Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the United States and Europe, accounting for 840,678 and 4.1 million deaths annually, respectively. In the case of Myocardial Infarction, occlusion of a major blood vessel serving the heart occurs, usually due to development of a clot. Current therapies to treat MI include medications or surgery with the ultimate goal of restoring of blood flow. These strategies do not address the prevention of future coronary events and may cause ischemia/reperfusion injury, which contributes to an increase in infarct size. Patients who survive a MI exhibit an increased secretion of HGF from the infarct area which can be related to improved cardiac function.