Chief’s message: The Beat Goes On
Hopefully all you in our Duke Heart community have had a good week and weekend. This was a another busy week for Duke Heart with some strategic planning for the future, increasing integration of new physicians, and continued start of our fellows. I was struck over the week with the amazing efforts that our faculty, fellows, residents, research staff, and clinical team members are putting into responding to the challenges of making sure we deliver and grow our clinical care while doubling down on the teamwork to innovate and continue our research mission. As is often the case, organizations and groups come down to the people – and we are blessed to have some of the best people in the world in cardiovascular medicine and surgery. Over the next several weeks – we will work on highlight some of those academic studies and innovations that we are working to bring to light. Below in this weeks pulse – you will see the research awards for the month of July which highlights continued hard won projects that will allow us to better understand how to improve cardiovascular health. This includes some large multi-center awards and some key basic and translational science. Congratulations to our investigators and teams.
Finally, this week marked the first week back to school for many parents – and we had the bittersweet joy of sending off our youngest to college. It was an important moment for us to realize the village it takes for us all to raise young kids to adults and the future they will craft. Including a picture of some important literature on this topic from Dr. Seuss that seemed appropriate for the week – both with kids going to school and Duke Heart’s continue work in our community. Keep pulling!
Highlights of the week:
Duke Earns Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence Designation
We are pleased to announce that Duke has been designated as a World Association for Sarcoidosis and Other Granulamatous Disorders (WASOG)-recognized Center of Excellence! Our team was notified of the designation yesterday, August 23, 2025.
“This is a terrific acknowledgement for the sarcoid program that we have put to together at Duke over the past few years,” said Ravi Karra, MD, associate professor of medicine in cardiology and director of the Duke Cardiac Sarcoidosis program. “We have grown to be one of the largest cardiac sarcoidosis programs in the country. Being designated as a WASOG-recognized Center of Excellence for sarcoidosis affirms our commitment to delivering comprehensive, multidisciplinary care to patients living with this complex disease. It reflects the dedication of our team to advancing clinical excellence, fostering collaborative research, and improving outcomes through innovation. This recognition not only validates the quality of care we provide but also strengthens our role as a trusted referral center for providers and for patients navigating sarcoidosis.”
Founded in 1987, WASOG works to refine and optimize the care of patients through information, education, and state-of-the-art research, to advance the knowledge of physicians, and to stimulate the development of appropriate treatments. The association is focused on interstitial lung diseases including sarcoidosis, which require a multidisciplinary approach to care. Thus, WASOG encourages the involvement of not only pulmonary physicians, but cardiologists, dermatologists, neurologists, infectious disease specialists, hepatologists, geneticists, and hematologists.
Congratulations to our entire Precision Cardiomyopathy team – with special thanks to Jay Doss and Azfar Ali for developing the program with us; Johana Fajardo for improving our operations to meet WASOG standards of care; Martha Anders and Chrissie King for ensuring high quality, multi-disciplinary visits and keeping the clinic running as we have picked up steam.
Strong work, everyone!
Electronic Consents Available September 2025 for Duke Cardiology
Electronic consents will go live in September for all of cardiology across all three Duke hospitals. A committee that included clinical providers has worked hard to make electronic consents easy and user-friendly.
Starting on the respective go-live dates, a new cardiology consent tab (“Cardiology e-consent”) will appear in EPIC, similar to the notes and orders tab. A provider can open that tab and create a consent. The only boxes that will need to be filled out are the attending physician performing the procedure and the type of procedure; from there, all the keywording will be filled in, and then signatures can be obtained. Signatures can be obtained on a desktop, phone, or tablet.
Go-live dates will be as follows:
- September 8th — Duke Regional Hospital
- September 15 — Duke Raleigh Hospital
- September 22 — Duke University Hospital
On the go-live date for each hospital, there will be in-person training for the e-consent process as well as videos and a PDF handout. Stacey Brower and Lisa McDonald are taking the lead on training.
First APEX Trial Enrollment
Congratulations to the Heart Center CRU! They recruited their first patient into the APEX Study (A Study of TX000045 in Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary to Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction) this week.
The APEX Study is a RCT testing injectable chronic Relaxin therapy in HFpEF. If you have symptomatic HFpEF patients with a pulmonary artery pressure mean over 20mmHg please let the team know. Primary clinical research nurse coordinator is Erin Campo. Lacey Taylor, Todd McVeigh, Dan Loriaux, and Jemi Galani are study team members.
“This is a group effort — we have members of the cath lab perform the screening and the follow-up right heart catheterization,” said Fudim.
Shown L-R are Dan Loriaux, Marat Fudim, Erin Campo, Lacey Taylor, and Jemi Galani
Nice job, team!
Research Funding Awards for July 2025
Congratulations to the following faculty members for receiving the following sponsored research awards in July:
Gerald Bloomfield received an award from the American Heart Association for a project entitled “2025 International Visiting Professorship Award.” Total funding will be $10,000.
Stephen Greene received an award from the University of Texas-Southwestern for a project entitled “Post-Hoc Analysis of the TRANSFORM Trial.” Total funding will be $38,000.
Katherine I. Zhou (Mentor: Christopher Holley) received an award (1F32-CA306190-01) from the National Institutes of Health for a project entitled “Mechanisms of the small nucleolar RNA Snord67 in breast cancer lymphatic metastasis.” Total funding will be $87,964.
Schuyler Jones received a sub-award (RI-VUMC-01-PS10) through Vanderbilt University for a project entitled “Phase 4 Coordinating Center Services PFA: Engagement and Public Awareness Services.” Total funding will be $1,899,999.
Neha Pagidipati received an award (1UG3-HL181434-01) from the National Institutes of Health for a project entitled “1/2 PREEMPT: Prospective RandomizEd Evaluation and Management of Premature aTherosclerosis.” Total funding will be $3,886,403. (This is the 3rd or 4th U-grant with Cardiology leadership in the last 2 years – Amazing in this funding environment and true testament to the overall faculty talent and teams doing research).
Sudarshan Rajagopal received a sub-award () through the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus for a project entitled “Targeting the PAR1/IL-17 signaling axis in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.” Total funding will be $217,381.
Jennifer Rymer received a sub-award (1-UG3HL171357-01A1) through the DCRI-Duke-Site for a project entitled “Low dose ColchicinE in pAtients with peripheral artery DiseasE to address residual vascular Risk: A randomized trial.”
Industry-Sponsored Awards
Richa Agarwal received an award from Abbott Laboratories for a project entitled “FY26 – Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology fellowship grant.” Total funding will be $40,000.
Agarwal also received an award from Abiomed, Inc. for a project entitled “Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardology fellowship grant.” Total funding will be $40,000.
Anna Lisa Chamis received an award from Abbott Laboratories for a project entitled “FY26 – Advanced Training in Cardiology Fellowship Grant.” Total funding will be $75,000.
Chamis also received an award from Medtronic, Inc. for a project entitled “FY26 – Advanced Training in Cardiology Fellowship Grant.” Total funding will be $28,392.
Karen Flores Rosario received an award from AskBio for a project entitled “A Phase 2, adaptive, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized, multi-center trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of intracoronary infusion of AB-1002 in adult subjects with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III.” Total funding will be $462,509.
Marat Fudim received an award from Reprieve Cardiovascular, Inc. for a project entitled “Fluid management of Acute decompensated heart failure Subjects Treated with Reprieve System II.” Total funding will be $317,244.
Fudim also received an award from Novo Nordisk, Inc. for a project entitled “RESPIRE HFpEF.” Total funding will be $9,750.
Christopher Granger received an award from Amgen, Inc. for a project entitled “MarTide DMC.” Total funding will be $75,400.
Donald Hegland received an award from Abbott Laboratories for a project entitled “FY26 – Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Grant.” Total funding will be $25,000.
Kevin Jackson received an award from Medtronic, Inc. for a project entitled “PULSED AF Post-Approval Study, an Addendum to the PulseSelect� PFA Global Registry.” Total funding will be $216,377.
Schuyler Jones received an award from Medtronic, Inc. for a project entitled “FY26 – Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Grant.” Total funding will be $7,000.
Excellent work, team!
Heart Walk Torch Journey & Rally Results
Thank you to everyone throughout Duke Heart and Duke University Health System who helped us make the American Heart Association Heart Walk Torch Journey and Rallies a success. We had an excellent two weeks! Together, we raised $14,327 and had 133 new walkers register online, with 14 new teams.
The winners of the two AHA Heart Walk challenges are:
The top fundraising team during the Torch’s visit is from the PRMO – Heart in Motion led by Omar Mincey. They raised $1,555 in just two weeks!
The winner of the registration challenge is Greg Shelton at Heart Center Communications. Yeah, Greg!!!
Thank you to all Duke coaches and walkers for your outstanding efforts and commitment to support the AHA’s mission to turn bystanders into lifesavers through CPR initiatives in the Triangle. Let’s keep the momentum going as we prepare for the Walk on October 11th.
The Top Fundraising Company will be honored onstage and receive the Torch Trophy to display all year—so let’s keep fundraising and bring it home to Duke!
To learn more about the upcoming Walk, to register as a captain or a walker, please visit: https://duke.is/HeartWalk-2025
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
DUH Blood Drive
The Duke University Hospital Administrative Fellows are hosting a Blood Drive on Wednesday, August 27, from 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Trent Semans Center. Please visit American Red Cross to schedule your donation.
Consider supporting Duke Transfusion Services and our patients through a lifesaving donation of blood or platelets. You could earn a $15 e-gift card!
Stead Tread 5K Run/Walk – September 20
Department of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency Program annual 5K. 9 a.m., at Solite Park in Durham.
The division with the most participants gets a trophy! Register or donate HERE. Sign up by September 1 to guarantee you’ll get an event T-shirt! Reach out to event planner Victor Ayeni (victor.ayeni@duke.edu) with any questions.
Go get that trophy, Duke Cardiology!
Duke Cardiac Imaging Symposium — October 4
This year’s symposium is designed to address emerging clinical questions in echocardiography, updated guideline recommendations, and new imaging modalities through case-based learning and practical applications. The 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. Trent Semans Center, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
To register, please visit https://events.duke.edu/DukeCIS2025.
2025 Triangle Heart Walk – October 11
Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
3801 Rock Quarry Rd, Raleigh, NC 27610.
Festivities begin at 7:30 a.m.; “Welcome” program will begin at 8:45 a.m. with the Walk immediately following. The event venue will be open through 11 a.m.
New Faculty Orientation – October 13
The School of Medicine’s annual Academic New Faculty Orientation will be held Monday, October 13, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Trent Semans Center.
To learn more and register, please visit https://duke.is/SOM-NFO.
17th Annual NC RTP Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium — October 31
This symposium will explore optimal diagnostic strategies for treating patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, treatment selection, and timely referrals to specialized PH centers. Clinically challenging presentations, including CTD-PAH, CPPC PH, CTEPH, PH associated with ILD, COPD, portopulmonary hypertension, and PH in end-stage renal disease, will be addressed — with a focus on frontline providers — through interactive lectures and robust case-based discussions. Durham Convention Center. To register, please visit: https://events.duke.edu/17PH2025.
Duke Cardiovascular MR Practicum & Board Review – December 8-12
The Fall 2025 course will be held December 8-12 in the Penn Pavilion at Duke University. For more information, contact Michele Parker. The full course brochure and registration link are available here.
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 me 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:
August 15 — Duke School of Medicine
Becker’s Hospital Review
65 hospitals, health systems cutting jobs
August 16 — William Kraus
LAist
Counting steps for health? Here’s how many you really need
August 18 — Stephen Greene
HCPLive Podcast/Don’t Miss a Beat
SURPASS-CVOT and Tirzepatide, a Dual GIP/GLP-1 RA, in ASCVD
August 21 — Frye Regional
WHKY (Hickory, NC)
Frye Regional Medical Center Earns National Honor For Heart-Related Procedure
August 22 — Duke University Health System
Becker’s Hospital Review
308 hospitals, health systems named best-in-state employers: Forbes
