TGH Foundation Receives $4 Million Gift to Establish the David & Tara Ruberg HVI Innovation and Research Center of Excellence

The Center of Excellence will drive innovation and groundbreaking research within the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute.

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Foundation has received a generous gift to establish the David & Tara Ruberg HVI Innovation and Research Center of Excellence.

Tara Ruberg's $4 million donation honors the memory of her late husband and advances the world-class care offered by the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute and Dr. Fadi Matar, the cardiologist who treated David Ruberg.  

"The David & Tara Ruberg HVI Innovation and Research Center of Excellence will help TGH continue its mission of groundbreaking innovation to provide world-class care," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. "The amazing generosity of Tara Ruberg is a reflection of the impact of the care and compassion of the team in the Institute." 

Tara Ruberg said that she and David considered themselves to be "catalyst" givers and that David was the kind of leader who wanted to give people the tools to solve complex problems.

"This is our opportunity to take the hospital and the community to the next level," she said. "The work of the doctors will implement what really matters here."

As a couple, Tara and David Ruberg were committed to identifying causes that could be lifted with their support. They named their private foundation after both of their mothers, who inspired their altruism.

David Ruberg, who was a respected engineer and businessman, bonded with Matar, who specializes in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology and works in bioinnovation and 3D-printing. The donation could fund work on these efforts and in innovating catheter-based procedures. 

"We would like to thank Tara Ruberg for her extremely generous support of the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute," said Dr. Benjamin Mackie, vice president and co-chief of TGH Heart & Vascular Institute, medical director of HVI Heart Failure Center of Excellence and medical director of Heart Transplantation. "This is a transformational gift in recognition of her late husband David's passion to innovate and drive clinical excellence. Her gift will drive the development of novel and innovative approaches to cardiovascular medicine. Her support is representative of the Rubergs' longstanding dedication to our community and belief in our mission to provide world-class medical care to the Tampa Bay community and beyond."

"We are so grateful for Tara Ruberg's incredible gift honoring David Ruberg," said Frann Leppla, executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of the TGH Foundation. "It is a testament to his own legacy of innovation and means that his name will live on at TGH for decades to come." 

U.S. News & World Report ranked Tampa General as one of the nation's top hospitals for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery and recognized the academic health system as "high performing" in heart attack, heart failure, stroke and transcatheter aortic valve replacement for 2024-2025. 

Additionally, Newsweek ranked Tampa General as one of America's Best Cardiac Hospitals in 2024. It is the only hospital in the Tampa Bay region recognized by Becker's Hospital Review on its list of 100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Heart Programs.

Tampa General was the first health system in Florida to offer a minimally invasive robotic procedure for mitral valve repair and utilizes state-of-the-art technological advancements such as 3D printing for planning aortic valve replacements, trauma surgery, cancer surgery and other reconstructions. As part of the region's leading academic health system, Tampa General is also investigating breakthrough treatments and conducting clinical research to advance heart and vascular care in partnership with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. 

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2024-2025 Best Hospitals, with two medical specialties ranking among the top 20 in the nation and eight medical specialties ranking among the top 50 best hospital programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by three prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – in the top 100 nationally in the 2024 America's Best Large Employers, the top 50 in Florida in the 2024 America's Best Employers by State and the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2022, provided a net community benefit of approximately $240.3 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It was the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant center in 2024 and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Muma Children's Hospital at TGH, the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes TGH North, which is comprised of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties, 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, two TGH Outpatient Centers, TGH Virtual Health, and 20 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by the Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR
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Publications & Physician Communications
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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital