Home » Uncategorized » Duke Heart Pulse — December 8, 2024

Duke Heart Pulse — December 8, 2024

By Tracey Koepke in Uncategorized on December 8, 2024.

Chief’s message: Fellows Match and Holiday Gatherings

This last week we had our cardiology fellow match and were excited to welcome our new star fellows to our Cardiology group. We matched 10 amazing people from around the country and we are excited for them to join our group. We also had a few holiday celebrations that included the ability to take a moment to recognize the work of the year, the tremendous people we get to work with, and the mission we continue to advance on discovering and caring for our community to improve cardiovascular health. As we spend the next few weeks getting ready for the holidays – I want to thank all of our team members that will be covering holiday shifts and ensuring we keep our community well.

Some photos of the heart center Holiday Party included here (one from the photo booth)

Highlights of the week:

2025 Incoming Fellows Announced

We are delighted to share our 10 cardiovascular disease fellowship matches with you! The following class of trainees will join us in July 2025.

Harriet Akunor, MD — residency at Albert Einstein.

Krunal Amin, MD — residency at Duke.

Verda Arshad, MD — residency at the University of Cincinnati

Dorothy Avoke, MD — residency at Johns Hopkins

Alex Gunn, MD — residency at Duke.

Yoo Jin Kim, MD — residency at Johns Hopkins

Chad Kloefkorn, MD — residency at Baylor

Rebecca Steinberg, MD — residency at Emory

Jonathan Taylor-Fishwick, MD — residency at the University of Colorado

Marcus Threadcraft, MD — residency at Vanderbilt

Thank you to our faculty and fellows for recruiting this fantastic class of trainees!

The following fellowship programs will also welcome their newest trainees in July 2025:

Advanced Heart Failure fellowship:

Aubrie Carroll, MD — transitioning from Duke CVD fellowship
Merna Hussien, MD — joining us from MedStar Health/Georgetown
Mark Kittipibul, MD — transitioning from Duke CVD Research Pathway

Interventional Cardiology fellowship:

Nathan Goodwin, MD — transitioning from CVD fellowship
Priya Roy, MD — joining us from Ohio State
Manasi Tannu, MD — transitioning from CVD Research Pathway

Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology fellowship:

Andrew Andreae, MD
Sara Coles, MD
Anthony Lin, MD
Belal Suleiman, MD

Each of the above is moving into CCE fellowship from our CVD fellowship program.

Please join us in congratulating all of our trainees and in welcoming those who will be new to Duke!

Kudos to Champion and Narcisse!

Anna Lisa Chamis, MD received the following message this week regarding our fellows, Drs. Cosette Champion and Dennis Narcisse:

“In the spirit of gratitude, I would like to thank two of your fellows for going above and beyond to help patients this evening.

Dr. Cosette Champion came immediately to evaluate a patient I was concerned about and was thoughtful in her recommendations.

Dr. Dennis Narcisse came in from home to assist with a situation that was not necessarily his responsibility but he did the right thing for the patient.

I am grateful for them and they deserve to know it!” — Suchita Shah Sata, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke Hospital Medicine Programs

Way to go, Cosette and Dennis!!!

CV Research Symposium Held in NYC

We reached out to Maria Price Rapoza, PhD regarding the Cardiovascular Research Symposium held Dec. 3-4 at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Cardiovascular Research Institute in New York City this past week.

“The Symposium was terrific,” Rapoza says. “Our colleagues at Cornell (led by Duke Cardiology faculty alums Geoff Pitt and Bob Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University) did a great job and it was good to hear the excellent science from more than 40 cardiovascular researchers based at Duke, Stanford, UPenn, and Cornell.

Our Duke CVRC contingent represented Duke Cardiology very well, including our newest faculty member Ching Zhu. It was also a real highlight of the event to hear Dr. Anthony Fauci’s talk; it was similar in content to the one he did at Duke a few months ago, but still a wonderful experience.”

Rapoza also noted that it was unsettling to see how many security guards he requires when he is in public. Shown here is a view of NYC from the Helmsley Medical Tower. Speaker photos and event details can be found on the event website.

Next year’s symposium will be hosted by the Perelman School of Medicine and Penn Cardiovascular Institute in Philadelphia. When details become available, we will post them here in Pulse.

Holiday Gathering Held at Heritage Clinic

Many thanks to Maitreya Thakkar, MD for sharing photos of the Heritage Clinic cardiology team as they gathered for a holiday celebration this week!

We anticipate sharing additional holiday gathering photos from across our Duke Heart teams next weekend. If you’re hosting or attending a gathering, please consider sharing your photos with our Pulse readers!

Be The Match Event, Dec. 16

Please stop by our Be The Match event on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Duke University Hospital outside the Atrium Cafeteria. The event is to drive awareness and registry recruitment for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

Did you know that 70 percent of patients needing a blood stem cell transplant don’t have a fully matched donor in their family? They depend on the NMDP for help. Questions? Please contact Amanda Cooley at acooley2@nmdp.org.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Cardiology Grand Rounds

All Duke Cardiology Grand Rounds recordings are housed on Warpwire. To access recordings please visit:

2024 CGR Recordings

NET ID and password are required. Enjoy!

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

December 11: EP Conference with Vincent Delgado and Hubie Haywood. Noon, DMP 2W91.

December 13: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy with Andrew Wang. Noon, Zoom only.

December 18: DHP Conference with Hannah Schwennesen. Noon, DMP 7W70

December 20: HF/TXP with Seamus Hughes. Noon, Zoom only.

HFSA Seminar: What You Need to Know STAT! HF Stats

December 19, 2024 | 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET | Virtual Livestream; OnDemand to follow

Join the HFSA for an informative (free!) seminar, HFSA Heart Failure Seminar: What You Need to Know STAT! HF Stats, where leading experts delve into the latest trends and statistics on heart failure. This session is designed to provide the recent insights on heart failure incidence, mortality, hospitalizations, and treatment. Attendees will also gain a comprehensive understanding of the strategies HFSA is employing to address these trends and close critical gaps in care.

Mike Felker, MD will be a featured speaker! To learn more, please visit: https://hfsa.org/heart-failure-seminar-what-you-need-know-stat-hf-stats

2025 Duke Heart CMEs – Save the Dates!

The following CME activities, sponsored by Duke Heart, have been scheduled. Registration is not yet open, but stay tuned for additional information.

February 18, 2025: Remote Patient Care: A New Era in Cardiovascular Disease Management; 5:00-7:30pm Eastern on Zoom; will be free
April 26, 2025: Duke Structural Heart Symposium (live event at Trent Semans Center in Durham)
June 7, 2025: Duke Heart Failure Symposium (live event at Durham Convention Center in Durham)

These events are currently being planned for late 2025; dates have not yet been set:

October: Duke Cardiac Imaging Symposium (live event, location TBD)
November: 17th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium (live event, location TBD)

Reflect and Connect During the Holiday Season

The holiday season can be a busy, stressful, and isolating time for many. Duke Personal Assistance Service (PAS) is hosting three “Reflection and Connection” sessions that will use storytelling as a means of reducing stress and creating a stronger sense of connection with yourself and others.

The sessions will be held remotely via Zoom. Participants will be guided through practices of a mini-mental makeover and expressive writing to reflect and nurture empathy and a sense of meaning in response to stress – whether personal, professional, or related to current events or the stress and pressures (and joys) of the holiday season.

Writing exercises are for the sole use and benefit of participants, who are not required to share anything they write. Registration is required. You can attend any/all of the sessions offered.

Dates:

Tuesday, Dec. 17, from 4–5 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 14, from 4–5 p.m.

Register Here

Women’s Health Symposium – Feb. 21, 2025

Save the date! A women’s health symposium will be held on Feb. 21, 2025 in the Great Hall of the Trent Semans Center.

Organized by the Duke/NCCU BIRCWH Career Development Program, the Women’s Health Symposium “Scientific Meeting on All Aspects of Women’s Health and the Influence of Sex as a Biological Variable on Health Conditions” will be held on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 at the Trent Semans Center Great Hall. The featured speakers are Sharonne Hayes, MD, a cardiologist and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Cynthia Kuhn, PhD, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at the Duke University School of Medicine.

Featured events include an interactive session on navigating the “bumps” along your research path and a poster session. For more details about the event, or to register and submit your poster topic click here.

2025 Duke Safety & Quality Conference Date Announced

The Duke Safety & Quality Conference will be held on April 17, 2025. Abstracts are due Sunday, January 5, by 5 p.m.

Click here to learn more and to review the submission criteria.

Have news to share?

If you have news to share with the Pulse readership contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart & Vascular 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 team. Please call with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged. Submissions by Noon on Wednesdays will be considered for weekend inclusion.

Duke Heart in the News:

November 27 — Duke University Hospital (& Mani Daneshmand of Emory)

WAGA-TV (Fox/Atlanta)

Emory doctors first in U.S. to successfully perform new ‘experimental’ heart pump surgery

November 28 — Nishant Shah

NBC News

Who gets weight loss drugs covered by insurance? In North Carolina, being on Medicaid helps

November 29 — Joseph Turek & the Monroe family

WMC-TV (NBC/Memphis, TN)

Newborn Thriving After Breakthrough Surgery

November 30 — Manesh Patel

WPTF-AM (Raleigh)