Home » Uncategorized » Highlights of the Week – September 29th 2019

Highlights of the Week – September 29th 2019

Califf Taking Larger Role with Alphabet Company

Duke cardiologist Robert Califf, MD, Vice Chancellor for Data Sciences for Duke Health and Director of Duke Forge, will transition to a full-time role with the Alphabet Company, serving as Head of Medical Strategy and Policy and working across the Google Health and Verily enterprises, beginning November 18. The news was announced on Thursday by A. Eugene Washington, MD, Duke Chancellor for Health Affairs.

“Califf has been a tremendous leader for this institution for more than 35 years, and we want to thank him for his dedication and commitment to Duke,” said Washington.

Califf, the Donald F. Fortin, M.D. Professor of Cardiology in the School of Medicine, is the founding director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He served as Vice Chancellor for Clinical and Translational Research at Duke and as Director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute. After leaving Duke to serve as Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco and then Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Califf returned to Duke in 2017 to lead health data science and launch Duke Forge, the University’s new health data science center. Most recently, he has been instrumental in development of the Duke AI for Health initiative.

Califf attended Duke University and in 1978 graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine and began his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. He returned to Duke in 1980 to complete a fellowship in cardiology and joined the faculty in 1982. He will remain on faculty at Duke University as an adjunct professor in the School of Medicine.

“This is bittersweet,” said Califf. “It has been 50 years since I arrived at Duke. All but four of those years, I have spent here. Lydia and I have made great friends, and together with Duke colleagues we’ve made real progress in our quest to improve lives. Duke University has an incredibly bright future, and I am proud to always call it home.”

The mark Rob Califf has made at Duke is undeniable. We are deeply grateful for all he and Lydia have done to support and further cardiovascular care and research at Duke and beyond.

Duke Heart at TCT, HFSA 2019

The Duke Heart team was well represented at the annual meetings for both TCT and HFSA!

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2019 is underway through the end of this weekend at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Duke Heart fellow Jenn Rymer met up with prior and current Duke Clinical Research Institute fellows Take Inohara and Adam Nelson; she also presented The Association of Health-Related Quality of Life Scores with Cardiovascular and Limb Outcomes in Patients with Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights from the EUCLID Trial (Manesh Patel and Schuyler Jones are co-authors).

We know there are a number of faculty presenting/attending including Rob Califf, Schuyler Jones, David Kong, Mitch Krucoff, Renato Lopes, Magnus Ohman, Manesh Patel and Sunil Rao; additionally, some former Dukies are out there: Bob Harrington and Amit Vora.

We saw a really great shout out to Amit Vora (now on faculty at UPMC) from Renato Lopes on Twitter and it seems particularly fitting to share here: “Amit was the official fellow on the AUGUSTUS trial and helped us to run the trial. He just did a fantastic job today in presenting important and novel data on hospitalization in patients with AF and ACS/PCI at TCT. Paper is available in Circulation. Proud of you.” Way to go, Amit!

The Heart Failure Society of America’s 2019 Scientific Meeting was held Sept. 13-16 at the Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia. Richa Agarwal is shown during her presentation, “Right Heart Failure Risk after LVAD,” which was very well received. In addition to Agarwal, presenters from Duke included Mike Felker, Marat Fudim, Steve Greene, Stu Russell, Rob Mentz and Joe Rogers; Adam DeVore was a moderator.

Well done, everyone!

Shout-Out for Nafissi

The second fellows’ journal club was held this week. Navid Nafissi discussed CHIP and the risk of atherosclerotic disease (N Engl J Med 2017;377:111-21). Svati Shah was the faculty host and discussant and in the center of the great photo below. She gave the following kudos to Navid for his presentation:

“I just wanted to let you know what a fantastic job Navid Nafissi did with journal club yesterday. He did a huge amount of research, presented a clearly laid out and thoughtful outline to me, and delivered a fantastic presentation that was engaging and interesting.”

Shah added, “Thank you so much for the opportunity to host him and the fellows!” Many thanks to Anna Lisa Crowley for sharing this with us!

Upcoming Opportunities/Save the Date:

Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium: Nov. 1

The 11th Annual North Carolina Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium will take place on November 1 at the Durham Convention Center. Co-directors of the event are Terry Fortin and H. James Ford (UNC) Registration is open. To learn more and/or register, please visit: http://bit.ly/2m3oZrq

Cardiology Grand Rounds

Please join us this week when we welcome Davis Kass, Johns Hopkins, for “Increasing Heart Contractility: A Renaissance.” Tuesday, Oct. 1, 7:15 a.m., DN, 2003.

Upcoming Grand Rounds:

  • 8: Cardiology Fellows Conference
  • 15: Faculty Staff Meeting, 5 p.m.
  • 29: Euan Ashley from Stanford, “Towards Precision Medicine.” 5 p.m.
  • 5: Renato Lopes
  • 8 (Friday): Kim Eagle, Michigan, will be presenting the Eugene Stead Lecture
  • 12: Javed Butler, University of Mississippi

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:

September 23 — Stephen Greene

Healio

Sacubitril/valsartan beneficial in real-world HFrEF population

https://www.healio.com/cardiology/hf-transplantation/news/online/%7B1a211c9a-6d21-4f17-93c5-fbddc71b274f%7D/sacubitrilvalsartan-beneficial-in-real-world-hfref-population

September 26 — E. Magnus Ohman

tctMD/the heart beat

Safe to Drop P2Y12 Inhibitor at 3 Months in High-Bleeding-Risk Patients: EVOLVE Short DAPT

https://www.tctmd.com/news/safe-drop-p2y12-inhibitor-3-months-high-bleeding-risk-patients-evolve-short-dapt

September 26 — Renato Lopes

tctMD/the heart beat

AUGUSTUS: Apixaban-Based Dual Therapy Best Across Major Subgroups

https://www.tctmd.com/news/augustus-apixaban-based-dual-therapy-best-across-major-subgroups

September 26 — Ying Xian (Neurology & Duke Clinical Research Institute)

HealthDay

AHA News: Why Aren’t More Stroke Survivors Getting Statins?

https://consumer.healthday.com/cardiovascular-health-information-20/heart-stroke-related-stroke-353/aha-news-why-aren-t-more-stroke-survivors-getting-statins-750670.html

September 26 — Pamela Douglas

Medscape

An ACC First: Health Policy Statement on Equal Pay, Opportunity

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/919006?src=rss


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