<p>A Gainesville couple hope to lay the groundwork for a cardiovascular center of excellence at the University of Florida and have made a gift of $500,000 to spark that effort.</p>
<p>The University of Florida Foundation is announcing the gift from Stephen and Trish Pavlik today. The Pavliks have also set aside an additional $500,000 in the form of a bequest, hoping to attract others who share their vision.</p>
<p>"We didn't do this to make ourselves feel good," Steve Pavlik said. "We felt the best way to get the word out about the need for a heart center is through this sort of gift."</p>
<p>For the Pavliks, the fight against heart disease has become a personal crusade. Both have lost family members to the disease.</p>
<p>Steve Pavlik is the former owner and CEO of a Gainesville construction firm. After retiring in 2004, he began volunteering on the heart floor at Shands at UF. He says it's the most fulfilling thing he's ever done.</p>
<p>His wife, Trish, donates time each week as a "cuddler" in the neonatal intensive-care unit.</p>
<p>"It is our dream to see a cardiovascular clinic at UF that will attract the best doctors and keep the ones we have here," Pavlik said.</p>
<p>By funding the development of a heart center that is dedicated toward advancing clinical thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, the endowment will support not only efforts in the area of heart surgery, but also vascular surgery and cardiology.</p>
<p>"We envision a home to a multidisciplinary group," said Dr. Curt Tribble, vice chairman of the department of surgery and chief of its division of cardiothoracic surgery. Tribble joined the department of surgery at UF in August after 27 years at the University of Virginia.</p>
<p>Tribble said Thursday that although no plans for a bricks-and-mortar center have been drawn up yet, he shares the Pavliks' vision.</p>
<p>"We've gotten to a point where heart surgery has become almost routine," Tribble said. Now, he said, it is time to shift focus to the patients' participation in the process </p>