The University of California, Irvine has announced a $5 million gift from Linda and Mike Mussallem in support of integrative cardiology training and research at the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute.

The gift will be used to create an integrative cardiology program that includes a fellowship focused on preventive and integrative approaches to better heart health such as nutrition, acupuncture, meditation, and mindfulness. The gift also will support the launch of an integrative health coaching certificate program and establish an integrative cardiology patient database that will be used to better understand how lifestyle changes, combined with conventional and complementary interventions, affect outcomes for cardiac patients.

"We recognize the importance of whole-person health for patients who are undergoing cardiovascular treatment journeys and, more importantly, the need for a science-based approach to this aspect of their care," said the couple in a statement. "We are proud to support the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute as their team pursues patient education, innovative studies and data collection for whole-person health."

"UCI is committed to whole-person care that focuses on prevention and personalized treatment plans that include evidence-based integrative approaches," said Steven Goldstein, vice chancellor for health affairs. "This generous gift from the Mussallems will help us to discover new methods of treating cardiac patients, provide those techniques to patients to prevent and treat heart disease, and pass them on to the next generation of physicians."