Fundacion Araucaria was established in San Diego, California in 1994 as a non profit medical organization with the main objective to promote educational and research activities in the field of Cardiovascular prevention, particularly in Coronary Heart Disease that is the world leading cause of death in adults.
The founder and current Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Tomas E. Romero, MD.
Dr. Romero is a native Chilean Cardiologist who immigrated in 1974 to the United States and established a Cardiology practice in the San Diego region. He is certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases and Interventional Cardiology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. He is affiliated to Sharp Health Care, Scripps Mercy and the University of California, San Diego. He was the Chief of Cardiology at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center since 1987 until 2007.
Araucaria is a native Chilean pine tree with its habitat in the southern part of Chile. The survival of this tree today is threatened by uncontrolled logging and other negative human activities. Something similar occurs with the health and survival of the heart of so many people around the world who, like the Araucaria, are under the exposure to environmental hazards (smoking, poor diet, sedentary life style, etc).
Fundacion Araucaria has provided assistance to the development of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation in Chile by training Registered Nurses from that country with expertise in cardiovascular care through visits to the Sharp Health Care Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs in San Diego, California. For the last 10 years the foundation has provided support to research in the mechanism of atherosclerosis and heart disease, and in the outcomes of patients treated for heart attacks in Chile (project GEMI). Currently the foundation is sponsoring a research project at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in San Diego, California, that investigates the outcomes of women presenting to the Emergency Room with Chest Pains. Another research study under Fundacion Araucaria’s sponsorship is the San Francisco Project, conducted in the central region of Chile in the city of San Francisco de Mostazal. In this study an adult population is being followed now for more than 8 years with the main objective of defining the risk factors of all cause and cardiovascular mortality in this group representative of a society like Chile in the process of a socio-economic transition.