Madhav Swaminathan – First Anesthesiologist as President of American Society of Echocardiography (ASE)

This last week saw the presidential year of Madhav Swaminathan for the ASE.  The meeting in Portland was highlighted by his presidential speech and several awards for and links to past and present Duke faculty and trainees.  This is an example of an outstanding person who works as a team member uplifting others getting the opportunity to lead and spread this ethos – one that we hope pervades Duke Heart..  Please find photos from the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patel Headed to Atrium Health

Priyesh Patel will be leaving Duke Heart on July 24 to join the Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute at Atrium Health in Concord and Charlotte, NC. Priyesh has been part of the Duke family since 2005, completing all medical training including medical school, residency, and fellowships in cardiology and heart failure at Duke University Hospital. His tenure at Duke has been punctuated by multiple awards for teaching and clinical excellence. With his partner Stuart Russell, he expanded Duke’s regional footprint by establishing a comprehensive heart failure program at the WakeMed Raleigh Campus, which is now capable of managing nearly all advanced heart failure needs short of heart failure surgeries.

Priyesh will leverage this experience to establish and grow a heart failure program at the Atrium Northeast Campus in Concord, NC, while keeping a footprint with transplant/LVAD at the CMC Main campus in Charlotte. Priyesh’s wife Laura Musselwhite has also had an outstanding career at Duke and will be moving to Atrium Health as the Director of Outcomes Research for the Solid Tumor Division of Levine Cancer Institute to build a GI Oncology program at the Atrium Northeast Campus. Priyesh, Laura, and their daughter Zara (age 1) are grateful to everyone at Duke Heart for their unwavering support and friendship, and wish everyone the very best. Congratulations and a heartfelt goodbye to Priyesh and Laura! You will be missed!

Miller Receives DOM Outstanding Service Award

Congratulations to Cory Miller who was recognized last week by the Department of Medicine for Outstanding Service! Miller served for many years as a CICU nurse clinician; she coordinated the interface between patients, families, nursing and ancillary support teams and faculty, house staff and fellows; and she played a major role in education around end-of-life care, Code Blue processes, orientation to the CICU and other general areas of importance to team-based clinical care. We are so happy she has been recognized for her outstanding work and contributions by the Department of Medicine. Last Friday at Medicine Grand Rounds, she received the Department of Medicine’s Outstanding Service Award that is given annually to a faculty or staff member who has demonstrated exemplary, long-standing service to medicine education in the Department of Medicine. Congratulations, Cory!

Shark Tank Winners Announced

We are excited to announce the winners of our recent Shark Tank competition. Congratulations to Marat Fudim, cardiology fellow, and Brittany Zwischenberger, assistant professor of CT surgery! Fudim will receive the Duke Heart Leadership Council fellow funding award for Splanchic Nerve Modulation and Hemodynamic Monitoring in Chronic Heart Failure (SPONGE-HF). Zwischenberger will receive the Duke Heart Leadership Council faculty funding award for Use of Preoperative EKG-gated Cardiac Commuted Tomography (CT) to Improve Preoperative Assessment of Mitral Valve Anatomy and Facilitate Surgical Repair. Many thanks to the Duke Heart Leadership Council for their continued investment and their interest in research and clinical excellence! We are so pleased to have their generous support. Way to go, Marat and Brittany!

Five-Star Breakfast for AHF Team

The Advanced Heart Failure clinic at WakeMed Raleigh (part of our HeartCarePlus+ partnership) received a PRC 5-star award for patient care excellence. The award ceremony was held June 11. The team has put in tremendous work to make the clinic successful and we appreciate their effort. Shown here from left to right: Stephanie Cooper, Tanaya Foster, Denise Warren (COO WakeMed), Priyesh Patel, Dee Darkes, Eddie Little, Pam Daughtry, Donald Gintzig (CEO WakeMed), and Michelle Tadlock. Not pictured: Stuart Russell who was rounding at Duke during the award ceremony. Congrats to Priyesh, Stu and to our entire HF team!

Cardiology Grand Rounds – updates

Our last Cardiology Grand Rounds of the academic year was held last week. Many thanks to Deepak Voora, George Truskey and Neha Pagidipati for their updates regarding the Translating Duke Health program and their work related to resilience to coronary artery disease risk factors. Thanks to all who joined us!

Have news to share?

If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart at tracey.koepke@duke.edu. We would love to hear about your latest accomplishments, professional news, cool happenings, and any events or opportunities that may be of interest to our Duke Heart family. Please call with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged.

 

Duke Heart in the News:

June 20 — Mitch Krucoff

MedPage Today

FDA Panel Against Cutting PAD Device Access

https://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/pci/80620

 

Duke ICC Fellowship Dinner Held; Sketch Honored

Congratulations to our 2019 graduating Duke Interventional Cardiology Fellows! Our celebratory, year-end dinner was held Thursday evening, June 19 at Parizade in Durham.

As Terry Fortin noted our “AAA” team of ICC graduates include:

• Alexander Fanaroff, who is heading to the University of Pennsylvania
• Ajar Kochar, who is heading to Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Aditya Mandawat, who is heading to Chattanooga Heart Institute

Our Advanced Training in Cardiology/Structural Heart Disease graduate is:

• Matthew Chung, who is heading to Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists

The evening included tributes to each graduate by Mike Sketch, an annual tradition where dinner guests learn little-known facts about each fellow, thanks to months of sleuthing by Sketch, and a personalized cath lab video clip featuring several fellows including a telling story from Sean Javaheri. The evening also holds a special tribute for the completing Structural Heart fellow, made by Kevin Harrison. Alex Fanaroff received the 2019 Warren Newman award.

The most poignant part of the evening, however, was the tribute to Mike Sketch, who is stepping down as program director and turning the reins over to Schuyler Jones. Sketch has led the Duke Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Training program since it received its original ACGME accreditation on July 1, 1999. Jones did a wonderful job of honoring the tremendous work Sketch has done over the past 20 years – his tribute included dozens of messages that came in from across the globe from former fellows who trained during Mike’s tenure. The evening culminated in the distribution of red baseball caps emblazoned with “MAKE FEMORAL GREAT AGAIN”.

Mike and Beth Sketch have regularly opened their homes and their hearts to our interventional fellows for 20 years. Together they have shaped an amazing group of providers who are scattered around the globe, but who still maintain close ties to Duke.

Mike, you have done an incredible job over the years and it shows in the thought and care you put into evenings such as this. Thank you for being such a warm and gracious example of leadership, teaching and clinical excellence!

 

DUH Achieves Gold Plus & Target: Heart Failure Recognition

Congratulations, Duke Heart! Duke University Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes our commitment to ensuring heart failure patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines founded in the latest scientific evidence. The goal is speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.

Duke University Hospital earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies. Before discharge, patients receive education on managing their heart failure and overall health; are scheduled for a follow-up visit with their provider; and any other care transition interventions are discussed.

This achievement brings continued national recognition to Duke University Hospital and our Heart Failure team for improving patient care and outcomes for our heart failure patients. Great job, everyone!

Singer Family Celebrates with Awerbachs

Blue Dean, the outgoing executive director of development for Duke Heart, joined Kay and Phil Singer at a farewell dinner for Jordan and Elizabeth Awerbach on Wednesday, June 19. Jordan and Elizabeth are moving to Phoenix for the next phase of Jordan’s career. Jordan Awerbach is the 2019 recipient of the Anstrom Fellowship Award.

The Singers endowed the Anstrom Fellowship in Adult Congenital Heart Disease in honor of their late nephew, Thomas Anstrom. Thomas passed away suddenly in 2015 at the age of 33. His cause of death was an incident related to a long-standing heart condition.

Many thanks to the Singer family for their generosity and best wishes, once again, to the Awerbachs!

Zainab Samad back in Durham:

Zainab Samad who left Duke to become the Chair of Medicine at Aga Khan University in Pakistan is back this week.  She will be at the Durham VA some this week and we will also have her around the Division as we look to learn from her about how she is transforming medical care.  Here is a photo from a dinner we had tonight hosted by Andrew Wang.

 

 

Shout out: Towery, Belbase & Hausladen

Many thanks and a heart-y (get it?) congratulations to Mike Towery (PA), Sasmrita “Sas” Belbase (NP) and Jordan Hausladen (PA) for outstanding work as noted by Michael Rehorn, one of our fellows. Chet Patel and Andrew Wang shared the following with us:

I wanted to give some well-deserved kudos to Mike Towery, Sas Belbase, and Jordan Hausladen. When I started my CAD shift last Friday night, we had several patients with rapidly developing clinical changes. Mike, Sas, and Jordan all stayed past sign-out to help stabilize the patients and coordinate additional testing. The patients certainly benefited from their efforts and it made a very busy start to my shift much more manageable. I really appreciated everything that they did and just wanted to make sure that their efforts were acknowledged.

Great job, Mike, Sas and Jordan! Special thanks to Mike Rehorn for taking time to share his thoughts.

Cardiology Grand Rounds – updates

This week is our last Cardiology Grand Rounds of the academic year. Deepak Voora will provide another update on the Translating Duke Health program. He will lead a discussion on resilience to coronary artery disease risk factors. Other speakers will be George Truskey and Neha Pagidipati. Please join us on Tuesday morning, June 25, at 7:15 a.m. in DN 2003.

Happy Fathers Day 2019

Hopefully everyone had a moment to spend with family and loved ones celebrating father’s day.  This is a special time of year as the academic year ends and we celebrate all of our graduating fellows.  We had our finishing dinner Friday night and got to celebrate how the fellows continue to enrich our lives.

End-of Year Fellowship Dinner Held June 14

Congratulations to our 2019 graduating Cardiology Fellows! Our celebratory, year-end cocktail reception and awards dinner was held on Friday evening in the Ambassador Ballroom of the Washington Duke Inn. Thanks to all who joined in celebrating our wonderful fellows and in wishing them well as they move into their next stage of training or into their next adventure outside of Duke Heart. Special thanks to Arlene Martin, Dawne Smith, Anna Lisa Crowley, and all who helped make the evening a success!

 

Highlights of the evening included our annual awards presentation:

• The Floyd Endowed Fellowship Award, given in memory of Walter Floyd, MD, and chosen by the current fellows, goes to the peer who best exemplifies outstanding clinical skills and acumen. The 2019 recipient is Sounok Sen, MD.
• The Greenfield Scholar in Cardiology Award given in honor of Joseph Greenfield, MD, is selected by the Greenfield Committee for outstanding dedication and contributions to research. The 2019 recipient is Stephen Greene, MD.
• The Cassell-Saperstein Award is given to the fellow who best showcases excellence in teaching and a passion for clinical education. The 2019 recipient is Rahul Loungani, MD.
• The Brandt & Belinda Louie Award is given to the fellow exemplifying excellence across all areas within Duke Heart: clinical, education and research. The 2019 recipient is Angela Lowenstern, MD.
• The 2019 Staff Service Award recipient is Krisia Zanetti, RN, of the Duke Electrophysiology team.
• The 2019 Bashore Teaching Award recipient is Andrew Wang, MD. The award is given in honor of Thomas Bashore, MD.
• The 2019 Outstanding Mentorship Award recipient is Schuyler Jones, MD.

The following fellows will complete their final fellowship program on June 30 and are moving into medical practice outside of Duke:

• Bridgette Christopher, MD, is heading to Cone Health HeartCare
• Matthew Chung, MD, is heading to Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists
• Jordan Awerbach, MD, is heading to Phoenix Children’s Hospital
• Alexander Fanaroff, MD, is heading to the University of Pennsylvania
• Ajar Kochar, MD, is heading to Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Aditya Mandawat, MD, is heading to Chattanooga Heart Institute
• Daniel Friedman, MD, is heading to Yale University
• Stephen Gaeta, MD, is heading to Inova Heart and Vascular Institute
• John Symons, MD, is heading to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
• Parichart Junpaparp, MD, is heading to Centra Lynchburg General Hospital
• Haider Warraich, MD, is heading to Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston VA Medical Center

Tracey Koepke, director of communications, arranged for photography. If you would like copies of photos from the event (there are too many to include here!), please contact Arlene Martin, our GME coordinator. She will have access to all of them later this week.

Congratulations to all of our fellows, their families and our 2019 award recipients. You are a very special part of the Duke Heart team!

Shah Named Associate Dean, Director of Duke Precision Genomics Collaboratory

Svati Shah, MD, MHS, has been named Associate Dean of Genomics and Director of the Duke Precision Genomics Collaboratory, a new coordinating center that will serve as the nexus for genetics and genomics activities in the School of Medicine. As director, Shah will coordinate efforts among institutes, centers and departments in all areas of genetics and genomics, ranging from fundamental basic science to clinical genomics and precision medicine. The news was announced earlier this week by Mary Klotman, MD, Dean of Duke’s School of Medicine and Colin Duckett, PhD, Vice Dean for Basic Science at Duke.

 

Shah, a professor of medicine in cardiology, serves as Vice-Chief of Translational Research and Director of the Adult Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic within our division. She is also a faculty member in the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute where she serves as co-director of Translational Research, and she is a member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Shah’s early research led to the identification of novel genetic variants and pathways leading to premature heart disease in families. Currently, her NIH-funded translational laboratory studies the metabolic and genetic pathways of cardiometabolic diseases, integrating diverse genomic, metabolomic and proteomic techniques for identification of novel mechanisms of disease and biomarkers. She received her public health degree from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and came to Duke for a cardiology fellowship in 2001, where she went on to earn a Master’s in Medical Genomics and to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in Genetic Epidemiology in the Center for Human Genetics. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and a fellow and board member of the American Heart Association.

Well deserved! Congratulations, Svati!

HCMA, Duke Heart Partner on Patient-Centered Conference

Duke Heart, in partnership with the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, held the Affairs of the Heart: Living with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy conference yesterday at the Durham Convention Center. The free conference was well attended, with more than 250 patients and their family members registering to join us. The event offers a regional opportunity for patients to gather, learn more about their disease, hear directly from care providers and researchers, and perhaps most importantly — to meet others who are living with HCM. Duke presenters included Andrew Wang, James Daubert, Han Kim, Carmelo Milano, Andrew Landstrom, Ruth Lehan, Aarti Kenjale, Michael Carboni and Louis Dibernardo; Presenters from Charlotte’s Atrium Health included John Symanski and Dulce Mange. Lisa Salberg, the founder of the HCMA was a featured presenter and shared her personal experiences with HCM and the significant impact it has had on her family and loved ones. As you likely know, Duke was named an HCMA Center of Excellence last year. This is an important designation as it signals to patients that Duke offers the clinical experience and excellence needed to diagnose and treat this difficult patient population. Special thanks to Christy Darnell and to Wendy Bosari of The Share Registry, for planning this event along with Andrew Wang.

Moore Leaving Duke Heart; Heading to Charlotte

Chelsey Moore has been with Duke Heart for the past three years, most recently serving as the Cardiology Team Lead for PAs and NPs.  She is heading to Charlotte with husband Randel and newborn Ava. Randel is a new pharmacist and will be doing his PGY1 in internal medicine at CMC Northeast in Concord; Chelsey will be working in inpatient/outpatient cardiology at Novant Presbyterian.

Chelsea says she is sad to leave our Duke family but is excited for her family’s new opportunity in Charlotte. “I am so grateful for my time at Duke Heart and for the opportunity to serve as team lead of our cardiology NPs and PAs,” she said. “It is so comforting at the end of each shift to know that every patient was given the best possible evidence-based care by our APPs and physicians. Each person in this organization is focused on providing the best patient care and moving the organization forward with ongoing research and performance improvement. I have learned so much and will carry the medical knowledge and leadership skills I have gained with me into my new position. Please keep in touch!”

Chris and Bradi Granger held a going away gathering for Chelsey at their home, and members of our Cardiology APP team had a team photo taken with her in front of one of the LifeFlight helicopters this week. Shown in the LifeFlight rooftop photo: Mike Towery, Sasmrita Belbase, Callie Tennyson, Michelle Martwick, Erika Schwengel, Jade Clausen, Chelsey Moore, Sara Black, Diane Sauro, Kate Hunter, Tiffany McEwen, Jordan Hausladen and Erica Sparacino.

 

Best wishes to you and your family, Chelsea! You will be missed.

 

Parker Named Nurse Manager, Operations, CTICU Effective July 8

Please join us in welcoming Philip Parker, BSN, RN, CCRN-CSC, who will become Nurse Manager, Operations of the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (7 West – CTICU) effective July 8. Parker received his Bachelor of Science in Biological Science from NC State University and his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Duke University. He began his nursing career in the CTICU at Duke University Hospital in 2006; he has held a Clinical Lead position in the CTICU since 2015. He leads multiple unit initiatives and is the current chair of the CTICU Clinical Practice Council. Parker has also presented at local, regional, and national conferences on critical care concepts and patient flow.

Please join us in recognizing him for his contributions to the CTICU over the years and please welcome him to his new role as one of our nurse managers.

 

Adams Named Clinical Team Lead, 7100/7200 Effective July 1

We are pleased to announce that Katherine Adams will become a new Clinical Team Lead on 7100/7200 effective July 1. Adams started as a new Clinical Nurse on 7100 in November 2015.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Liberty University in May 2015. Adams has held several leadership roles on 7100/7200, serving as a Charge Nurse, Secondary Preceptor, and Unit Skin Care Champion. She recently joined the Unit Scheduling Committee.

Congratulations, Katherine!

Grand Rounds: TDH Update

Ravi Karra led an excellent panel presentation during Grand Rounds this week on the work his team is doing as part of the Translating Duke Health Initiative. In 2018, TDH awarded three $100,000 pilot projects related to the theme of Cardiovascular Resistance, Resilience, and Rejuvenation. Karra’s proposal was selected to receive one of the awards. He and several of his team members discussed the work they are doing related to Biomarker Signatures of Ventricular Resistance. Joining him were fellow research partners Melissa Daubert, Han Kim and Michael Khouri. Great job, everyone!

Matthew Brennan presented at TVT2019

Matthew Brennan was a presenter at the 2019 Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) Structural Heart Summit held this past week (June 12-15) at the Sheraton Grand Chicago.

Thanks for representing Duke Heart!

 

 

CycleNation Event at North Hills

Through our sponsorship with the American Heart Association, Duke Heart hosted five teams of four cyclists each for the AHA CycleNation stationary biking event held yesterday at North Hills. The event promotes stroke risk awareness throughout the community as well as raising funds for cerebrovascular and heart disease research. The teams were comprised primarily of our stroke colleagues within the departments of neurology and neurosurgery.

 

 

Thank you DukeHealth.org Photoshoot Participants!

Duke Heart, in collaboration with the DUHS corporate marketing team, held a photoshoot this past week to collect new banner images for our heart services pages on DukeHealth.org. Many, many thanks to all who shared their work spaces with us and to those who participated as either providers or “patients” including: Brian Coyne, Kim Starkey, Mary Walton, Crandle Taborn, Sean Stephens, Laura Blue, Nicole Zafiris, Tam McVey, Nadia Batts, Ciarra Ashley, Eric McClenny, Stephanie Barnes, Alicia Ploeger, Kenyon Moore, Kim Aiken, Dawn Corbett, Rafael Rojas, Heather Pena (and baby!), Bharatiben Joshi, Nickie Melton, Emebet Admasu, Nestor Mena, Cherise Dailey, Rich Krasuski, Chet Patel, Carmelo Milano, Cary Ward, Jeff Gaca, Melissa Daubert, Andrew Wang, Sana Al Khatib, Mike Blazing, J. Kevin Harrison, Brett Atwater, Albert Sun, Joe Turek and Chris Granger. Special thanks to Laura Dickerson for helping with this project! Stay tuned, as additional photoshoots likely will be scheduled later this year.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds – updates

In lieu of Grand Rounds this week, we will have a Cardiology Faculty Meeting: Tuesday, June 18, 7:15 a.m. in DN 2003.

Next week (June 25) will be our final Cardiology Grand Rounds of the academic year. Deepak Voora will have an update from the Translating Duke Health program. He will lead a discussion on resilience to coronary artery disease risk factors. Please join us if you can!

Have news to share?

If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart at tracey.koepke@duke.edu. We would love to hear about your latest accomplishments, professional news, cool happenings, and any events or opportunities that may be of interest to our Duke Heart family. Please call with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged.

Chief’s Message:

As the Academic year comes to a close and our summer breaks for kids start, I wanted to take this moment to thank the number of faculty, staff, and patients that help us build the next generation of cardiovascular leaders.  The people, our fellows and faculty are our greatest resource. The end of year activities are in full swing with some photos and updates from the Heart Failure group, the end of year cardiology fellows dinner with awards are coming up this week, and we will have some updates next week from the end of year interventional fellows.  We are the Duke Heart family, and it is great to see our fellows continue onto faculty life near and far.

Heart Transplant team: 4 Transplants, 36 Hours

A big shout out to our heart transplant team – they worked overtime this past week with already full schedules before taking on and completing four heart transplants in 36 hours. The ability to do this is due to the expertise of our surgical, medical and cardiac anesthesiology teams, as well as the ability and training of critical care staff to coordinate multiple complex cases at once. Many things have to go exactly right to pull off a feat like this, and because of their efforts, four patients and their families get the incredible gift of a new heart and more time together. Way to go, Jacob Schroder, Carmelo Milano, Chet Patel and the rest of our Heart Failure / Surgical teams.  Additionally, Saturday was Carmelo Milano’s birthday and we have a photo here of the 7W nurses singing / wishing him a happy birthday.

Kudos for Coniglio

In a note from William Locke, RN, PCCN, CN III, to Anna Lisa Crowley regarding Amanda Coniglio, one of our fellows, who was covering CDU-2K on June 4.

“I was very impressed with Dr. Coniglio because she had obviously looked up all of the stress test patients for that day at some point prior to her arrival for the morning huddle at 8 a.m. She knew all the important details regarding our patients’ clinical presentations, why the studies were ordered, and the particular questions the ordering providers wanted answered. She was readily available to the CDU team throughout the day, and was proactive in seeking learning opportunities. Her attention to details with regard to communicating effectively with the CDU team didn’t go unnoticed by the CDU team! She also participated in the case studies during Hi 5 lunch conference with Dr. Kisslo and was genuinely engaged in the CDU workflow. While we have many excellent fellows that rotate through the CDU, she stood out as exceptional and I wanted to share my thoughts and impressions.”

Nice job, Amanda! Way to represent Duke Heart!

Great Heart Center Grand Rounds:

Awesome talk on Tetrology of Fallot from cardiology, anesthesia and surgical perspectives by Drs. Krasuski, Hashmi and Turek at ⁦@DukeHeartCenter⁩ ⁦@DukeHealth⁩ ⁦@DukeSurgery⁩. Crazy hybrid case for percutaneous PV in an aneurysm.

 

 

 

Neurocardiology Interventional Update

The Neurocardiology Interventional service went out to dinner last week to review the program and discuss clinical protocols and future directions.  Shown here are Nathan Waldron, Arun Ganesh, Marat Fudim, Richard Boortz-Marx, Joseph Mathew, Jon Piccini, and Yawar Qadri. Also shown: the summary results from the first year of the program of bilateral stellate ganglion block in the first 20 patients (Sustained VT/VF is on the left and Defibrillation/Shocks are on the right).

 

Any clinician with a patient who has VT/VF that is refractory to medical therapy is encouraged to contact us – please reach out to Marat Fudim or Jon Piccini.

HF Fellows, APPs Celebrate Year End

Delayed post from our end of the year celebration and thank you for our amazing @DukeHeartCenter HF fellows from this past year: @haiderwarraich @FudimMarat and Toon Junpaparp. What a great year! @DukeHFDoc @_adevore @texhern @JRogersMD1

Our Heart Failure fellowship end-of-year celebration and thank you for the fellows and APPs was held last Sunday at chez Mentz. There was a hard fought Wiffle ball battle; Nanna finally got that home run. Steph, Jade, Erika and Todd shared their best stories of each attending. Steve, Marat, Sounok and Haider showed that they know more than just HF with their badminton and volleyball skills. Kids enjoyed the slip-n-slide.

Many thanks to the Mentz family for hosting. Congrats to each of our completing HF fellows – it looks like a great time was had by all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICYMI: In the Journals

In addition to the weekly publications, we’d like to make sure to draw your attention to the following… Carolyn Lekavich and Rob Mentz are co-authors on the recently published AHA Scientific Statement on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Heart Failure in the journal Circulation. The article was co-published as a consensus statement in the Journal of Cardiac Failure: Nutrition, Obesity, and Cachexia in Patients With Heart Failure: A Consensus Statement from the Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Statements Committee. Lekavich is a co-author on the JCF paper.

Gerald Bloomfield is a co-author on the recently published AHA scientific statement regarding heart disease and HIV: Characteristics, Prevention, and Management of Cardiovascular Disease in People Living With HIV: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association was published online last week in Circulation. The AHA issued a press release on this, which can be accessed here.

Nicely done, everyone!

Thrombosis Management Meeting:

I had the privilege of attending Thrombosis Management Meeting in Barcelona – 10th year with 1700 participants.  Although brief, great science, clinical cases and interaction with real world problems.  Some fun mixed with science – photos from the meeting included.

Blue Dean Leaving Duke Heart

We are sad to report that L. Blue Dean, executive director of development for the Department of Medicine and Duke Heart Center will be leaving Duke at the end of June. Blue is stepping away from medicine-oriented philanthropy to oversee Library Development for UNC-Chapel Hill. Blue joined the Duke Heart team in 2011 and has remained in this role for the last eight years while taking on additional responsibilities to oversee the development efforts for the Department of Medicine and, most recently, assisting with Duke University Health System campaigns which included Duke University Hospital, Duke Raleigh, and Duke Regional.

Blue led Duke Heart through the successful completion of the Duke Forward campaign, raising over $25M towards our $15M goal. In addition, Blue has built strong partnerships with our faculty and team that have resulted in meaningful and lasting gifts, including two endowed professorships within the last year, and $6.3M in new commitments this year.

Blue’s last day with us will be Friday, June 28. Duke Health Development and Alumni Affairs will work to fill Blue’s vacancy in a timely manner. We are sure Blue will be successful in her new endeavor.  Please join us in wishing Blue and her family the very best. Blue, you will be missed!

Heart Center Leadership Council:
We had our Spring Heart Center Leadership Council meeting with a great visit of the new CVRC space.  The leadership group was given tours by our own Paul and Sudar.  Pictures can be seen.  We also had a great “Shark Tank” like competition with finalist for the Heart Center Leadership Awards presenting.  This was a fun afternoon that let our leadership and philanthropy partners in the heart center see how many great resident/fellows and faculty we have in the Heart Center that could use funding to bridge gaps towards meanginful discoveries.  Thanks to all who participated.

 JD Serfas Presents Grand Rounds

One of our great Fellows JD Serfas gave a great grand rounds this week on Congenital Heart Disease focused on how Fontan repaired patients fail and can have improved outcomes.  The talk was an example of taking deep clinical knowledge and moving to generate the best systems and evidence to care for this growing population of patients.  Great Job

APP Milestone Anniversaries

Congratulations and happy anniversary to the following Advance Practice Providers from Duke Heart who recently have been recognized for their years of service to Duke University Hospital. Great job and many thankJs for your hard work!

CTICU:

Sara Jordan  5 years

Lynn McGugan 20 years

Mary Roberts  5 years

Amy Shing   5 years

Cardiology:

Michelle Martwick  10 years

Paige Rossman 25 years

Diane Sauro  10 years

Ericka Schwengel  5 years

Nicole Smith  5 years

Erica Sparacino  5 years

CTSDU

Sara Alexander  5 years

Catherine McKnight  5 years

Holly Noel  20 years

Alicia Ploeger  5 years

Roman Ross  10 years