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Duke Heart Pulse — October 15, 2023

By Tracey Koepke in Uncategorized on October 15, 2023.

Highlights of the week:

HFSA 2023 Highlights

The heart failure community gathered in Cleveland, OH last weekend for the HFSA Annual Scientific Meeting (Oct. 6-9). The program was action-packed with leading science being presented by Duke fellows, APPs, faculty, and many more. A special shout-out to Mike Felker who is now President-Elect leading up to next year’s meeting in Atlanta!

Notable highlights from Duke presenters:

Work by Karen Flores, Han Kim, and Ravi Karra, et al on CMR in genetic cardiomyopathies was presented by all-star med student Kyla Brezitski.
Kyla Brezitski
Joey Harrington presented a rapid-fire LBCT update on troponin changes in PARAGLIDE.
Marat Fudim and Rob Mentz had LBCT presentations on REBALANCE-HF and PARAGLIDE+PIONEER, respectively.
Senthil Selvaraj presented in a spotlight session on targeted metabolic profiling with Dapa in HFpEF (with Svati Shah as senior author) – this session also highlighted work by Joey and Marat.
Johana Fajardo served as an advisory committee member and moderator for a high-yield session on cardiac amyloidosis.
Steve “GDMT” Greene led a number of sessions on optimal medical therapy in HF, including talks on SGLT2i and how to take Theory into Practice.
Stephanie Barnes moderated a session on engaging CV team members in clinical trials and quality initiatives and spoke during a session on managing congestion in HF.
Mike Felker presented endpoint considerations during a special FDA session on subgroups in HF clinical trials.
Jason Katz opened a fantastic shock management session with a talk on how to identify and risk stratify patients with cardiogenic shock. He also competed in the CPET challenge fundraiser – and ranked in the top 3!!
Adam DeVore helped close out the meeting with an exceptional talk on the practical adaptation of GDMT in patients at high risk for adverse events.

Duke team members were also prominently positioned during various plenary sessions, Journal of Cardiac Failure activities, and speed mentoring.

Another highlight was a Heart Failure Collaboratory gathering to recognize Distinguished Leadership Award recipient Chris O’Connor, which celebrates a leader in education and mentorship within the field of heart failure. Chris has been a made seminal contributions to the field of Heart Failure, mentor to many at Duke, and continues to be a north star for the field of cardiology in our evidence generation and clinical practice.

Perhaps the biggest highlight was coming together, in person, as a Heart Failure community and reconnecting with many of our former Duke faculty and fellows!

The 2023 Triangle Heart Walk is a Wrap!

Thank you to everyone who joined us to support the American Heart Association (AHA) 2023 Triangle Heart Walk last weekend. The weather was beautiful – an ideal day for a walk! Nearly 10,000 walkers attended the event, which raised just over $1.8 million. Special thanks to Chris Granger for taking the podium to speak on behalf of Duke Health!

Overall, we had 1,513 walkers representing Duke Health and our teams collectively raised $162,777 for our AHA partners. Shown here are a number of our team members, including Chris Granger, Jill Engel, Sarah Snow, CDU team members Lynda Metcalf, Juliette Eck, Emily Deason, Sarah Hatton, Brenda Sedberry, Ashlee Davis, and Jeff Federspiel from Duke Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

We are proud of you, and all of our Heart Walk teams, for your fundraising efforts this year. Thank you!

Celebrating Physician Assistants

Thank you to all of our incredible physician assistants (PA) throughout Duke Heart! Last week was National Physician Assistant Week (October 6-12), which recognizes the PA profession and the many contributions they make to the health of the nation. It’s a time for all of us to recognize the tremendous role they play in healthcare throughout Duke Health.

Did you know there are 168,300 certified PAs in the U.S. caring for more than 9 million patients a week with 514 million annual patient encounters? Or that the PA profession was launched right here at Duke?

As highly skilled team members and healthcare leaders, PAs provide exceptional patient care in virtually all health care specialties and settings. PAs are pivotal in the health care delivery within our service line and across the Duke Health enterprise, serving in critical roles throughout clinical care, medical education, health administration, leadership, and research.

We are deeply grateful for the dedication and contributions our Duke Heart PAs make each and every day.

Flu Vaccination Reminder!

Do you know what is better than a gorgeous autumn day in North Carolina? Not being sick with the flu.

Duke Health requires all employees to be vaccinated by 10 a.m. on Nov. 7 – just a few weeks away. If you need a medical/religious exemption, the application deadline for that is Oct. 24.

Duke offers free flu vaccinations in a variety of convenient locations. This week (Oct. 16-19), Duke University is offering a special influenza vaccination clinic for employees in the Moyle Board Room of the Karsh Alumni & Visitors Center – great parking (free for 30 mins!) and easy to find! Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Don’t forget to fill out the screening survey within 48 hours of going to get the vaccine at Duke. It’s required.

Duke’s Fight the Flu website has a list of locations, dates, and times for flu vaccination, and a link to the required screening survey. If you have any questions about the flu vaccine you can email either StopTheFlu@duke.edu or EOHWflu@dm.duke.edu.

Don’t forget — masking is highly recommended when providing clinical care. Some units now require masking due to COVID outbreaks — including all Heart Center inpatient and procedural units. Please pay attention to signage on our units and elsewhere within the hospital.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

This week, October 15-22, is Healthcare Quality Week.
October is Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month as well as National Pharmacists Month.
Masking is strongly recommended throughout all clinical areas during respiratory virus season, from now through early March.

Cardiology Grand Rounds

Oct. 17: Revascularization for Ischemic Cardiomyopathy: Can We Reconcile the Randomized Trials? with Bernard Gersh. 5 p.m. DN 2002 or via Zoom.

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

Oct. 18: Topic TBD. In-person only. Noon, DMP 2W96.

Medicine Grand Rounds

Oct. 20: Stepping in 4 Respect: Upstander Training Nationally and at Duke University with John Duronville, Margaret Plews-Ogan, and Gregory Clarke-Townsend. 8 a.m., DN 2002 or via Zoom.

Call for Applications: 2024 Leadership Programs

The Office for Faculty announced this week the call for applications for their 2024 Leadership Programs, including ADVANCE-UP, ALICE, DCLP, and LEADER. Click here to learn more. Applications are due Nov. 3.

DIHI Innovation RFA 2024

The Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI) has announced their next annual Request for Application (RFA) for selecting and implementing innovative solutions in our clinical enterprise. The proposals should address actual and important problems encountered by care providers, patients, and their loved ones, and represent urgent health challenges nationally.

For the 2024 funding cycle, they are specifically interested in the following topic:

Generative AI & Large Language Models: AI solutions to improve staff and clinician efficiency, patient journey, and outcomes

Please visit the Innovation RFA web page for additional information, to download an info packet, and to see the timeline for 2024 projects. The deadline for submitting applications is November 3, 2023.

All proposals are required to have a DUHS operational lead as a co-sponsor to be accepted for review.

If the DIHI team can be of any assistance to you in the formulation of ideas or connections, please contact Suresh Balu. The DIHI team looks forward to your innovative solutions!

Register Now: 15^th Annual 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. Registration is now open: https://duke.is/9/7rs5. Please join 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. Submissions by Noon, on Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.

Duke Heart in the News:

October 5 — Stephen Greene

Medscape

The How and Why of Quad Therapy in Reduced-EF Heart Failure

https://duke.is/8/txw2

October 5 — Amanda Craig (Obstetrics & Gynecology)

Medscape

History of Heart Transplant Tied to Worse Pregnancy Outcome

https://duke.is/c/vmfm

October 5 — Stephen Greene

HCP Live

Heart Failure Society of America 2023 Annual Meeting Preview, with Steve Greene, MD