became available to local residents when Dr. Edward Swanick became Assistant Director of the laboratory, and this was followed by the first Holter monitoring in this city. The cath lab was eventually given to St. Anthony’s Hospital in 1990, but the research and education continued under the auspices of the Foundation.

Today Dr. LaCamera serves as president of the Foundation and guides its funding of further cardiac research, donations of medical equipment and scholarship awards.

Frank LaCamera, Jr. M.D.
President

Internationally recognized cardiologist Dr. Henry “Barney” Marriott joined the team in 1965 to become head of Clinical Research and Education for the Foundation. Before coming to the Foundation he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, taught electrocardiography for 14 years at the University of Maryland, was a Fellow in Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida. Privileged to work with the discoverer of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming, Dr. Marriott treated some of the first cases of bacterial endocarditis to be cured with that drug – an experience that led to his dedication to cardiology. He was a prolific writer and texts authored by him have been required reading at many medical schools.

Dr. Marriott brought his overwhelmingly successful teaching techniques that provided much-needed practical, hands-on instruction in cardiac care that was in high demand by physicians and nurses everywhere. Through Dr. Marriott’s affiliation with Emory University’s Medical School the Foundation’s cath lab became part of a training rotation for Emory cardiac Fellows assigned to study with the cardiologists at the Foundation. Dr. Marriott continued with his writing, teaching and cardiac research projects until his death in 2007. In his memory the Foundation has named its nusing scholarship program The Barney Marriott Cardiovascular Nursing Scholarship Program.

Henry J. L. Marriott, M.D.