Dr. Cesar Molina, Medical Director of the
South Asian Heart Center
of El Camino Hospital,
came to Sun’s Menlo Park campus today to talk about
heart health. This is the second talk I set up as part of CTO
Greg Papadopoulos’ sponsorship of
Silicon Valley Heart Walk 2007 by the
American Heart Association.
The Heart Walk will be held this Sunday morning, 16 September at
De Anza in Cupertino. Go to the
Sun’s Company Page to sign up as a Sun Heart Walker or to make a donation to support one of our teams.
Dr. Molina’s talk was fascinating and passionate and funny. He built his
case for life changes (no smoking, regular exercise, eat more fruits and
vegetables, achieve a healthy weight) from both detailed analysis of
medical studies and from less conventional sources of wisdom. My
favorite was this quote from President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865):
-
Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy; but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift.
Dr. Molina talked about many aspects of health with examples drawn from
both the general American context but also from the culture and population
of South Asians. I had asked the Heart Association to invite someone
who could speak particularly to Sun’s Engineering population, which
includes many South Asians. Before today, I had not been aware that
Coronary Artery Disease strikes South Asians at a
four-fold rate compared to the general population. This holds true
even for lifelong vegetarians who do not smoke and are not overweight.
Even though I hosted the talk, I was surprised at how much I learned.
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