Highlights of the week:

Duke Receives MI Registry Platinum Award

Duke University Hospital has received the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) Chest Pain  ̶  MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2019. Duke is one of only 225 hospitals nationwide to reach this level of performance, which is given to those groups demonstrating sustained achievement for eight consecutive quarters of performance measures in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction patients through the implementation of ACC/American Heart Association Clinical Guideline Recommendations.

Way to go!

Duke Heart Welcomes Visiting Doc from SE Health

We were pleased to have Troy Sterk, DO, visit with us on Friday, August 9. Sterk is with Southeastern Health, our Duke Heart Network affiliate in Lumberton, NC. Sterk was on-site at Duke University Hospital rounding with our cardiology team.

We met up with him in the cath lab where he was observing a case done by James Tcheng. Glad to host you and we hope to see you again soon!

 

 

Duke & CSL Research Acceleration Initiative

CSL Behring is partnering with Duke University to accelerate research and to identify and commercialize promising new technologies with the CSL Research Acceleration Initiative. Representatives from CSL Behring were here on Tuesday to meet with researchers and discuss opportunities; they are particularly interested in offering research grants focused on translational/discovery research, so we are really hoping to drive a number of cardiovascular applications from faculty members within Duke Heart. CSL Behring is a global biotechnology leader and, as many of you know, Pierluigi Tricoci is now serving as CSL Behring’s executive director for their Cardiovascular and Metabolic Therapeutic area. This is a great opportunity if your research interests dovetail with theirs. Deadline to apply is August 30. To access the application and to learn more, please visit: https://researchfunding.duke.edu/duke-and-csl-research-acceleration-initiative.

Upcoming Opportunities/Save the Date:

September 22: Triangle Heart Walk.

Check in starts at 12:30 p.m.; the walk is at 2 p.m. at PNC Arena. Have you registered? Please consider joining us. It is not too late to register as a team captain or to join an already formed team (there are several to join as part of Duke Heart as well as all major DUHS entities) – please visit: https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?company_id=209022&fr_id=4327&pg=company

Consider Joining my team – PACE (partnership for advancing cardiovscular health through community engagement). 

We are going to have a bunch of fun events – including the day of the walk.  Please considering bringing family, friends, and pets — pictured here are some photos of the heart walk including Bosco who has done the walk with us before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the link for the team or search PACE

http://www2.heart.org/goto/PACEHeartWalkTeam

Call for applications: 2020 ADVANCE-UP Program

ADVANCE-UP: Academic DeVelopment, Advocacy, Networking, Coaching and Education for Underrepresented Populations

The School of Medicine Office for Faculty is now accepting applications for the 2020 ADVANCE-UP Faculty Development Program. This is a year-long program starting in January that will provide in-depth opportunities for academic development, mentoring, and networking for faculty from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. To learn more and to access the application, please visit: https://medschool.duke.edu/about-us/faculty-resources/faculty-development/our-programs/advance

ICYMI: State Health Plan Update

Late yesterday, the North Carolina State Treasurer issued a statement that the State Health Plan network would include health systems and providers that participate in Blue Option offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield NC. That means Duke Health and PDC providers will be in-network and receive the same reimbursement rates in 2020.

The short-term crisis has been averted for now, but attempts like this by large employers to reduce their health care costs are not going away. Now is the time for us to get serious about reducing the cost of healthcare. We can do this optimally by working together with Duke University Health System to provide greater value for our patients. The statement from the treasurer is available here.

PDC Public Statement on State Health Plan

On behalf of the physicians and providers of the Private Diagnostic Clinic, we appreciate the State Treasurer’s decision to maintain and protect access to health care services for state employees and their families. We stand ready to work with the Treasurer and state leaders to create a long-term plan that focuses on value instead of cost, and is transparent and sustainable for the state of North Carolina, patients, and health care systems and providers.

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:

August 2 — Sunil Rao

tctMD/the heart beat

Conversations in Cardiology: The Push for High-Sensitivity Troponin

https://www.tctmd.com/news/conversations-cardiology-push-high-sensitivity-troponin

 

August 5 — Tracy Wang

tctMD/the heart beat

Best Strategy Questioned for NSTE ACS Patients With Prior CABG

https://www.tctmd.com/news/best-strategy-questioned-nste-acs-patients-prior-cabg

 

August 5 — Laura Schanberg (Pediatrics & Duke Clinical Research Institute)

Lupus.org

Study Finds Genetic Connection to Hypertension in People with Childhood-Onset Lupus

https://www.lupus.org/news/study-finds-genetic-connection-to-hypertension-in-people-with-childhoodonset-lupus

 

 

Highlights of the week:

Shah & Douglas Receive $5 Million NIH Grant Award

Congratulations to Svati Shah and Pamela Douglas! They received notification this week that the National Institutes of Health has awarded them a grant of $5 million to study the clinical and molecular epidemiology of vulnerable plaque. The grant will use integrated -omics to identify novel pathways and circulating biomarkers that are associated with vulnerable plaque characteristics and incident cardiovascular events using biospecimens from the PROMISE, ROMICAT, Framingham Heart Study and Jackson Heart Study.

Way to go!

Upcoming Opportunities/Save the Date:

CVRC to Hold Open House

The Duke Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) will hold an open house on Friday, September 13 from 5-6:30 p.m. to celebrate their newly renovated space in the Carl Building. Everyone from Duke Heart is welcome to attend. There will be opening remarks from leadership; refreshments, and a tour of the space. We look forward to seeing you there and to celebrating with our CVRC team! So that we may have an accurate head count, please let Cheryl Woodard know by Sept. 9^th if you plan to attend. Her email is cheryl.woodard@duke.edu.

Duke Heart-sponsored CME

Registration is now open for the following Duke Heart-sponsored CME activities:

• September 7^th: 9^th Annual Duke EP Summit, J.B. Duke Hotel
• September 21^st: 2^nd Annual Duke Heart Symposium for APPs, J.B. Duke Hotel
• November 1: 11^th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium, Durham Convention Center.

The following CME activities will take place in 2020, but formal registration is not yet open:

• April 18^th: 7^thAnnual Duke Sports Cardiology & Sudden Death in Athletes Symposium, Trent Semans Center
• May 2^nd: 20^thAnnual Andrew G. Wallace Symposium — Preventive Cardiology: My How Times Have Changed, Washington Duke Inn
• June 4^th – 5^th: Duke/Stanford Cardiovascular Research Symposium, Trent Semans Center

 

Flu Vaccination Blitz to Begin Sept. 19

Duke will kick off our annual flu vaccination campaign with a 24-hour Duke Health Mass Flu Vaccination Blitz on Thursday, September 19. Mass vaccination clinics will be available at each of the hospitals, with peer vaccination available throughout DUHS and the PDC.

 

Following the drill, the annual flu vaccination program will continue providing many additional opportunities to receive the vaccine. A schedule of vaccination clinics will be posted on the employee intranet in early September. This list will be updated throughout the vaccination season. Vaccination is also available at Employee Occupational Health and Wellness (EOHW) offices during business hours.

 

ICYMI: NC Medicaid Open Enrollment

North Carolina is changing the way it offers health insurance coverage for most people eligible for Medicaid. Eligible patients have until September 13, 2019 to choose a health plan offered by one of four managed care companies in our area. These companies are AmeriHealth Caritas, Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthyBlue, UnitedHealthcare, and WellCare. Each plan offers the same basic benefits and services. Duke Health and other health systems are currently finalizing contracts with these four companies and intends to participate in one or more of these managed care health plans.

 

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:

August 1 — Anthony Viera (Family Medicine & Community Health)

Consumer Reports/Yahoo News

What to Know About Prediabetes, Prehypertension, and Other Prediseases

https://news.yahoo.com/know-prediabetes-prehypertension-other-prediseases-000815847.html

 

July 29 — Sreekanth Vemulapalli

tctMD/the heart beat

RAS Inhibition After TAVR Gains More Support, but RCT Still Needed

https://www.tctmd.com/news/ras-inhibition-after-tavr-gains-more-support-rct-still-needed

 

Pokorney Named Director, Arrhythmia Core Laboratory

We are pleased to share that Sean Pokorney has been named director of the Arrhythmia Core Laboratory (ACL), effective July 1. Pokorney has been instrumental in its growth and leadership over the years, most recently serving as its associate director. The announcement was made last week by John Alexander and Jon Piccini.

The Duke Clinical Research Institute founded the Arrhythmia Core Laboratory in 2012 with the support of Drs. Robert Harrington, Kenneth Mahaffey, and the CEC Leadership. Seven years later, the ACL is now an established core laboratory having completed several projects. The DCRI ACL conducted the first prospective study to demonstrate a reduction in atrial fibrillation burden with treatment of sleep disordered breathing in a clinical trial. Moreover, the Duke ACL was the core laboratory for the first pharmacogenetic trial of a rhythm control therapy for atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure. The ACL is currently the core lab for the largest ICD clinical trial to ever be conducted (APPRAISE ATP). Moreover, the ACL is engaged in ongoing discussions with several ambulatory monitoring and device-monitoring industry organizations, regarding longitudinal collaboration on clinical trial services. While the ACL is still young compared to other core laboratories at Duke and DCRI, it is in a growth phase with a lot of potential for the future.

Thanks to Pokorney’s efforts, our industry relationships have improved and solidified, leading to clinical trial work outside of the ACL. In short, he has done an excellent job during his time with the ACL and we know it will be in excellent hands and that he will take it to even greater heights.

Please join us in congratulating Sean!

Rajesh Swaminathan named Chair, SCAI QI Committee

Congratulations to Raj Swaminathan! He has been named chair of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Quality Improvement Committee (QIC). SCAI is the international professional society for interventional cardiology, and currently has more than 4,000 members. The SCAI QIC works with internal committees and other professional cardiovascular organizations to establish procedural standards for coronary, structural, and peripheral procedures. Swaminathan has been an active member of the QIC since 2012, when Sunil Rao served as Chair. Some of the projects he has completed through the QIC include establishing protocols for best practices in the Cardiac Cath Lab, leading a collection of QI Toolkit Modules, developing educational modules for the SCAI PAD Resource Center, and contributing to several consensus documents on device selection for treatment of PAD.

Raj is currently the co-Chair of the QIC and will now serve a two-year term as its Chair.  If any faculty or fellows are interested in getting involved with SCAI or the QI Committee, please contact him directly to learn more.

Way to represent Duke Heart, Raj!

Adam DeVore to take on new Role.

Adam DeVore will assume the role of Associate Medical Director of Heart Transplantation, joining Chet Patel (Medical Director) and Jacob Schroder (Surgical Director) in leading this large and rapidly growing program. The heart transplant program is a national leader in clinical care, research, teaching, and innovation.
Congratulate Adam when you see him.

 

Fellows’ Journal Club Kick Off

Many thanks to Jon Piccini for hosting our first fellows’ journal club of the year on Monday evening. Zak Loring did a great job presenting the RACE 7 ACWAS trial comparing early versus delayed cardioversion for early onset atrial fibrillation. A great discussion was had by all.

Our next fellows’ journal club will be on September 26 hosted by Svati Shah with discussion led by Navid Nafissi.

 

 

 

EP/Cath Waiting Area Renovation Update

Construction that began earlier this year to renovate and enhance the waiting area for the Adult Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Labs on the 7^th floor of Duke University Hospital is going well! We are entering phase two of the construction project and expect to reach completion by the end of November. We are happy to report that a portion of the new space is already in use; patients and their families are able to utilize a section of the new waiting area, which holds 23 seats as well as a consult room. It looks beautiful, and is sure to enhance overall waiting area comfort and privacy.

You will continue to see changes to the hallway over the coming weeks. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Greg Shelton, Administrative Director for the Cardiovascular Invasive Labs.

Shown here are the new consult room and a section of the new waiting area. Great job, everyone!

 

 

 

ADAPTABLE Completes Enrollment

Congratulations to the Duke ADAPTABLE team — they have reached the end of enrollment with 15,076 participants signed on at 40 centers around the country. Duke’s enrollment reached 1,684 participants alone! Members of the Duke area recruitment team gathered on Tuesday evening at Rooftop to celebrate as a way to thank everyone who contributed.

Way to go, everyone!

 

Duke celebrates Project Baseline Health Study 

Duke recently kicked off the third year of Project Baseline Health Study, reaching the midpoint of enrollment as the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) began welcoming back participants for their third on-site visit in Durham and Kannapolis.

During the event, Svati Shah, principal investigator for the Duke site, thanked everyone who made the milestone possible. She offered special thanks to friends and partners at Duke Clinical Research Institute for a remarkable, ongoing collaboration.

In her remarks, Shah noted that Duke has contributed significant diversity to the study’s cohort — diversity in race, ethnicity, age, gender, and health and disease characteristics. Most importantly, she said, the Duke study team always keeps the participant first and foremost, and at the center of the entire process.

“The Duke Baseline study team has worked tirelessly to deliver a remarkable experience for every single participant,” Shah said. “Duke study leadership has demonstrated an unceasing commitment to excellence and scientific integrity. We hope to see incredible scientific breakthroughs come from Project Baseline, thanks to all of you.”

The study is the first initiative of Project Baseline, an ambitious effort to develop a well-defined “baseline” of human health, and a rich data platform to help researchers better understand health and disease and the transitions between them. Collaborators include Duke, Verily, Stanford Medicine and Google. Great job, everyone – keep up the great work!

 

Duke Heart Receives ELSO Award

We are very proud to announce Duke has received the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Gold Level Center of Excellence Award! The ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support recognizes Extracorporeal Life Support programs worldwide that distinguish themselves by having processes, procedures and systems in place that promote excellence and exceptional care in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. An ELSO Award signifies to patients and families a commitment to exceptional patient care and it demonstrates to the health care community an assurance of high quality standards, specialized equipment and supplies, defined patient protocols, and advanced education of all staff members.

 

Congratulations to our Extracorporeal Life Support team for the amazing work they do each day in caring for some of the most critically ill patients at Duke! We this this was a particularly fitting birthday gift for Desiree Bonadonna, our director of ELS, who celebrated a birthday on July 18. (Happy birthday, Desiree!)

 

Trevor Krawchuk Named Director, Duke Heart Network

We are pleased to welcome Trevor Krawchuk to the Duke Heart family! Krawchuk joined Duke on July 1 as the director of the Duke Heart Network (DHN).  He will be work closely with Amy Kessenich, senior director of the DHN, overseeing day-to-day operations.

Trevor comes to us with tremendous experience in business development and service line integration. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Radiology Services and an MBA from the University of South Dakota. He is active with the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds certifications as a Radiology Administrator (CRA) and American Registry of Radiology Technologists (ARRT). His most recent position was with Ascension Health in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as director of Hospital Based Care. Trevor and his wife have three children; he is originally from Canada.

Trevor was able to visit several heart care service areas on Friday morning along with Laurie Van Camp, associate clinical director, DHN. Thanks to Laura Dickerson for leading their tour!

 

Healing Hearts in Honduras: CT Surgery Sends Providers to Help

A group of care providers and trainees from Duke Heart’s CT Surgery team traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras last week to care for patients in need of heart surgery at the Instituto Nacional Cardio-Pulmonar, which has a waiting list of patients in need of heart valve replacement. This is the only public hospital in Honduras that can offer cardiac surgery. However, because resources are extremely limited, surgery can only be offered to patients when resources become available.

The Duke team traveled to Honduras with supplies and care providers to help meet this critical need – particularly for patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Although Honduras lacks reliable data around the prevalence of certain diseases, RHD is endemic in neighboring Nicaragua, and patients with RHD are creating an overwhelming burden on physicians across Honduras.

Members of the Duke team included: Carmelo Milano, Adam Williams, Jorn Karhausen, J. Mauricio Del Rio, Jatin Anand, Alejandro Murillo Berlioz, Brian Gore, Caitlin Lofaro, Courtney Thurman, Fabian Jimenez Contreras, Joe Deblasio, Luz Cosalan-Munda, Michelle Figuerres, Sebastian Diaz, Rachael Knoll, Myra Ellis and Tiffney Locklear. (Apologies to anyone we may have missed on this list.)

We look forward to learning more about their trip when they return to the area! Special thanks to Tom Owens, president of Duke University Hospital; Jill Engel, Associate Vice President for Duke Heart Services; Peter K. Smith, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery; and to the leadership of the Duke Department of Surgery for supporting this trip.

Foster Leaving Duke Heart

We are sad to report that Mike Foster will leave the Duke Heart team at the end of August. He has decided to launch a new adventure in Kenya and we wish him the very best. As many of you know, Mike has spent 20 years with our Clinical Diagnostic Unit and has distinguished himself as a leader and exceptional colleague who has made regular trips to Kenya on behalf of Duke to provide care at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.

In a note to the CDU staff this past week, Mike said, “Duke CDU is a really special place. What a pleasure to enjoy going to work every day. This has been my home and you (along with others from CDU past) have been my family. Thanks for making this a wonderful experience and setting me up to succeed in serving others elsewhere.”

He has done a great job as a leader by example focused on service, care, and fun. He will be missed here, but we know he will be making an even larger impact on the lives of people in Kenya. Mike, good luck on your next adventure! We look forward to hearing how you are doing.

He departs for Kenya on September 1.

 

Out & About: New Technology Committee, Echo Team

We’re not just about the clinical care of patients — many of our team members are working hard to ensure Duke stays at the forefront of technology by ensuring that some of the most advanced equipment and software is made available so that we can continue to provide effective heart care services as efficiently as possible. Many thanks to James Tcheng, Marat Fudim, Joe Kelly, Richard Walczak, and Peter Smith for taking time to present at the most recent meeting of the Duke New Technology Committee, which took place on Friday morning. Tcheng and Fudim presented on CardioMEMS; Smith, Kelly and Walczak presented on VIPER which is an integrated clinical workstation to provide state of the art perfusion and ECMO support in the operating room, ICU and in transport.

When our echo team doesn’t have an echo to do…our techs are learning about other parts of cardiology…not the latest posts on Facebook. Here are Jian Zhang and Alicia Scott taking an ECG review test. This is what we like to call a good use of time – nice job, Jian and Alicia! Many thanks to Mike Foster for the photo!

 

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:

July 11 — William Kraus

Inverse

Why Even Healthy People Can Benefit From Cutting Out 300 Calories per Day

https://www.inverse.com/article/57572-benefits-from-cutting-out-calories

July 11 — William Kraus

Daily Mail (UK)

Why skipping dessert may be good for you – even if you’re slim: Cutting 300 calories a day reduces heart disease, diabetes and dementia risks, study suggests

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7238643/Cutting-300-calories-day-reduces-heart-disease-diabetes-dementia-risks-study-suggests.html

July 11 — William Kraus

HealthDay News/WebMD

300 Fewer Calories a Day Brings a Health Benefit

https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20190712/300-fewer-calories-a-day-brings-a-health-benefit

July 12 — William Kraus

Time magazine

Cutting Calories May Improve Your Health Even If You’re Not Trying to Lose Weight

https://time.com/5625306/cutting-calories-study/

July 12 — Sweta Sengupta (Duke Neurology)

Medscape

Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension May Double Cardiovascular Risk

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/915542?src=rss

July 15 — William Kraus

Thedoctorwillseeyounow.com

A Magic Metabolic Bullet

shorturl.at/krEX6

July 16 — William Kraus

The New York Times

Cutting 300 Calories a Day Shows Health Benefits

shorturl.at/oABIW

 

**In addition to coverage from last week and above, this story was also carried by CBS Radio, Medpage Today, Health.com and Atlanta Journal Constitution

July 17 — Jay Shavadia

Medscape

When Might Post-MI Beta-Blockers Be Safely Deprescribed?

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/915716

Chief’s message:

Improving cardiovascular health in our community and the southeast US is an ever increasing challenge.  This week we started the PACE program – Partnering to Advance Cardiovascular health through community Engagement.  This is with the American Heart Association where Duke Heart is the Life is Why partner.   We have started to engage our Community Steering Committee which you can see in the photo included.  The goal of the program is to improve the cardiovascular health of our communities in Durham and surrounding counties.  We aim to discuss ways of accomplishing this with our Steering committee.  We look forward to having many join us in this journey to measure and improve CV health in our community.

New Cardiology Fellows Welcome at the Durham Bulls Game:
As has been the tradition for the last several years, we had our welcome to the new cardiology fellows at the Durham Bulls game today.  It was hot and fun, with lots of fellows, families and beer to be had.  Kids enjoyed Wool E. Bull and other activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registration Open for Heart Walk

We are proud to join once again with Duke University Health System and the American Heart Association to sponsor the Triangle Heart Walk, which is scheduled for Sunday, September 22 at PNC Arena in Raleigh; festivities begin at 12:30 p.m. The Triangle Heart Walk brings people from across our vibrant community together to raise funds and celebrate progress in the fight against heart disease and stroke. Duke’s official goal is to recruit 250 teams, register 2,500 walkers and raise $250,000. Join us! We would like your help in reaching (and hopefully exceeding!) this goal and ensuring that Duke Blue is the most visible color at the walk.

You can start your own team (serve as a team coach) or join an existing team as a fundraiser/walker. We are aiming for at least 25 teams to register within Duke Heart  – many thanks to the six coaches who have already signed up to host teams – they are: Marilou Sanchez, Islam Othman, Charlotte Reikofski, Barbara Crocker, Kimberly Starkey, and Manesh Patel. Registration is now open — just visit www.TriangleHeartWalk.org/Duke.

If you have any questions about participating as a team coach, or need help with registering, feel free to email Kimberly Burrows at kimberly.burrows@heart.org.

NOTE: A team coach “kick-off” event will take place on Friday, July 26 at 3 p.m. in the Searle Center.

Sonographer Volunteer of the Month

Congratulations to Ashlee Davis, BS, ACS, RDCS, FASE, one of our wonderful cardiac sonographers – she has been selected by the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) as their July 2019 Volunteer of the Month! Not only is Ashlee a volunteer, but she is one of the few people selected to take part in the ASE Leadership Academy. To read the story ASE created to highlight her efforts, please click here. Way to go, Ashlee!

 

Kudos for Exceptional Care & Teamwork

Cardiology nurse practitioners Jaime McDermott and Tiffany Sito as well as their manager, Stephanie Barnes, were recognized this past week in a note from Kasey Williams, nurse manager, operations, for the CT Surgery step down unit for their compassion, professionalism, and excellent partnership in providing care to a complex patient on 3300. In her note, Kasey stated, “they have really gone above and beyond to support our nursing staff, and have facilitated difficult conversations with the patient and his family.”

 

Many thanks to Jaime, Tiffany, and Stephanie for their efforts not only in patient care, but also in teamwork and collaboration across Duke Heart. We appreciate you!

 

Upcoming Events:

Registration is now open for the following Duke Heart CME events:

• September 7: 9th annual Duke EP Summit – J.B. Duke Hotel
• September 21: 2nd annual Duke Heart Advanced Practice Provider Symposium — J.B. Duke Hotel

 

Registration is also open for the inaugural Duke School of Medicine Research Week, October 14-17 at the Trent Semans Center. For a detailed schedule, please visit: https://medschool.duke.edu/research/research-week

New Academic Year and New Cardiology Fellows Start:

After a lot of anticipation and certainly a lot of orientation, we were excited to have our new cardiology fellows start @Duke Cardiology.  This year we had our 8 new fellows start on the clinical wards along with Jordon Pomeroy one of our current fellows who is coming from his research years.  Listed below are our new fellows and the medicine programs that they come to us from.

Kelly Arps, MD	Johns Hopkins
Vanessa Blumer, MD	University of Miami
Jessica “Jessie” Duran, MD	MGH
Josephine “Joey” Harrington, MD	UT Southwestern
Anthony Peters, MD	University of Virginia
Toi Spates, MD	Duke
Frances Ugowe, MD	Duke
Christopher Wrobel, MD	UT Southwestern

I was excited to welcome our new partners to the cardiovascular practice and spent some time ensuring that they recognized and hopefully relished these next few years.  They go by fast.  There are many sources of advice and opportunities to learn at Duke Heart.  I recommended that they “drink from the fountain” and get to know and learn the unique things that make our faculty effective and special so that they can develop their own mosaic of skills for clinical, research and educational missions.  We are blessed to have some many great people @DukeHeart and it starts and is driven by the fellows, who are the lifeblood of our program.  Many of our faculty and current fellows have helped ensure that the fellows hit the ground running with “Fellows Boot Camp” and other support activities.  We want to thank you all for your support.

We also wanted to recognize that Jordon recently received a $25k award from the new Office of Physician Scientist Development (OPSD) to support the salary of a lab technician!  As he notes “This award will allow me to continue working on active research goals as I return to full time clinical fellowship this July 2019.”  Jordan’s research involves developing novel cardiac fibrosis disease models utilizing functional engineered cardiac tissues. He will be continuing his tissue engineering work in the Bursac Lab in the Duke Department of Biomedical Engineering.  Great work Jordan!

Finally, over the last several weeks I have had the chance to visit with Dr. Joseph Greenfield who has meant so much to the Department, Division, and the fellows over the years.  As we start a new year with fellows, I thought it would be fun to start to post some of the wit and wisdom of Joe Greenfield.  Some of you may have copies of this little book, but I have started to digitize it and will be posting some of them.  Also – for our past graduates, fellows, faculty, and DUCCS members, please be aware that Tom Bashore is working on a project to Digitize our fellowship society and history and may be contacting you.  Thank you for being part of the the Duke Family.

 

 

Baseline Health System Consortium – Duke Heart and Research:
New research study on Lp(a) in secondary prevention patients now enrolling

We wanted to share that a new Project Baseline study is now enrolling participants. The Heart Biomarker Study is an observational study in efforts to better understand Lp(a) levels in people who have a history of myocardial infarction or stroke.  Our faculty including Adrian and Svati have helped with study design.  People who have experienced a heart attack or stroke are being directly contacted to see if they are interested in participating.

Participants are asked to share their health history by linking their EHR and take a one-time blood test at a local LabCorp. They will receive their lab results back and be compensated $100 for their time. Interested participants can enroll directly here.

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.