Highlights of the week:

Wegermann Joins Cardiology Faculty

We are pleased to have welcomed recent structural heart fellowship graduate Zach Wegermann, MD to the Duke cardiology faculty as an assistant professor of medicine. Wegermann is an interventional cardiologist who officially started with us July 1.

Originally from Mukilteo, Washington, Wegermann earned his MD in 2014 at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He then arrived at Duke for residency and three fellowships — cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology, and structural heart disease.

Wegermann and his wife, Dr. Kara Wegermann, a gastroenterologist and liver transplant specialist who is also on faculty here, have two daughters.

“Our two young children, ages four and two, keep us quite busy,” he says. “So that is my main hobby right now, being a dad. I also love to ski. I grew up in the Northwest skiing, hiking, climbing, and I still enjoy all of those things, just on a different scale here in North Carolina.”

Wegermann originally chose to pursue medicine because, he says, “it offers the perfect combination of scientific problem solving and helping individuals with medical issues longitudinally, and then helping treat them definitively.”

“Balancing complex procedures with decision making about what’s right for patients and in their best interest is a challenge that I enjoy,” Wegermann adds.

As for why he was keen on joining the Duke faculty, Wegermann says, “I’ve enjoyed working with everyone here throughout my fellowships, and I really like the division, the university and Duke Health as a larger entity. I believe in the Duke mission so I’m excited to continue the journey as a faculty member.”

We’re excited to have you with us, Zach!

 

Duke Raleigh Earns 1^st GWTG-HF Award

Congratulations to the entire Duke Raleigh Hospital (DRaH) heart team! DRaH has earned a Silver Plus-level Get With the Guidelines – Heart Failure quality achievement award from the American Heart Association (AHA) for 2023, their first year of eligibility! Silver Plus is the highest level that can be earned in a hospital’s first year of eligibility.

GWTG-HF achievement awards are given by the AHA to honor the commitment an organization makes to improving outcomes for patients with heart failure – meaning reduced readmissions and more healthy days at home.

Program participants qualify by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for patients with heart failure. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also provide education to patients to help them manage their HF at home.

“Achieving this award is an important milestone for the DRaH program,” says Kishan Parikh, MD, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology and heart failure specialist at DRaH. “It represents a collaborative, system wide, and multidisciplinary effort. Our goal has been to provide consistent and excellent heart failure care in Raleigh, so this symbolizes what we have been working toward. I’m proud to have been part of this focused effort and am excited to see what lies ahead.”

“Being a part of this registry and achieving this level of recognition validates all the work that the team has been doing for several years,” says Julie Yamadi, MSN, RN, director of Heart Services at DRaH. “We have a dedicated core heart failure team comprised of people across hospital medicine, case management, heart failure, our APP team, and our quality and safety data teams. This group worked especially hard over the last year to focus their efforts on reviewing, discussing, collaborating, and seeking additional ways to improve what we’re doing for our HF patients. They looked to identify any other ways we could get even better and a lot of work has gone into this. To see the work validated with a silver plus award truly means a great deal to all of us.”

Additionally, DRAH qualified for recognition on two AHA honor rolls as part of the GWTG-HF program. The team earned Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll status.

Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll status indicates that DRaH meets specific criteria to improve medication adherence, provide early follow-up care and coordination, and enhance patient education. The goal is to further reduce hospital readmissions and help patients improve their quality of life in managing heart failure.

The Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognizes DRaH for ensuring that patients with Type 2 diabetes — who might be at higher risk for complications — receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to heart disease or stroke.

DRaH began participating in the Heart Failure registry in July 2022, so this is their first series of GWTG-HF awards, and they hit it out of the park with this Silver Plus recognition. Well done!

 

Narcisse Receives 2023 ACC/ABC Merck Research Fellowship Award

Congratulations to cardiology fellow Dennis Narcisse! We learned this week that he has been selected by the ACC Research Fellowship Awards Committee as one of three fellows across the U.S. to receive an American College of Cardiology/Association of Black Cardiologists Merck Research Fellowship Award. Each ACC/ABC Merck Research Fellowship award provides $100,000 as salary support for one year of research in adult cardiology, beginning Aug. 1.

Way to go, Dennis!

 

 

 

 

SEEDS Update: Fellow Projects Funded; Shah Joins Steering Committee

The Duke Department of Medicine Society for Early Education Scholars (SEEDS) Program this week announced 2023-2024 research funding for five research projects, including three being led by Duke Cardiology fellows.

   

Congratulations, Dan Loriaux, Ilia Shadrin, and Willard Applefeld!

Dan Loriaux, Critical Care Cardiology and Emily Sanders, Pulmonary Critical Care, project “Creating an Internal Medicine Resident Boot Camp and Procedure Day for ICU Rotations”

Ilia Shadrin, Cardiology, project “Improving Device Education for Cardiology Fellows on EP Rotations”

Willard Applefeld, Cardiology, project “Improving Education for Internal Medicine Residents Rounding in the CCU” 

SEEDS is a year-long mentored education program designed for fellows planning careers as clinician educators or education scholars. It provides fellows with required skills for successful future careers as clinician educator scholars and leaders of the future. 

In other SEEDS news, Nishant Shah, MD, associate director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program has joined the SEEDS Steering Committee, which includes faculty from across disciplines within the DOM.

Shah has received a number of teaching accolades over the years including the DOM’s Excellence in Medical Education Award and the Thomas M. Bashore Teaching Award, both in 2022, and most recently the Eugene A. Stead Jr Teaching Award given by Duke’s Internal Medicine Residency program, which he received this past June.

Congrats to all!

 

Kudos to Sullivan!

This past week, cardiology fellow Lonnie Sullivan led an amazing case discussion on left ventricular outflow obstruction in a stress-induced cardiomyopathy and pathophysiology of various presentations of shock. The discussion was part of an international webinar organized by the NC chapter of the American College of Cardiology in partnership with the Chilean Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, an affiliated member of the European Society of Cardiology. The event was held virtually on July 25.

       

He did a terrific job of representing Duke Heart on the international stage.

Nicely done, Lonnie!

 

Pignone Named Inaugural VC for Q&I, Duke DOM, Effective Nov. 1

Michael Pignone, MD, will join the Duke Department of Medicine (DOM) as the inaugural vice chair for quality and innovation, and serve as faculty within the Division of General Internal Medicine effective November 1. The announcement was made by Kathleen Cooney, MD, George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chair, Department of Medicine on Wed., July 26.

As vice chair, Pignone will work with division chiefs and vice chairs to coordinate clinical quality improvement efforts across the DOM and help foster and grow clinical innovation.

In addition to his role with DOM, Pignone will have a secondary appointment in the Department of Population Health Sciences and serve as the faculty director for Primary Care Transformation and Innovation within the Margolis Center for Health Policy. The focus of Pignone’s research program is cancer screening to reduce health disparities and he will serve as the director for Cancer Screening Equity in the Duke Cancer Institute.

Pignone joins Duke from the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School where he serves as the inaugural chair for the Department of Internal Medicine and holds the Dr. Lowell Henry Lebermann Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine. He also serves as co-director of the program on Cancer Prevention and Control at Livestrong Cancer Institutes, and holds the academic rank of professor in Internal Medicine, and courtesy professor in the departments of Oncology and Population Health.

Before joining Dell Medical School, Pignone was a professor of medicine, chief of the division of General Internal Medicine and director of the Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his medical degree and residency training in primary care internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and also received a master’s degree in epidemiology from the UNC School of Public Health.

Pignone’s research is focused on chronic disease screening, prevention and treatment, and on improving medical decision making and health equity. His main areas of interest include cancer screening and prevention, particularly colorectal cancer screening. He has developed and tested novel interventions, including decision aids, to mitigate literacy-related health disparities and to improve the use of appropriate preventive services. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles.

He has served on a number of national guideline and quality improvement panels, including the United States Preventative Services Task Force. Pignone is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the Society for Medical Decision Making, and he is a master of the American College of Physicians.

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Pignone to the DOM!

 

Heart Walk Rally Day is Wednesday, Aug. 2

The American Heart Association is holding their annual Heart Walk Rally Day on Wednesday, Aug. 2. Duke Heart is once again the presenting sponsor of the Triangle Heart Walk. The goal of ‘Rally Day’ is to drive walker recruitment– and to see which company in the Triangle can increase their team walker numbers by the highest percentage in one day. So, if you haven’t yet joined a team — sign up on Wednesday!

Be on the lookout for an all-staff email message on Wednesday morning with additional details.

If you have any questions about the Walk or need guidance regarding fundraising, Renee Potts from our local AHA affiliate will be on-site at Duke Hospital (likely outside the Atrium cafeteria) from 1-4 p.m.

The date of the 2023 Triangle Heart Walk is still TBD, but hopefully, we will know the date this week.

 

Reminder:  Pulse will not be published Aug. 6 or Aug. 13.

As we mentioned last week, Pulse will be vacationing for a bit in August, as we hope many of you have done already. If not, we encourage you to find time for a break. We’ll return August 20. Please continue to send accolades and news to us.

 

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Cardiology Fellowship Conference

 July 31: Site Based Research with Marat Fudim. Noon, DMP 2W93

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conferences

Aug. 2: Dyslipidemia with Nishant Shah. Noon, DMP 2W96

Aug. 4: Hemodynamics and the Cardiac Exam with Tom Bashore. Noon, Zoom only.

Aug. 9: Guideline Directed Medical Therapy with Steve Greene. Noon, DMP 2W96

Aug. 11: Management of AFib with Jon Piccini. Noon, Zoom only.

Aug. 16: Hemodynamics with Tom Bashore. Noon, DMP 2W96

Aug. 18: EKG Review with Neil Freedman. Noon, Zoom only.

 

Medicine Grand Rounds

Aug. 4: Understanding Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Disease with Martha Gulati, MD, of Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars Sinai. 8 a.m., DN 2002.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds is on hiatus for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall!

 

Duke Caregiver Community Event

Sept. 7: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Durham, NC.

More information available. Registration required. $10 for family caregivers; $75 for professionals in the caregiving industry.

 

Black Men in Medicine: Speed Mentoring

October 24, 5:30-7:00 p.m., Trent Semans, Classroom 4

Black Men in Medicine (BMIM) is introducing a “Speed Mentoring” event, where structured conversations will facilitate meaningful connections, potentially paving the way for future mentorships, research partnerships, and avenues for career advancement. The upcoming BMIM gathering presents an opportunity to expand your network, exchange ideas, and delve into collaborative ventures with individuals who share your aspirations and experiences.

During this event, Faculty, Students and Trainees will engage with a group of accomplished faculty members who will share their inspiring career stories. Drawing from their wealth of knowledge and experience, they will provide invaluable insights into their professional journeys, offering guidance and inspiration. Furthermore, we have dedicated ample time for networking, ensuring you have the opportunity to connect personally with these individuals and your peers.

Join us for an evening of inspiration and interaction, where the power of connection awaits.

Dinner will be provided – but registration is required!

Featured Faculty:

• Joseph Jackson, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
• Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Neurosciences
• Kevin Thomas, MD, Professor of Medicine
• Leon Herndon, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology
• Opeyemi Olabisi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine
• Rory Goodwin, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
• Wilton Williams, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery

Agenda

5:00-5:30pm      Pre-event: Join us at any time and eat dinner

5:30-6:00pm      Featured Faculty Introductions

6:00-7:00pm      Breakout with Faculty, Students and Trainees you want to get to know more about

Register – You must register to receive dinner.

Who Should attend? Any faculty member, trainee, or student in the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, of any race or gender, who supports the objective of BMIM are invited to attend. Black males in these roles are strongly encouraged to attend. This includes trainees and students across the continuum including medical, physical therapy, PA, MBS and residents, fellows, and post-doctoral candidates. 

Questions? Email fiona.johann@duke.edu

15^th Annual NC RTP Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium

The 15^th annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium will be held on Friday, November 17^th at the Durham Convention Center. Faculty directors will be H. James Ford, MD, director of the PH program at UNC, and Terry Fortin, MD, co-director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Center at Duke.

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. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

Duke Heart in the News:

July 21 — Harry Severance

Becker’s ASC Review

Physicians have become marginalized. Here’s how young physicians can change this.

https://duke.is/p/rr2x

July 21 — Duke University Hospital

Top 81 cardiac surgery hospitals by state, per Healthgrades

Becker’s Hospital Review

https://duke.is/4/dghd

July 21 — Harry Severance

Becker’s ASC Review

‘Will the last to leave please turn out the lights?’: The consequences of declining physician pay

https://duke.is/9/tmsf

July 23 — Jacob Schroder and Jason Banner

CBS News, Denver, CO

Medical heart breakthrough helps save more lives

https://duke.is/6/2sjz

July 25 — Kristin Newby

Blackdoctor.org

6 Things Black People With Heart Disease Should Avoid

https://duke.is/n/9ubq

July 25 — Jennifer Green and Jonathan Piccini

Time magazine

The Connection Between Diabetes and Heart Arrhythmias

https://duke.is/b/7gyr

July 25 — Manesh Patel

WRAL, NBC-5

Doctors urge people to learn CPR after Bronny James suffers cardiac arrest

https://duke.is/4/nhkj

July 25 — Christopher Granger

WTVD, ABC-11

Cardiac arrest & young athletes

https://duke.is/9/243p

July 25 — Robert Mentz and Stephen Greene

HCP Live

Implementation and Continuation of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy (GDMT) in Heart Failure

https://duke.is/v/bn2c

July 25 — Manesh Patel

WRAL Sports Fan

Doctors, coaches, discuss how Bronny James’ cardiac arrest can be a teachable moment

https://duke.is/z/yhcg

July 25 — Jonathan Piccini

tctMD

Early Cognitive Dysfunction After AF Ablation Doesn’t Last

https://duke.is/w/zhbu

July 26 — Gerald Bloomfield

aidsmap.com

Statins and HIV: how can the REPRIEVE findings be implemented in the real world?

https://duke.is/j/trhn

July 26 — Brian Mac Grory (neurology)

newsroom.heart.org

$2.1 million awarded to research link between migraine, strokes and cardiovascular disease

https://duke.is/y/uxs8

July 26 — Sana Al-Khatib

Medscape

S-ICD Shows Virtues, Limits in ‘Real World’ Postmarket Study

https://duke.is/m/frtw

July 27 — Duke University Health System

Digital Journal

Expertscape Announces All-Around Expert Medical Centers

https://duke.is/z/v4t8

Highlights of the week:

Pineda Rejoins Duke Heart Team Effective July 1

We are pleased to welcome Andres M. Pineda Maldonado, MD, assistant professor of cardiology in the Duke Department of Medicine back to the Duke Heart team. He is an interventional cardiologist and structural heart disease specialist who started with us on July 1.

Many of you may remember Dr. Pineda from his Structural Heart Disease fellowship training at Duke, which he completed in 2017.

Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Pineda completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in 2012, where he also completed cardiology fellowship (2012-2015) and interventional cardiology fellowship training (2015-2016), prior to coming to Duke for training in structural heart disease.

Upon completion of his Duke fellowship in 2017, he joined the faculty of the University of Florida College of Medicine as assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology. At the University of Florida, Pineda served as Medical Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories for the University of Florida Health Cardiovascular Center in Jacksonville, FL for the past two years. He was also a member of the General Cardiology Fellowship Educational Committee, and a member of the STEMI and the Performance & Quality Improvement Committees for most of his time at Florida, and served as associate program director of their Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program until his departure in June.

Pineda says he was always inclined toward the sciences, and while studying medicine knew he wanted to do something with procedures and imaging, so interventional cardiology was an obvious choice for him. He says he is pleased to rejoin Duke, saying “I like the team here, the hospital, and the overall area, which I enjoyed during my training. I wanted to join a bigger program for structural heart disease with more opportunities for research and career development.”

Please give Andres and his wife, Barbara Correal, and their children Federico and Santiago a very warm welcome when you meet them. Welcome back to Duke, Andres!

 

Great Catch, Skowronek & Taylor!

Two members of our Cardiopulmonary Rehab team earned a great catch award this week. Barbara Taylor, RT, recognized a patient was not feeling well and had a new symptom of dizziness during cardiac rehabilitation. She escalated her concern to Lisa Skowronek, RN, who assessed the patient and identified a dysrhythmia. On further assessment, they identified chest discomfort and assisted the patient with self-administration of prescribed nitroglycerine. The patient was transported via EMS to Duke Hospital, where she was admitted for treatment. Lisa and Barbara’s rapid assessment and intervention enabled the patient to receive necessary emergency care.

Way to go! Lisa and Barbara are the 5th and 6th cardiac rehab team members to earn ‘great catch’ awards so far in 2023. Nicely done – keep up the great work!

 

Kudos to Duke Heart’s “Triple J” Team!

 

Big kudos to John Lazzari, Jaime McDermott, and Jessica Shumate — collectively known as the APP “Triple J” team — for excellent work and support this week! In a note from Chris Holley, MD, we learned they knocked out eight discharges in one day for him. “That is definitely a record for me, and an incredible amount of work for the team,” he said, and added special kudos to Lazzari who covered all 17 VAD patients on service with Holley last weekend, and then participated in the discharge spree.

In response to Holley’s note, Diane Sauro and Stephanie Barnes added additional shout-out’s to acknowledge the team.

“Our Inpatient Heart APPs are awesome and do a fantastic job. Triple J team — great work.  I know this weekend was challenging, but everyone stepped up to deliver the best care to the patients. Great work!” — Diane Sauro, MSN, Director, Advanced Practice

“Thank you for the note recognizing the Triple J team and their work on the Medicine VAD service. Jamie, Jessica and John: thank you all for doing it well and (I’m sure) doing it with a smile on your face. You rock!” — Stephanie Barnes, MSN, Clinical Director for Advanced Heart Failure Services

Nicely done, team! We love the opportunity to provide recognition to our team members — so please keep these terrific notes coming to Pulse!

 

 

 

NOTE:  Pulse will not be published Aug. 6 or Aug. 13.

Pulse will be vacationing for a bit in August, as we hope many of you have done already. If not, we encourage you to find time for a break. Whether you find mountains to climb, hammocks to rest in, beaches to walk, or refreshing waters to float on or dip your toes in … where ever you might find yourself this summer, we hope you find much needed rest and rejuvenation!

We’ll break for the weekends of August 6 and 13, then return August 20. Please continue to send accolades and news to us.

 

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conferences

July 26: Hypertension Guidelines with Michael Blazing. Noon, Zoom only.

July 28: LVAD Basics with Jason Katz. Noon, DN 2001.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds is on hiatus for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall!

 

15^th Annual NC RTP Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium

The 15^th annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium will be held on Friday, November 17^th at the Durham Convention Center. Faculty directors will be H. James Ford, MD, director of the PH program at UNC, and Terry Fortin, MD, co-director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Center at Duke.

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. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

 

Duke Heart in the News:

July 14 — Harry Severance

Becker’s ASC Review

What young physicians need to know

https://duke.is/6/zuvf

July 14 — Adam DeVore and Stuart Knechtle

Healio/Cardiology

Overhaul of ‘calcified’ US organ transplant system can expand donor pool, save lives

https://duke.is/p/sgb4

July 14 — Hayden Bosworth and Colleen Burke

tctMD

More Data Show Redlining’s Lasting Impact on CVD Risk

https://duke.is/r/jhx6

July 14 — Duke University

MedTech Intelligence

FDA Announces Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science Award Recipients

https://duke.is/5/44ub

July 18 — Duke Regional Hospital

Chief Healthcare Executive

Duke Regional Hospital named America’s most socially responsible hospital

https://duke.is/6/ggkx

July 18 — Sana Al-Khatib and Kevin Thomas

Circ/AHAjournals.org

Commentary: Advancing Equity in Sudden Cardiac Death Prevention: Beware of Making Assumptions About the Effectiveness of Primary Prevention Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Black Patients

https://duke.is/p/5mf6

July 19 — Dawn Coleman

Vascular Specialist

Crawford panel looks at opportunities to plug and extend vascular surgery workforce pipeline

https://duke.is/8/xrr5

July 20 — Kristin Newby

Heart.org

Warnings – and hope – from new heart disease treatment guidelines

https://duke.is/j/ugxj

July 20 — Kristin Newby

Newsroom/AHA

Symptom relief and healthy habits are top goals for treating chronic heart disease

https://duke.is/y/fmup

Highlights of the week:

Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill Awarded up to $50 Million from the FDA for New Research Center; Mentz to Serve as co-PI

Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will receive up to $50 million over five years from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The money will be used to establish the Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI). The center also includes collaborations with North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University.

Triangle CERSI, the newest of five CERSIs nationally, will work with FDA scientists to perform scientific research to support the FDA’s needs.

The three principal investigators from Duke are Susan Halabi, PhD, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics and co-chief for the division of biostatistics at Duke University School of Medicine; Robert Mentz, MD, associate professor of medicine in cardiology and in population health sciences, and chief of the heart failure section of Duke Cardiology; and Ehsan Samei, PhD, Reed and Martha Rice Distinguished Professor of Radiology at Duke University and chief imagining physicist for Duke University Health System.

They will co-lead the new Triangle CERSI and collaborate with regulators, academia, and industry stakeholders to meet the FDA’s need for the most current scientific knowledge.

“We are uniquely positioned to leverage the tremendous strengths of Duke’s trial and observational research infrastructure, machine learning, statistical knowledge, in silico trials, and imaging expertise to answer meaningful questions for patients and other key stakeholders,” Mentz said.

The Triangle CERSI will include, but is not limited to, faculty from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, UNC School of Medicine, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC School of Data Science and Society, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University’s Center for Virtual Imaging Trials, the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the Colleges of Engineering and Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State, the NCCU College of Health and Sciences, NCCU College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, the NCCU Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise  and the NCCU Julius L. Chambers Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Institute.

“The Triangle CERSI is a significant opportunity for our scholarly communities to curate and direct our intelligence towards addressing an important societal need for proficient and efficient regulatory approval and oversight,” Samei said.

The center will provide new infrastructure and tools to shorten the drug and device development process, to advance public health, and to inform regulatory decision making and guidance documents that complements and enhances other CERSIs.

“The Triangle CERSI will equip the FDA with tools to overcome the challenges of the 21st century drug and device development process in order to rapidly advance public health interests,” Halabi said.

The 38 projects proposed in the grant application include statistical methodology, machine learning and artificial intelligence, imaging, pediatric pharmacology, and safety assessments.

 

New Thoracic Surgery Roles for Hartwig, Klapper

We are pleased to share a transition of leadership within Duke’s Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. Effective immediately, Matt Hartwig, MD, MHS, will serve as Surgical Director of Lung Transplantation, and Jacob Klapper, MD, will serve as Associate Surgical Director of Lung Transplantation.

Hartwig has spent the entirety of his career at Duke. He began his internship with Duke Surgery in 2001, and completed his residency in both General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery here. He previously served in the role of Surgical Director for Lung Transplantation from 2015-2017. He also serves as Program Director for the Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Fellowship program, a position he has held since 2015; he is an Executive Committee Member for the Duke Transplant Center, and Surgical Director of the Esophageal Center at Duke, and is a member of the Perioperative Executive Committee

Klapper completed his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Duke from 2011 through 2014. After a short departure to the Medical University of South Carolina, we were fortunate to recruit him back to Duke — he rejoined us as Associate Professor of Surgery in 2016. 

“The Duke Lung Transplant Program boasts one of the highest lung transplant volumes in the US.  John “Jack” C. Haney, MD, played a major role in this program’s success, and we are extremely grateful to Jack for his leadership and dedication while serving as Surgical Director,” said Edward P. Chen, MD, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. “We wish him the absolute best as he assumes the role of Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL at the end of September.”

The leadership announcement was made by Chen on Thursday. Please join us in congratulating Matt and Jacob on their new appointments!

 

Brenman Joins Duke Heart Team

We are pleased to welcome Gabi Brenman to Duke Heart’s administrative leadership team. Brenman has been working with Duke’s Performance Services team since 2019, supporting Heart and Oncology since 2021. Originally from Chapel Hill, NC, Brenman has her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University.

She has recently supported several important initiatives at Duke including re-vamping the VAD Joint Commission data reporting, serving as project manager for the CACHE Prostate project, and assessing Respiratory Therapy workflow opportunities. In her new role, Brenman will partner closely with Jill Engel and Maria Carroll on Duke Heart & Vascular special projects, strategy and growth.

A fun fact about her is she loves to travel, and recently visited Iceland. We are thrilled to formally welcome Gabi to our team!

 

Duke CDU Awarded IAC Accreditation for the 23rd Year

The DUH Cardiac Diagnostic Unit is proud to announce that it has been granted Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) accreditation for the 23^rd consecutive year, demonstrating excellence in echocardiography. This recognition is a testament to Duke’s unwavering commitment to providing high-quality cardiac diagnostic services and upholding the highest standards of patient care.

IAC accreditation serves as a mark of distinction, affirming that the CDU has met and surpassed stringent evaluation criteria set forth by the IAC. Through rigorous assessments and comprehensive reviews, our facility has consistently demonstrated excellence in cardiac imaging services, placing us at the forefront of the industry. The CDU was awarded accreditation in Transthoracic Echo, Transesophageal Echo, as well as Stress Echo.

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to our entire team for their unwavering dedication and expertise. Additionally, we thank our patients and referring physicians for their trust and confidence in our services. The CDU team is committed to raising the bar in cardiac diagnostic excellence, ensuring that each patient receives the best care possible at Duke. We are grateful to be recognized again by the IAC.

Way to go CDU team!

 

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conferences

July 19: Rapid Fire ECG with Thomas Bashore. Noon, Zoom only.

July 21: Basics of Heart Failure with Stuart Russell. Noon, Zoom only.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds is on hiatus for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall!

 

15^th Annual NC RTP Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium

The 15^th annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium will be held on Friday, November 17^th at the Durham Convention Center. Faculty directors will be H. James Ford, MD, director of the PH program at UNC, and Terry Fortin, MD, co-director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Center at Duke.

 

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. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

 

Duke Heart in the News:

July 8 — Salvatore Pizzo, Svati Shah, Paul Ferrell, Kristi Oristian (Pathology; Pharmacology & Cancer Biology)

Independent Tribune (Hickory, NC)

MURDOCK Study samples speed heart failure discovery

https://duke.is/w/gtmr

July 10 — Adam DeVore

Healio/Cardiology

With heart transplant advances, a quest for ‘holy grail’ of tolerance, improved outcomes

https://duke.is/p/nch2

July 11 — Hayden Bosworth & Colleen Burke (Population Health)

Healio/Cardiology

Veterans with CVD from historically redlined neighborhoods have elevated risk for events

https://duke.is/w/4hp5

July 11 — Robert Mentz

WRAL (Raleigh/Durham)

FDA awards $50 million to Triangle universities for joint work on drug development process, regulatory oversight, public health information

https://duke.is/6/us64

July 11 — Robert Mentz

WNCN – CBS17 (Raleigh/Durham)

UNC, Duke getting $50M from FDA to create new research center

https://duke.is/p/frjw

July 12 — Robert Mentz

HCP Live

Foundations of Quadruple Therapy in Heart Failure

https://duke.is/j/grha

 

July 12 — Duke Health/Duke University Hospital

Becker’s Hospital Review

100 hospitals and health systems with great heart programs | 2023

https://duke.is/y/9xsq

July 12 — Adam DeVore

Healio/Cardiology

‘Access to care is key’: Closing the race disparity gap in heart transplant

https://duke.is/r/qn2u

July 12 — Joseph Turek

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

11-month-old’s partial heart transplant makes history in Texas. How doctors did it

https://duke.is/m/7rx2

July 13 — Hayden Bosworth (Population Health)

STAT News

Living in a historically redlined area linked to worse heart health, study finds

https://duke.is/z/nh4j

July 13 — Hayden Bosworth (Population Health)

PBS News Hour

Legacy of redlining linked to poor heart health among veterans, study finds

https://duke.is/c/2nbv

July 13 — Ehsan Samei (Radiology) & Susan Halabi (Biostatistics)

WTVD (Raleigh/Durham)

FDA gives $50M to Duke, UNC to establish world-class public health research center

https://duke.is/8/sxuy

Highlights of the week:

Parikh Joining Wake Med Team in October

Kishan Parikh, MD, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology, will leave his role with Duke Heart at the end of September. He will join the team at Wake Med in October as their director of advanced heart failure and pulmonary vascular care. His last day with Duke Heart will be September 30.

While it’s always difficult to bid farewell to our teammates, we are excited for Kishan as he moves into this new opportunity.

“It is tough to leave great friends and colleagues, but the opportunity to impact the growing population in Wake County is an exciting next step in my career. At the same time, I’m looking forward to maintaining relationships and building bridges between our programs,” said Parikh. 

He says he has been drawn to pulmonary hypertension and heart failure as an area of focus since he was a medical student on a team caring for a pulmonary hypertension patient. “The potential to significantly improve outcomes through earlier recognition/education and targeted therapies for this population continues to drive me.”

Parikh says that he’s most proud of the teamwork he has been a part of in Duke’s heart failure and pulmonary hypertension groups, building the HF/PH clinic in Wake County alongside the Duke Cardiology of Raleigh group, and research efforts including site-based research in HF with preserved EF, and creation of the Duke pulmonary hypertension database.

At Wake Med, he’ll be director of advanced heart failure and pulmonary vascular care, allowing him to work together with Dr. Stu Russell and nurse practitioner Tanaya Foster. His goal is to continue growing the program and provide expanded access.

“I think there are some really good opportunities to reach underserved populations,” Parikh added. “While here at Duke, I’ve worked with some of the most capable, compassionate colleagues in the world – and learned how to deliver true patient-centered care. I’ll apply these lessons and continue learning in this next step. I’m extremely grateful to my clinical and research mentors, as well as division leadership, for supporting me along the way since I started as a fellow 10 years ago.”

Parikh completed his MD in 2009 at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, and went on to residency at the University of Chicago, where he served as chief resident in internal medicine in 2012. He served as chief fellow for Duke Cardiology and completed his Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship in 2017; and the Advanced Heart Failure, MCS, and Transplant Fellowship in 2018 when he joined the faculty.

Congratulations, Kishan! 

 

Fellows Bootcamp Held for Newest CV Trainee Class

The new cardiovascular disease fellows’ orientation and bootcamp was held this past week. It was a tremendous effort organized by Rob Harrison, Nishant Shah, Brianna Small and Anna Lisa Chamis.

 

Chamis, director of the cardiovascular disease fellowship program, is very pleased with how the week went.

“I would like to thank the efforts of the cardiac sonographers, including Danny Rivera and the nurses who facilitated echo bootcamp with me on Monday. Additionally, I would like to thank the Durham VA cardiology faculty and staff who gave a warm welcome to the incoming fellows Wednesday. Furthermore, Rob Harrison organized a phenomenal CICU bootcamp on Thursday that included didactics and interactive experiences with Willard Applefeld, Jason Katz, Kristin Newby, Jennifer Rymer, Nishant Shah, Jeff Washam and Manesh Patel. For Friday, Nishant Shah organized a fantastic simulation center experience with the AMAZING Jennifer Rymer leading the way, and an outstanding EP bootcamp that included didactics and hands-on experiences with Emily Towery, Ilia Shadrin, Sana Al-Khatib, Zak Loring, Neil Freedman, and Steve Mann.”

Our new fellows began their rotations this weekend — so thank you once again to all team members for making them feel welcome!

 

Duke Heart Family Welcomes Two!

We’re excited to share with you the newest additions to the Duke Heart family. Please welcome David Lerman, born June 28!

Joe Lerman, David’s dad, says, “Mom and Baby are doing great, and Dad is remembering that sometimes you do sleep better at the hospital.”

And please also welcome Penelope Michele Loriaux, born on July 1. She is 8lbs 12 oz in weight, 21 inches in length.

 

Dan Loriaux, Penny’s dad, says “Everything went well in the hospital. Sandra and Penny are both healthy and home.”

Congratulations to the Lerman and Loriaux families!

 

James Peterson, MD, Retires from Duke Raleigh Practice

Congratulations to James Peterson, MD, cardiology faculty member at Duke Cardiology of Raleigh (DCR), on his retirement from Duke on June 30. Peterson, at Duke for the past decade, was celebrated by his closest colleagues from the DCR clinic, the Duke Raleigh Hospital (DRAH) Cath lab, and DRAH 2200 with a retirement dinner, luncheon, and after-hours event.

His retirement dinner was held on June 3 at Bloomsbury Bistro in Raleigh. Shown here, L-R, are: Radha Kachhy, Larry Liao, Bill Parsons, James Peterson, Mark Leithe, Stephen Robinson, Dan Friedman and James Mills.

Shown below are Peterson with the DCR group and their spouses, as well as Peterson’s two sons – Neil and Graeme. The two flew in to surprise him and join the team for dinner. His son Neil, to his right, joined from Portland, Oregon, and son Graeme, to his left, flew in from Boston, MA.

His clinical team hosted a luncheon in his honor in the Tryon Conference room, MOB6 on the campus of DRAH. Shown here are Peterson and several retired members of the DCR nursing team.

The DRAH cath lab team held an after-hours event to celebrate Peterson at Wilson’s Eatery/Lynnwood Brewing. There, he was presented with his cath lab retirement gift: a new putter!

Peterson with members of the DRAH cath team.

 

Peterson with his cath lab retirement gift — a new putter!  

Dr. Peterson and his wife Judy enjoying the evening.

Dr. Peterson with Betty Richardson of the DRAH Progressive Care Unit

Peterson, assistant professor of medicine in cardiology, received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1988. He went on to residency at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, and then completed cardiology training at the Ohio State University Medical Center. He will be missed here at Duke, but we know he’s having a blast with loved ones and hopefully enjoying some great rounds of golf with his new putter. Peterson is currently on a trip to Scotland (no doubt fitting in some great golf!) with his family.

We wish him the very best in retirement.

 

Dave Rendall, PA, Retires from Duke Health

David Rendall, PA-C for Duke Cardiology of South Durham and a long-time member of the Duke Heart team, officially retired on Monday, July 3 after 42 years at Duke, including 39 years on staff and three years in training with Duke’s Physician Assistant program!

“Now that I am retiring from Duke, I look back with appreciation and gratitude for the many years my wife and I had while working there,” says Rendall. “My career started in 1984 when I joined the Interventional Cardiology Program. In addition to assisting in interventional procedures, I was asked to help with patient follow-up which led to an opportunity at the DCRI for 25 years as a Project Leader in cardiovascular trials. I was able to supplement my clinical trials work with some part-time outpatient general cardiology work and eventually I spent the last ten years of my career in outpatient General Cardiology.

“As I look back on my career I think what I have found to be most personally rewarding to me has been the opportunity in clinical practice to make an important difference in another person’s life through the provider-patient encounter. It has not always been easy with time constraints and wide variations between patient circumstances, but it is labor that is inherently worthwhile and usually rewarding.”

His team helped celebrate him with a special dinner on Thursday, June 29 at the Washington Duke Inn. Colleague Carolyn Lekavich said it was a “very wonderful, heartfelt tribute to him and the career he has had with Duke Heart, the DCRI, and his other roles.”

Shown here, L-R are: Christopher Granger, Lekavich, Dave Rendall, Gail Cox, Jim Cox, Phyllis Upchurch, Edana Christy, Jeanna Riley, Stephanie Nicholls, Allen Stephens, Julie Marshall, Kristin Newby, and Bradi Granger.

We reached out to several of Dave’s current and former colleagues for their thoughts and here is what they had to say:

“Dave epitomizes the role of a physician assistant. Not only is he an excellent provider, but he is also one of the most compassionate and thoughtful human beings I’ve met. His compassion extends to his love of animals. I will miss the colorful animal calendars that he hung proudly in his office at Southpoint. Dave will be truly missed by all at Duke Cardiology!” – Allen Stephens, MHS, PA-C, Division of Cardiology and Duke Cardiology of Arringdon

“It has been a privilege to work with and get to know Dave during his many years with Duke Cardiology. Whether it was caring for the bird that had fallen out of its nest on the golf course, feeding the feral cats at Southpoint Clinic, or, especially, the clinical care he provided to his patients, Dave demonstrated a remarkable level of compassion and caring. He was committed to ensuring that every patient he saw in the clinic understood their illness and treatment and had the knowledge and manageable daily approaches to improving their heart health, tailored to their unique situation, and provided this despite clinic time-slot constraints. Dave’s heart is huge, and we in the Heart Center and the patients he served will miss working with him.” – Dr. Kristin Newby

“We’ve been friends for 35 years and have been professional colleagues. He’s the godfather to my kids, and we used to vacation together all the time. We first met when I was a fellow and he was a PA for interventional cardiologist Dr. Richard Stack – that was Dave’s first job out of PA school.

Dave was in charge of calling back patients as part of our registry study to understand restenosis rate – and the data that we collected was just seminal. Dave ran that and he was just so good at it. He just enjoyed talking to patients and getting them back in for caths to make sure that their artery was in good shape. He was so thorough with it, too. We had the highest follow-up rate of any study in the country at the time, at least that I was aware of, and that was because Dave was able to connect with patients so well. He did that for the first third of his professional career. Then he went to DCRI which is where we had hired him to be the project manager for the HF-ACTION study, which was one of the largest landmark studies conducted by the DCRI to look at exercise training for heart failure. He was again just superb with his management of people and ability to work with people – physicians, the patients, everyone.

But his real passion really blossomed in the last third of his career, when we brought him over into the clinic, where he first worked with Dr. Harry Phillips as a PA taking care of cardiac patients – particularly around prevention and cardiovascular education. He loved working with patients on how to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Dave’s dad was a very well-known physician in the Boston area – so this commitment to patients and education is really part of his DNA. I think his father would have been so proud of Dave for reestablishing those direct-care roots. And you know, when I left Duke, I had a big cohort of patients and quite a number of them said to me, “Well, we’re really disappointed that you’re leaving, but please tell us that Dave Rendall is not leaving!” And so I told them, no, Dave is staying and they were so grateful. I think that was a real testament to his dedication to patient care. My patient population that I transitioned to Mike Blazing and others, most of them were followed by Dave Rendall.” – Christopher O’Connor, MD, president of INOVA Heart and Vascular Institute, and the former division chief of Cardiology at Duke.

Dave, you’ve made a difference not only to your patients but to your colleagues – and also helped advance the work done via cardiovascular clinical trials. Incredible accomplishment! You will be missed – and we wish you all the best in retirement!

 

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conferences

July 12: Management of NSTEMI with Jennifer Rymer. Noon, Zoom only.

July 14: Coronary Angiography with Andrew Wang. Noon, DN 2001. Lunch provided.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds is on hiatus for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall!

  

Duke SOM Call for Applications: Restorative Justice Pilot Program 

The Office for Faculty, in partnership with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, is now accepting applications for a pilot program that will provide training and support for implementation of Restorative Justice interventions in the School of Medicine. Restorative Justice (RJ) is an ethical framework that focuses on building community by living our shared values of respect, honesty, responsibility, empathy, and inclusivity. RJ has its roots in indigenous traditions, which uphold the belief that people are interconnected and that focus on the role of community. Restorative practices can create the environment necessary for building and sustaining relationships, maintaining shared accountability, repairing damage caused by harmful behaviors, and ultimately improving team culture. 

About the program: Pilot participants will take part in an intensive RJ training program in fall 2023. Working with their teams and with support from experienced RJ practitioners, participants will develop and implement restorative interventions within their individual units in spring 2024. Participants will become part of a longitudinal learning community of individuals interested in exploring the use of restorative practices in the School of Medicine to shape culture and improve well-being. Participation will require significant time, including in-person classroom training sessions and asynchronous reading and reflection. There will be no charge to the participants or departments that participate. Participants will receive a stipend for participation and completion of activities.  

Who should apply: Applications should come from groups of 2-4 faculty and staff from the same organizational unit (department, division, program, etc.) within the School of Medicine. All applicants must have the support of their manager/leader and be able to commit to attending all training dates in person (view dates).  

Selection Criteria:  

• Team members have a demonstrated commitment to improving institutional culture and climate within the unit, including diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 
• Team collectively has enough capacity, reach and local support to implement RJ practices within the unit. 
• Potential ideas for the application of RJ within the organizational unit. 
• Faculty and staff representation where possible
• Senior leadership support, including a statement confirming protected time for participants to attend all training sessions and participate in evaluation activities. The letter should confirm support for participants’ implementation efforts in the spring and address likely receptivity of the local unit to restorative interventions/mindset.The letter must be signed by the department chair or division chief for faculty applicants, and the manager(s) for staff applicants.  

Evaluation:   

Because this project is a pilot, program evaluators expect participants to provide feedback about their experience.  

Complete program information and application details are available online: https://medschool.duke.edu/shifting-paradigm-restorative-justice-framework-workforce-well-being  

Applications are due August 7.  

Questions? Contact Jessica Schonberg, MEd, Director of Educational Programs in the Office for Faculty, at jessica.schonberg@duke.edu  

 

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. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

 

Duke Heart in the News:

June 30 — Neha Pagidipati

Diabetes.org/ADA News Release

New Study Shows a Coordinated Care Approach Significantly Improves Quality of Care for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Disease

https://duke.is/m/rtkb

July 3 — Duke Health (transplant)

The Washington Post

Dispute threatens to disrupt flow of organs to transplant hospitals

https://duke.is/4/ht92

July 4 – Duke Health (transplant)

The Washington Post

Transplant group extends deadline that threatened flow of crucial organs

https://duke.is/9/ap5y

July 5 — Andrew Wang

Health Central

When Surgery Is Part of Your HCM Picture

https://duke.is/v/3ce4

July 5 — Jerome Federspiel (OB/GYN)

USNews.com

How to Care for Your Heart During a Pregnancy

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-07-05/how-to-care-for-your-heart-during-a-pregnancy

July 6 — Robert Mentz

Medpage Today

Q&A: Robert J. Mentz, MD on Iron Repletion in Heart Failure

https://duke.is/2/pyr6

July 6 — Sal Pizzo, Svati Shah, Paul Ferrel, and Kristi Oristian

WBTV (Charlotte, NC)

Kannapolis-based MURDOCK Study samples speed heart failure discovery

https://duke.is/g/gqvb

 

Highlights of the week:

Welcome New Cardiology Fellows!

Each academic year starts with new fellows joining us — and is a reminder of the amazing people we have at Duke, and the impact we have on so much of the future of the field with our training program.

Our brand-new class of Cardiovascular Disease Fellows is listed below. Please give a warm welcome to the following individuals:

• Jawan Abdulrahim, joining us from Duke’s residency program
• Aubrie Carroll, Duke, joining us from Duke’s residency program
• Jonathan Hanna, joining us from Yale’s residency program
• Seamus Hughes, joining us from UT Southwestern’s residency program
• DaMarcus Ingram, joining us from Duke’s residency program
• Ivan Nenadic Wood, joining us from the University of Michigan’s residency program
• Josh Rushakoff, joining us from Cedars Sinai’s residency program
• Husam Salah, joining us from the University of Arkansas residency program
• Aarti Thakkar, joining us from the Johns Hopkins residency program
• Eric Xie, joining us from the Johns Hopkins residency program

Please also welcome our incoming Interventional Fellows:

• Todd Looney
• Sameer Prasada

And our incoming Structural Heart Disease Fellow:

• Ezequiel Munoz

We’re thrilled to have them joining us. Our new team started with us on Saturday. A huge THANK YOU to Bradi and Chris Granger who hosted the fellows’ welcome party at their home last night! The cardiovascular disease fellows have orientation and bootcamp activities this week and will start on their services Saturday, July 8.

 

Transition and Welcome to DHIP!

As we kick off July and a brand-new fiscal year, we’re also entering into a Health System milestone: the Duke Health Integrated Practice (DHIP) launched yesterday.

Our deep gratitude to all team members for their patience during this transition, and to those who have been closely involved in the planning and rolling-out of DHIP. This was not an easy effort. The future is indeed bright at DUHS, and we are blessed to be part of the great Duke Heart team!

 

Klotman Named Exec. VP for Health Affairs

In a message sent to all Duke University and Health System faculty and staff on Friday, Vincent Price, president of Duke University, announced the appointment of Mary Klotman, MD, as Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, effective July 1.

In this newly-created role, Klotman will report to Price and will serve as the university official providing strategic oversight of university academic health affairs, in close coordination and collaboration with the Provost, Executive Vice President, and CEO of Duke University Health System (DUHS). She will be the chief academic officer of Duke Health, responsible for strategic, academic, and budgetary oversight and authority for the School of Medicine and its affiliated academic institutes and programs, and will also oversee the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and, with the Provost, oversee other relevant interdisciplinary centers including the Global Health Institute and the Margolis Center for Health Policy.

In this role, Klotman will continue to serve as Dean of the School of Medicine, a position she has held since 2017. In that capacity, she will report to the Provost; Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Dean of the School of Nursing, will also report to the Provost.

In the announcement, Price stated, “Mary is an exceptional physician-scientist, leader, and colleague who is deeply committed to advancing biomedical science and human health through education, research, and patient care. As Dean, she has overseen advancements in research, teaching, and administration that have propelled the School of Medicine to new levels of national recognition and research activity. Under her leadership, the school has implemented significant new programs to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion; assure scientific integrity; and recruit, retain, and reward outstanding faculty. Mary is also a quadruple Duke alumna, having earned her undergraduate and medical degrees, and completed both her medical residency and fellowship, here at Duke.”

Klotman’s appointment follows a restructuring of the leadership model for Duke Health’s academic and clinical missions, which were previously consolidated under Gene Washington, MD, who served as Chancellor for Health Affairs of Duke University, and President and CEO of DUHS.

As part of the announcement of the transition in leadership, Price also recognized Dr. Washington’s many contributions, and thanked him for his distinguished service to Duke over the past eight years.

Under the new leadership structure, Klotman will oversee Duke Health’s academic mission, and Craig Albanese, who was named CEO of DUHS earlier this year, will oversee the clinical enterprise, reporting jointly to the DUHS Board of Directors and to President Price. The new leadership structure, Price stated, will help position Duke for success in the face of the challenging landscape for academic medical centers, including the changing healthcare marketplace, the need for more efficient and effective patient care models, and the ongoing imperative to support high quality medical research. The health system and university governing boards will regularly monitor the effectiveness of this new leadership structure.

Klotman and Albanese will work in close partnership to build deep alignment between Duke’s academic and clinical missions, and will establish shared goals and strategies, closely aligned organizational performance metrics, and other mechanisms to ensure effective connectivity and coordination across Duke Health. Each of them will be accountable for building a shared culture that capitalizes on the ways in which health science research and discovery and health delivery benefit each other, including agreed-upon goals and strategies that will be reflected in their individual performance assessments and incentives.

In the coming weeks the two will be in touch with the Duke Health community to provide more specific updates about how they will operationalize the new leadership structure, Price added.

Their partnership will be informed by the recommendations of a consultative committee that recently worked on behalf of the Office of the University President to seek expert input and advice regarding the new Duke Health leadership structure.

“I am grateful to the members of the consultative committee, as well as the individuals they interviewed, for their valuable perspectives and thoughtful guidance,” Price said. “I am confident that, with Mary joining my leadership team as Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, we will be well positioned to meet the challenges and realize the opportunities ahead, and I hope you will join me in congratulating her on her appointment.”

Congratulations, Dr. Klotman!

TAVR Procedures Added to DUH Cath Lab; Lead Extractions to EP Lab

Congratulations to our interventional teams! The first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure to be conducted in the Duke University Hospital Cath Lab occurred on Wednesday. We are incredibly excited to celebrate this milestone and all those who made it possible.

A multidisciplinary team of TAVR cardiologists and surgeons, cath lab nurses and CV invasive specialists, anesthesiologists and CRNAs, members of Duke Heart’s Center of Excellence, Cardiac Diagnostic staff, Cardiac OR and Cath schedulers, CVSSU and 7West nurses, Heart APPs and operational leaders met weekly for months to map and test workflows, and performed dry runs in preparation for this day, according to Jill Engel, VP for Duke Heart Services.

“It is a really exciting time for our patients that are presenting now for TAVR because with the addition of the procedural space in the cath labs being able to perform TAVR safely for them we’re able to get them in quicker, said Anna Mall, MSN, Assistant Nurse Manager, Adult Cardiac Cath Lab.

Mall says the Duke team had been seeing patient volume that exceeded the capacity of the current traditional TAVR process that is done in the OR. By adding the ability for the cath lab team to do these procedures on patients who are at low-risk for their TAVR procedure will allow patients to move through the care system faster, so they can get the care that they need quicker – which is important for this patient population.

“Although there may be other cath labs within NC with the capability to perform low-risk TAVRs,  I think what sets Duke apart from other facilities is that now we have a greater ability to care for the patients that have complex needs and require the high-risk TAVR procedure in the OR, as well as the space for patients that are low-risk, as well,” Mall says. “We can be more all-encompassing now in our approach to ensuring that we’re able to care for any patient in need of TAVR in the most equitable way possible.”

To create a successful foundation for the discussions that began earlier this year, an interdisciplinary team of leaders was called together. By engaging different stakeholders from across the clinical space and the IT space, the team was able to get everyone on the same page to make sure that all of the processes for outpatient visits, the inpatient procedure, and transfer to the inpatient unit were all addressed.

“Major kudos to the entire Duke Heart Cath lab team for their tremendous effort as part of our commitment to expand services for patients. This initiative, led by Dr. Andrew Wang and Anna Mall, was masterfully planned and executed, said Engel. “This expansion of TAVR procedures to the Cath Lab demonstrates the tremendous skill and dedication of the entire team that makes Duke Heart a great place for our patients, families and staff.”

Great expertise from a talented multidisciplinary Duke Heart team is ensuring our patients can navigate cardiovascular care without major roadblocks.

“Our team was incredibly committed to getting this done for the patients. So much work went on behind the scenes to enhance how quickly patients can come for care to Duke. With this team and creating this process, the patients were completely at the center of everything that we did; everyone talked about ‘how can we improve care for the patients,’” Mall added.
“The process was amazing – the team was amazing – everyone working together to get this done. And then to see it in action this week and for it to go off so smoothly was an incredible testament to everyone’s contributions. The engagement of our teams is such a strong suit here at Duke Heart.”

Shown here are members of our cath lab recovery team, L-R: Mackenzie Sbashnig, Grace Eckler, Caroline Jenkins, and Anna Mall:

Great teamwork! L-R:  J.D. Serfas, MD; Brad Cash, CVIS; Jeff Gaca, MD; Dylan Skiscim, RN; Todd Kiefer, MD; Gordon Pusateri, RN; Cassidy Johnson, RCIS; Wanda Cooley, CVIS; Seth Hanson, CRNA; Kevin Yardley, RN; Andrew Wang, MD; Crosby Culp, MD; Anna Mall, RN, and Miriam Nguyen, RN.

And, in another great example of multidisciplinary teamwork in Duke Heart, we’ve formally added laser lead extraction capability in the EP Labs at DUH.

Due to the increasing volume of patients we are seeing in need of laser lead extractions, we’ve developed a process to identify low-risk candidates in need of laser lead extraction through a partnership across our electrophysiology, CT surgery and cardiac anesthesiology teams. Together, they developed a protocol and policy to permit low-risk laser lead extractions to occur in the electrophysiology lab. Traditionally, laser lead extractions are done in the Hybrid OR with perfusion and CT surgery on standby, said Shawn Johnson, nurse manager for adult cath/EP and the Short Stay Unit. “This addition expands the EP lab’s ability to serve a broader patient base.”

To qualify as a low-risk patient case, the individual would require an infection as the primary indicator for the lead extraction; a prior sternotomy; an implant dwell-time of less than five years; no high-risk CT scan findings, and agreement between CT surgery and electrophysiology to proceed as a low-risk candidate.

Amazing job, everyone! Congratulations to all!

 

Graduating IC Fellows, Structural Fellow Celebrated!

Our Duke Interventional Cardiology Fellowship graduates and Structural Heart Fellowship grad were celebrated at our annual End-of-Year dinner for them on Thursday evening, June 29, at The Rooftop of the Durham Hotel in downtown Durham. It was another wonderful evening of accolades and reminiscing! We wish each of our fellows the best as they transition as follows:

• Caitlin Drescher, MD, who is entering into private practice with Prisma Health Carolina Cardiology Consultants.
• D. Serfas, MD, who is joining the faculty at the University of Kansas and Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
• Doosup Shin, MD, who will enter research/advanced fellowship at Saint Francis Hospital in Roslyn, NY.
• Zachary Wegermann, MD, is joining the Duke Heart faculty. He was out of town and missed the dinner, unfortunately, but we celebrated him nonetheless!

Congratulations, Caitlin, J.D., Doosup, and Zach!

Barnes Inducted into AAHFN

Congratulations to Stephanie Barnes, MSN, AGPCNP-C, CHFN, PCCN, Clinical Director for Advanced Heart Failure Services here at Duke! She was inducted to the Board of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN) during the annual meeting of the AAHFN held this weekend in Boston. Barnes has chaired the annual meeting for the past two years; she will serve a four-year term with the Board.

“She represents the best of Duke’s Heart Failure team,” said Robert Mentz, MD, section chief for Heart Failure. “She’s a national leader in HF and we’re proud of her leadership.”

Way to go, Stephanie!

 

Palma, Swaminathan Recognized at ASE

Congratulations to Richie Palma, Director of the Duke Cardiac

Ultrasound Certificate Program   and Madhav Swaminathan, MD cardiothoracic anesthesiologist, for their well-deserved recognition at the 2023 American Society of Echocardiography Scientific Sessions, held June 23-26 in National Harbor, MD. Palma received ASE’s Cardiovascular Sonographer Distinguished Teacher Award, while Swaminathan received their Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Echocardiography Award.

Congratulations! We’re so proud of you both and glad to have you on the Duke team!

 

Fox to Serve as Clinical Nurse Specialist, Effective July 3, 2023

 Duke Heart is pleased to announce that Allison Fox, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, PCCN will become Clinical Nurse Specialist for the DUH Heart Stepdown Units, Cardiac Diagnostic Unit, and Cardiac MRI effective Monday, July 3. As Clinical Nurse Specialist, she will collaborate across Heart Services to identify patient care problems, implement approaches to these problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of the approaches.

Allison joined the Duke Heart team in 2018 as a Clinical Nurse I on the DUH Cardiology Stepdown Unit, 7100.  During her time at Duke, Allison advanced to a Clinical Nurse III, served as a preceptor, charge nurse, diabetes champion, Tikosyn champion, and on the Orientation Committee. In 2021, Allison transferred to the Adult Cardiac Electrophysiology Lab. Allison is also a member of Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS). Allison serves on the graduate education committee of the NACNS.

Allison earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from George Mason University in 2018 and a Master of Science in Nursing- Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist from East Carolina University in 2023. Her credentials include Progressive Care Certified Nurse and Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist.

Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Allison to her new role!

 

Dial Named ANM for Adult Cath Lab

We are pleased to announce Rebecca Dial, RN as the new Assistant Nurse Manager of the Adult Cath Lab here at Duke University Hospital. Rebecca has worked in the Cath Lab at DUH since 2020 and previously served as a Charge Nurse.  Please welcome Rebecca to our HC Leadership Team!

Congrats, Rebecca!

 

 

 

 

Mall Named Clinical Nurse Specialist, Effective July 3, 2023

Duke Heart is pleased to announce that Anna Mall, MSN, APRN, ACCNS-AG, CCRN, CNL will become Clinical Nurse Specialist for the DUH Heart Center effective Monday, July 3, 2023. As Clinical Nurse Specialist, she will collaborate with Heart ICUs, Invasive Labs, CVSSU, and Patient Response Program to drive practice changes throughout the organization, and ensure the use of best practices and evidence-based care to achieve positive patient outcomes.

Anna joined the Duke Heart team in 2014 as a Clinical Nurse III in the Adult Cardiac Cath Lab. She has served in the department as the Assistant Nurse Manager since 2019. She leads the department’s Cath Lab Nursing Research Group and serves as a Principal Investigator on several study teams. Anna is highly engaged in the American Association of Critical Care Nursing as a member of the Clinical Advisory Workgroup. She is also a member of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists.

Anna earned a Diploma in Nursing from Watts School of Nursing in 2008 and a Master of Science in Nursing – Health Care Systems from UNC Chapel Hill in 2019. She then earned a Post-Masters Certificate – Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist from East Carolina University in May 2023.

Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Anna to her new role!

 

MURDOCK Samples Accelerate Heart Failure Discovery

The ease and speed of obtaining samples and data from a groundbreaking community-based biorepository at Duke Kannapolis helped to accelerate a recent heart failure discovery by Duke researchers.

A Duke Pathology research team led by Salvatore Vincent Pizzo, MD, PhD used biospecimens and more than 13 years of corresponding data from 690 MURDOCK Study participants to determine that serum pro‐N‐cadherin is an early marker of heart failure. The discovery has the potential to identify patients who would benefit from intervention before they show signs of disease, as reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) is making thousands of biospecimens and associated clinical outcomes data available to all Duke researchers through the MURDOCK Biorepository Transformation Initiative. Duke Kannapolis is part of the CTSI and directed by Svati H. Shah, MD, MHS.

With just a few clicks, a data exploration tool developed by CTSI enables Duke investigators to easily explore the 12,526-participant longitudinal cohort based in Kannapolis and encompassing Cabarrus County. The MURDOCK storefronts summarize data and samples at a glance.

“The demographics and outcomes of the participants over time is critical, and that is what sets MURDOCK apart from other biorepositories,” said Paul Ferrell, who manages Pizzo’s lab and quantified the new biomarker. “We would not have been able to correlate the biomarker with any meaning if we didn’t have that downstream outcome data.”

Tapping into the MURDOCK Biorepository

About a year ago, preliminary research indicated the protein could be a marker for heart failure. Pizzo’s team needed to expand their study and reached out to Duke Kannapolis, hoping to accelerate their research by tapping into the MURDOCK biorepository.

“Our goal was to understand the role of the biomarker effectively and rigorously without waiting a decade for a new, prospective study to accumulate years of data,” Pizzo said. “MURDOCK already had thousands of samples and years of follow-up, saving us an incredible amount of time while delivering the same level of rigorous data collection. The responsiveness of Duke Kannapolis saved us even more time.”

Total time from completing a brief interest form to the conclusion of the study was six months. By comparison, requesting and receiving samples from other biorepositories can take up to two years.

“MURDOCK has been the springboard,” said Kristi Oristian, the postdoctoral research consultant on the team. “We asked a question about the predictive nature of how something might work in the future, but we answered it using previously collected samples and data showing how health has changed over time, thanks to MURDOCK participants who had been completing annual follow-up for years.”

Next Steps

With the publication of the discovery, the research has drawn interest from collaborators and venture capitalists. The team’s next steps include repeating their initial findings in a different population, with additional techniques and a clinical approach.

Ultimately, they want to bring the biomarker to market and see it used in clinics and hospitals. The test for the biomarker is easy to administer and easy to understand, reducing the reliance on specialized equipment or expertise.

“Right now, there is no established community screening for heart failure,” Oristian said. “There are biomarkers that catch it at a later stage, but we are talking about detection well before people start to show symptoms.”

Duke Kannapolis provided Pizzo’s team with two cohorts from the MURDOCK Study. The participants all reported no heart failure when they enrolled in MURDOCK, and the two groups had very similar comorbidities and demographics. The participants who eventually suffered heart failure had the elevated biomarker. Those who never developed heart failure did not.

“It’s really important for us to see that against a background of common American comorbidities like high blood pressure and obesity, the biomarker was able to add additional predictive value to identify the folks who would develop heart failure,” Oristian said.

Providing More Evidence

Using such closely matched cohorts provided more evidence that the biomarker is an independent predictor of heart failure, Ferrell added.

“They have such a large amount of MURDOCK data and samples that they were able to match the cohort of people who did not develop heart failure with those who did,” Ferrell said. “That was a lot of the difficult work that Duke Kannapolis completed and then provided to us.”

The MURDOCK Biorepository Transformation Initiative makes thousands of biospecimens and associated clinical outcome data available to all Duke researchers. Investigators should complete this brief interest form as a first step toward.

 

Duke Statement Re: Affirmative Action Ruling

As you are aware, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions plans at Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill, citing a 14th Amendment violation. The decision will undercut long-standing admissions policies at colleges and universities across the U.S. that use race as one of many factors in evaluating applicants.

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Vincent E. Price, president of Duke University, stated:

“Duke’s position continues to be that diversity is absolutely vital to our educational mission—everyone in our community, and the work they do, benefits from differing perspectives, opinions, and life experiences. We remain steadfastly committed to cultivating a racially and socially equitable Duke to the fullest extent permitted by the law. Over the coming weeks we will review the decision closely and determine what, if any, changes need to be made to our admission processes. We have already been planning for the many potential procedural implications. As this process unfolds, we remain committed to doing everything we can to foster a vibrant and diverse academic community.”

 

 

Shout-out to Clinic 2F/2G

A big shout-out to our team members in Clinic 2F/2G for taking time to support Pride Month at Duke Health! We have a diverse community throughout the Triangle and within Duke Health and Duke Heart – it takes all of us, together, to provide amazing care to our patients – thanks for having pride in each other.

Shown L-R are: Quivetta, Pat, Susan, Joey, Anna, Julie, Carolyn, Claire, Teressa, Chelsea, and Hannah of our 2F/2G care team.

Way to go!

Quick Reminders & Updates

“Real Talk” Year-in-Review: In the latest episode of the Real Talk video series, Craig Albanese, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, DUHS, reflects on all that we’ve been through together. His message of gratitude highlights some of our greatest achievements and innovations over the past year. To view the recording, please visit: https://duke.is/m/jy94.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Cardiology Grand Rounds is on hiatus for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall!

Watch this space for dates and times of upcoming CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conferences starting next weekend.

Duke SOM Call for Applications: Restorative Justice Pilot Program

The Office for Faculty, in partnership with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, is now accepting applications for a pilot program that will provide training and support for implementation of Restorative Justice interventions in the School of Medicine. Restorative Justice (RJ) is an ethical framework that focuses on building community by living our shared values of respect, honesty, responsibility, empathy, and inclusivity. RJ has its roots in indigenous traditions, which uphold the belief that people are interconnected and that focus on the role of community. Restorative practices can create the environment necessary for building and sustaining relationships, maintaining shared accountability, repairing damage caused by harmful behaviors, and ultimately improving team culture.

About the program: Pilot participants will take part in an intensive RJ training program in fall 2023. Working with their teams and with support from experienced RJ practitioners, participants will develop and implement restorative interventions within their individual units in spring 2024. Participants will become part of a longitudinal learning community of individuals interested in exploring the use of restorative practices in the School of Medicine to shape culture and improve well-being. Participation will require significant time, including in-person classroom training sessions and asynchronous reading and reflection. There will be no charge to the participants or departments that participate. Participants will receive a stipend for participation and completion of activities.

Who should apply: Applications should come from groups of 2-4 faculty and staff from the same organizational unit (department, division, program, etc.) within the School of Medicine. All applicants must have the support of their manager/leader and be able to commit to attending all training dates in person (view dates).

 

Selection Criteria:

• Team members have a demonstrated commitment to improving institutional culture and climate within the unit, including diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
• Team collectively has enough capacity, reach and local support to implement RJ practices within the unit.
• Potential ideas for the application of RJ within the organizational unit.
• Faculty and staff representation where possible
• Senior leadership support, including a statement confirming protected time for participants to attend all training sessions and participate in evaluation activities. The letter should confirm support for participants’ implementation efforts in the spring and address likely receptivity of the local unit to restorative interventions/mindset.The letter must be signed by the department chair or division chief for faculty applicants, and the manager(s) for staff applicants.

 

Evaluation: 

Because this project is a pilot, program evaluators expect participants to provide feedback about their experience. 

Complete program information and application details are available online: https://medschool.duke.edu/shifting-paradigm-restorative-justice-framework-workforce-well-being

Applications are due August 7. 

Questions? Contact Jessica Schonberg, MEd, Director of Educational Programs in the Office for Faculty, at jessica.schonberg@duke.edu

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. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

Duke Heart in the News:

June 23 — Adam DeVore

tctMD

Global Numbers Paint Grim Picture of GDMT Uptake, Costs, and HF Outcomes

https://duke.is/w/sp7g

June 23 — Adam DeVore

News & Observer

Duke researchers say new heart transplant method could expand donor pool by 30%

https://duke.is/j/8y8j

June 23 — Robert Mentz

Medpage Today

ARNI Again Shows Modest Benefits in HF With Mid-Range EF

https://duke.is/b/j768

June 25 — Jacob Schroder and Jason Banner

CBS Eye On America

Revolutionary technology is making more heart transplants possible

https://duke.is/n/nmnn

June 26 — Neha Pagidipati

AJMC

Coordinated Care Significantly Improves Treatment Quality for Patients With T2D, Heart Disease

https://duke.is/y/pqbp

June 27 — Lynne Koweek (Radiology)

Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology

SCCT Issues New Expert Consensus, Provides Multi-society Update to Cardiac CT Medical Terminology

https://duke.is/r/ucxr

June 27 — Neha Pagidipati and Christopher Granger

Medpage Today

Protocol Optimizing Meds for T2D and CVD Pushed Beyond Cardiology Alone

https://duke.is/5/3eu9

June 27 — Neha Pagidipati

docwirenews

Multidisciplinary Approach Improves Care for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease

https://duke.is/6/c4c6

June 28 — Nishant Shah

Healio/Cardiology

Ezetimibe did not increase diabetes risk in IMPROVE-IT substudy

https://duke.is/p/rt4b

June 30 — Duke/NUS CVMD Program

Lab & Life Scientist (AU)

Stem cell-based regenerative therapy to treat heart failure

https://duke.is/7/nfq5