SUNRISE, Fla., May 3, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bioheart, Inc. (BHRT.OB) announced today that Mike Tomas, the company's President/CEO, has been named a 2012 Hall of Famer by Miami Dade College (MDC). Tomas is one of 25 alumni presented with its top recognition, and induction into the MDC's Alumni Hall of Fame, whose honorees are many of the nation's premier entrepreneurs, professionals, public servants, artists and other leaders.
"Our Hall of Fame honorees span a wide range of professions and possibilities," said MDC President Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón. "Their success inspires us with optimism for what future generations of Miami Dade College students will achieve and reminds us of education's ability to alter individual lives, families and communities."
Mike Tomas was appointed as Bioheart's President, CEO and a Director on June 19, 2010. For the past 11 years, Tomas served as President of The ASTRI Group, an early stage private equity investment company in Florida with an investment in Bioheart. In 2003, he joined Bioheart's Board of Directors as the independent representative of The ASTRI Group. Prior to this, Tomas held ascending executive positions including Chief Marketing Officer at Avantel, a $1 billion dollar joint venture with MCI. He currently sits on the boards of Perimeter Internetworking, Avisena and Total Home Health. He is also the current chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University and a founding coach/mentor at the University of Miami's Launch Pad at the Toppel Center. Mike holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Miami, a Bachelor degree from Florida International University and an Associate degree from Miami Dade College.
Each year, new alumni who have attained great success and made significant contributions in their fields are selected to join MDC's Hall of Fame's prestigious ranks. The impressive inductees represent all spectrums of the community, from health care and public service to communications and engineering. Miami Dade College will honor some of its outstanding alumni at the 10th annual Hall of Fame Gala, being held May 10, 2012 at 6pm at the Hilton Miami Downtown.
Today, more than 174,000 students attend Miami Dade College, a state-supported college with eight campuses and numerous outreach centers. Miami Dade College is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the United States and one of the most highly regarded colleges in the nation. For more information, visit www.mdc.edu.
About Bioheart, Inc.
Bioheart is committed to maintaining its leading position within the cardiovascular sector of the cell technology industry delivering cell therapies and biologics that help address congestive heart failure, lower limb ischemia, chronic heart ischemia, acute myocardial infarctions and other issues. Bioheart's goals are to cause damaged tissue to be regenerated, when possible, and to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations.
Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage and peripheral vascular disease. Its leading product, MyoCell, is a clinical muscle-derived cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. For more information on Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com, or visit us on Facebook: Bioheart and Twitter @BioheartInc.
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Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
The Company is subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.