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.
