CVRC Hosts Field Trip for 8^th Graders Interested in STEM

This week, the Cardiovascular Research Center hosted a field trip of 8^th grade girls who participate in the Women and Mathematics Mentoring Program here in Durham. The girls are interested in studying STEM as they get older. The CVRC is interested in supporting local and regional efforts of schools and other organizations working to build a pipeline for the next generation of physician scientists. During the visit, CVRC staff members emphasized that our faculty are both seeing patients and conducting cutting-edge research, and we encouraged them to pictures themselves in this role. As the next step, the girls were invited to come back and do volunteer research in our CVRC labs when they get to high school.

Neil Freedman and Dennis Abraham offered terrific tours of their labs for the students; everyone had a great time! Many thanks to the CVRC for participating in this great opportunity to grow awareness of STEM careers for girls. What a great way to showcase our basic science labs while also helping our community by inspiring others!

 Asher Rosenberg had his Bar Mitzvah this weekend

Cary and Paul must were very proud to celebrate Asher’s Bar Mitzvah this weekend.  Some fun pictures included from the 80s themed event.

Thompson Earns PhD via Duke SON

Congratulations to the newly minted Dr. Shelley Thompson, one of our cardiac nurse practitioners, who successfully defended her doctoral thesis this past Wednesday (March 20) for her program within the Duke School of Nursing. The title of her thesis is Impact of a palliative care education module in patients with heart failure. Her team is really proud of her and we hear she did an amazing job. Shelley is shown here with her committee members: Tony Galanos, Midge Bowers and Cary Ward. Way to go, Shelley!

Cardiac Nurse Featured by Duke SON

Brooke Moyer was recently featured on the Duke SON website: https://nursing.duke.edu/brooke-moyer. Congrats and way to represent!

Doctors Day 2019

We are a little early, but wanted to wish all MDs throughout Duke Heart (all current and former!) a very happy Doctor’s Day which takes place on Saturday, March 30.

Duke Heart Grows by One!

We are delighted to share the news that Chelsey Moore, PA, a co-team lead of our cardiac APP’s, and her family have welcomed a baby girl. Ava Cathryn Moore was born on Monday, March 18 weighing in at 8 lbs, 2 oz and measuring 20 inches. Mom and baby are doing great. Congrats, Chelsey!!

Ava’s arrival coincided with the birthday of Annette Sullivan, assistant to Peter Smith, chief of the division of CT surgery – a belated happy birthday to her!

Speaking of birthdays… we hear via the Twitter-verse that today is Sunil Rao’s birthday – happy birthday, Sunil!

ACC Legislative Conference Scheduled for November 2-5, 2019

Last November, Jamie Jollis was among a number of North Carolina cardiologists who visited with Senator Richard Burr during the 2018 ACC Legislative Conference. In face-to-face meetings with members of Congress and other policymakers on Capitol Hill, more than more than 400 cardiologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and nurses discussed their experience providing quality, evidence-based care. Discussion topics included opportunities and needs to improve the system, electronic health records, supporting NIH funding, excluding type 2 MI from hospital mortality measures, and extending cardiac rehabilitation supervision to advanced practitioners.

Next year’s conference will be held November 2-5, 2019, with visits to the Hill on November 5. As the Federal Government funds the largest public health system in the world and decisions by policy makers impact every aspect of patient care and research, all are encouraged to join this important meeting. If you have questions about how to get involved, please contact Jamie. This is a great opportunity to make sure your voice is heard. It’s also a great way to represent Duke!

Best Hospitals Voting Ends Wednesday!

Are you on Doximity? Have you voted yet? Voting for the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals survey closes on Wednesday, March 27. This makes a difference and should take just minutes to complete. Thank you!

Photos of the Week

Magnus Ohman receiving his official “Good Catch” award that we mentioned in last week’s issue of Pulse. Nice Job, Magnus!

This one will never get old! Photo courtesy of one of Magnus’ patients.

Cardiology Grand Rounds – updates

Jim Crowley, president of the Irish Cardiac Society (and former Duke trainee) was our guest this past week. Crowley is professor of cardiology at University of Galway and spoke about his experiences with cardiology training in the US and Ireland. Ireland is a small country with fewer than five million residents; it requires cardiology fellows to seek subspecialty training abroad. Duke has been home to several of those fellows in past years, including Bill O’Callaghan, Peter Quigley, Connor O’Shea, E. Magnus Ohman and Jim Crowley. In his presentation to us, Crowley noted that 70 percent of current cardiology trainees in Ireland are women, and there was an interesting discussion about factors that may be facilitating the “gender flip” in Ireland’s cardiology community. Thanks to all who were able to join us in welcoming Jim back to Duke!