Highlights of the week:
Duke Again Captures GWTG Awards Across Categories for CV Care
Duke Heart & Vascular expertise and care has again led to recognition awards from the American Heart Association. We have recently been notified of Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) awards for excellence in quality for data collected from 1/1/2023 to 12/31/2024.
For Duke University Hospital:
- Get With The Guidelines®-AFib Gold
- GWTG Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Receiving Center – Silver Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
- GWTG Coronary Artery Disease NSTEMI – Gold with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
- GWTG Heart Failure — Gold Plus with Target: Heart Failure Optimal and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
For Duke Raleigh Hospital:
- GWTG Heart Failure Gold Plus with Target: Heart Failure Optimal and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Finally, Duke University Hospital has also been awarded the AHA’s 2025 Commitment to Quality award. This is the first year for this special award level — recognizing an elite group of hospitals having reached achievement level in three or more Get With The Guidelines® modules. Only 158 sites in the nation met the criteria for this award.
Way to go, team!!!
MAGNITUDE Trial Lifts off at Duke
Congratulations to our Precision Cardiomyopathy team! This week, they dosed their first research participant in the MAGNITUDE trial for patients with heart failure due to transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). The study, sponsored by Intellia Therapeutics, utilizes CRISPR technology to inactivate the amyloid gene.
Ravi Karra, MD, MHS, and Michel Khouri, MD, are serving as the co-principal investigators for the Duke site. MAGNITUDE is a multinational, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, and Duke is one of the few centers in the southeastern U.S. participating.
A longer story on this exciting development will appear next month.
Kester Named to NC Great 100
Congratulations to Kelly Kester, DNP, senior nursing director with Duke Heart & Vascular! Kester has been named to the NC Great 100 Nurses for 2025. She is one of five Duke nurses who made this year’s list. The others are Melinda Busi and Kathy Sandel with Duke Regional Hospital; Derrick Glymph with Duke School of Nursing; and Blaise Nieve with Duke University Hospital.
Those named to the NC Great 100 exemplify excellence in nursing practice, leadership, and service — they will be honored at the 37th Annual NC Great 100 Gala on October 11 at The Maxwell Center in Goldsboro.
Well deserved, Kelly!
Successful JC VAD Visit
The Joint Commission visit this past week to review and reaccredit our Ventricular Assist Device program was a success! The Joint Commission is a major accrediting body for VAD programs, particularly for destination therapy VADs.
We had a successful visit with no findings. Many thanks to the teams who worked hard to prepare for the visit, to those who remained regulatory-ready, and to the leadership, faculty, and staff who participated in the survey itself.
Great job, all!
Protecting Patients’ Access to Duke Health
In a message shared with all Duke Health team members this week, Tom Owens, MD, COO of DUHS, and Lisa Goodlett, CFO of DUHS, announced the following:
Duke Health has relationships with health insurance companies, including Cigna, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, and more. As a responsible care provider, we regularly assess these contracts and negotiate with insurance providers to secure fair agreements that protect our patients’ access to Duke Health and appropriately reimburse us for the expert, complex care only we can provide.
We are currently negotiating a new agreement with Aetna to support these goals. If we are unable to reach a fair agreement, our contract with Aetna will end on Monday, October 20, and Duke Health will be considered out-of-network for patients with Aetna insurance. This may result in higher out-of-pocket costs for patients with Aetna insurance and may even force patients to find a new clinician that is included in Aetna’s network.
This negotiation will not impact Duke employees. Duke medical plans are managed under a separate Aetna agreement that is not included in the current negotiations.
While we hope to have an agreement with Aetna by Monday, October 20, we will begin communicating with patients about the ongoing negotiations soon. Our goal is to ensure patients experience minimal disruption throughout this process and continue to receive care from our incredible teams. We understand the outcome of this negotiation may impact some of our current processes, including scheduling, and how we support continuity of care. We will keep you updated with current information every step of the way.
Your Role in Supporting Patients
Our patients may have questions about the negotiation with Aetna. Please assure patients that nothing changes prior to Monday, October 20, and use this resource and FAQ page to support your conversations and direct patients to the following resources:
- To speak with a representative: 919-620-4555 or 800-782-69
- To review additional information: org
Thank you for everything you do for our patients, our teams, and the communities we serve every day.
Thompson Named ACNO, DUH; Craft Named AVP, Ambulatory Nursing & Patient Care
Chantal Howard, Chief Nursing & Patient Care Services Officer for Duke University Hospital (DUH) this week announced that Amanda Thompson, MHA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, has joined the Duke Health team and been named the new Associate Chief Nursing Officer for DUH. She will support Med-Surg and Critical Care Services, Neurosciences, Musculoskeletal and Emergency Services.
Thompson brings more than 30 years of progressive nursing leadership experience spanning inpatient, procedural, and critical care environments. Her most recent roles include serving as Chief Nursing Officer at Advocate Health – Atrium Stanly and Executive Director of Heart & Vascular, Critical Care and Surgical Services at Wake Med. She is recognized for her ability to drive clinical excellence, lead large teams, and foster strong collaboration across disciplines. Her track record in advancing quality, operational performance, and workforce engagement makes her an exceptional addition to our nursing leadership team.
Howard this week also expressed her deep gratitude to Dawn Craft, DNP, RN, NE-BC, who has recently been named Assistant Vice President for Ambulatory Nursing and Patient Care Services. Craft’s impact on inpatient and ambulatory nursing operations at DUH has been profound, Howard said in her announcement, adding that “we are fortunate to continue benefiting from her leadership in her new role during a critical time of growth.”
Welcome to Duke, Amanda, and congratulations, Dawn!
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Duke Heart Fall CMEs
The Duke Cardiac Imaging Symposium is scheduled for Saturday, October 4, 2025. It will be held in the Trent Semans Center.
Our 2025 agenda features expert-led sessions on updated ASE guidelines, coronary artery disease evaluation, strain imaging in cardiomyopathies, tricuspid valve disease, cardiac POCUS, and technical skills development through hands-on breakout sessions.
To register, please visit https://events.duke.edu/DukeCIS2025.
The 17th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium will take place on Friday, October 31, 2025, at the Durham Convention Center.
Our 2025 symposium will include clinically challenging presentations, including CTD-PAH, CPPC PH, CTEPH, PH associated with ILD, COPD, portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH), and PH in end-stage renal disease. All will be addressed through interactive lectures and robust case-based discussions.
To register, please visit: https://events.duke.edu/17PH2025.
Have news to share?
If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please 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:
July 17 — Joseph Turek
Popular Science
Surgeons develop 2 ways to ‘restart’ hearts without a donor’s body
July 17 — Joseph Turek
Becker’s Hospital Review
Duke Health surgeons perform world’s 1st on-table infant heart reanimation
July 18 — Ashley Ward (Nicholas Institute)
JAMA Medical News
Why Capturing Heat-Related Illness in the Medical Record Matters More Than Ever
July 18 — Christina Cui and Dawn Coleman
Vascular Specialist
‘Parenthood in vascular surgery a personal choice, not a professional deadline’
July 19 — Nishant Shah
Good Housekeeping
When Is the Best Time to Take Low-Dose Aspirin — Morning or Night?
July 19 — Branson Whitaker (peds heart patient) and Duke Children’s
WTVD/ABC 11
8-year-old patient who has spent time in Duke Hospital pays it forward
July 20 — Joseph Turek
Science Alert
Surgeons Resuscitate ‘Dead’ Heart in Life-Saving Organ Transplant to Baby
July 22 — Marat Fudim
HCP Live
GLP-1 RAs in Heart Failure and Patient Monitoring, with Marat Fudim, MD
July 23 — Duke Health
Becker’s ASC Review
July 24 — Sana Al-Khatib
Medscape
Everyone Deserves a Shot at the American Dream: Sinus Rhythm
