In 1986, family patriarch Arthur “Pep” Pepin (Art Pepin) awaited a heart transplant. It was a critical situation that made it even more difficult 500 miles away from home. After Pep received his new heart from a 26-year-old donor, he and his family gratefully returned to Tampa and focused their substantial philanthropic interests on making the most advanced heart health care available right here at home. The founder of Pepin Distributing Company and a Tampa community leader for decades, Pep put his money where his heart was and started his living legacy by making a matching $500,000 pledge with his son Tom Pepin totaling $1 million to help University Community Hospital Foundation create the momentum needed to open the Pepin Heart & Vascular Institute.

The renowned Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute at Florida Hospital Tampa opened its doors on April 3, 2006. This freestanding, three-story facility is completely dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and study of cardiovascular disease and is filled with advancements in technology and revolutionary patient-centered care.

Almost twenty years later, it has become one of the leading programs in the Tampa area and the Gold Standard in Heart Care.  Today, the Pepin Heart Institute combines three decades of experience with leading-edge technology and procedures, with the expertise of the area's finest physicians to bring the best possible heart care to Tampa Bay. Now known as the AdventHealth Pepin Heart Institute, it is one of the most advanced specialty digital hospitals in the Southeast and has emerged as a leader in cardiovascular care.

Most importantly, our institute is also filled with a team of dedicated and expertly trained physicians, nurses, technicians, and staff who have worked together for almost 30 years to create one of the leading cardiovascular programs in the region, performing over 76,000 angioplasty procedures and over 11,000 open heart surgeries, introducing treatments available only through clinical trials to foster better outcomes.

We’re also home to the area’s first accredited Chest Pain Emergency Room, which means that we provide a gold standard of care in acute cardiovascular medicine by meeting and exceeding standards set by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute is consistently among the first hospitals in the country to perform new, revolutionary procedures like the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) for patients with severe aortic valve stenosis and the Watchman procedure to help prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.

For our excellence in cardiovascular clinical outcomes and community outreach, we have received multiple accreditations and awards.

• 1. Advanced Certification in Heart Failure
  2. The Joint Commission accreditation
  3. Accredited Chest Pain Emergency Room
  4. Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care
  5. American Heart Association Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement
  6. American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines®- Resuscitation Gold Award
  7. American Heart Association STEMI Receiving Center Silver Performance Achievement
  8. American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline Receiving Center GOLD PLUS Recognition
  9. American Heart Association Heart of the Community Award
  10. Larry King Cardiac Foundation
  11. Larry King Cardiac Foundation Hospital