Chief’s message: Happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season
Thanks to all the faculty, nursing teams, clinical staff, residents, and fellows that were helping care for our patients over the Holiday week. I know there were several groups working to care for large numbers of patients and areas where we needed everyone
to help use care for our community through the break. Additionally, we hope you all got some time for reflection, time with family and loved ones. The break is often characterized for food and football in many homes. Duke Football had a big win vs. Wake Forrest with losses by both SMU and Pitt sending them to the ACC championship next weekend in Charlotte. Some images from before the game included. Hopefully we one more win and some timely losses by other teams like James Madison – Duke might have a long-shot to get to the College Football Playoff – which would be quite an ending to the year.
In the upcoming weeks, we will be both celebrating our teams and the hard work over a tumultuous year, and preparing and planning for how we will respond to the important calls for improved health and reduced cost of care for our communities while we continue our mission to discover and train the next generation.
Highlights of the week:
Food Drive Yields Over 100lbs in Donations
Congratulations to the Karra Lab and the Cardiovascular Research Center! Their food drive collected more than 100 pounds of food to support the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
Thank you to everyone who supported and donated to this effort – your contributions will make the holidays a bit easier for many families throughout our community. A hat tip to Lauren Parker for coordinating the drive and for getting the donations delivered to the food bank.
Way to go! Your generosity was a terrific way to kick off the holiday season!
DUH, DRH Earn Meritorious Surgical Outcomes Designation
The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) has recognized Duke University Hospital (DUH) and Duke Regional Hospital (DRH) for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2024. This is the ninth consecutive year in which DUH has achieved meritorious outcomes and the second year for DRH.
The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score in either an “All Cases” category or a “High Risk” category which includes only higher-risk cases. This year, the ACS NSQIP recognized 76 out of an eligible 609 hospitals as achieving “Meritorious” for their quality scores.
Each composite quality score was determined through a different weighted formula combining outcomes in the following eight clinical areas:
- Mortality
- Cardiac: cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction
- Pneumonia
- Unplanned Intubation
- Ventilator > 48 hours
- Renal Failure
- Surgical Site Infection (SSI): superficial incisional SSI, deep incisional SSI, and organ/space SSI
- Urinary Tract Infection
To be eligible for either list category, the hospital must have submitted at least one case in each of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 calendar years, though only performance in calendar year 2024 was evaluated for the 2024 Meritorious lists. Of the 656 NSQIP hospitals participating in 2024, 609 met the three-year criteria to be eligible for Meritorious consideration.
The 76 hospitals achieved the distinction based on an outstanding composite quality score on one or both of the grouping categories (All Cases and High Risk). Sixty hospitals were recognized on the “All Cases” list and 60 hospitals were recognized on the “High Risk” list; the 60 hospitals represent approximately ten percent of the 609 ACS NSQIP-eligible hospitals. Forty-three hospitals are recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” lists, 16 other hospitals are on just the “All Cases” list, and 17 other hospitals are on the “High Risk” list only, totaling 76 hospitals being recognized as Meritorious.
“To be recognized by ACS NSQIP for nearly a decade as having meritorious surgical outcomes is a testament to a hospital-wide commitment to providing the highest standard of care for our surgical patients, especially while facing increasingly difficult challenges,” says Keri A. Seymour, DO, Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief Quality Officer for the Department of Surgery. “I am incredibly proud of our teams who continue to go above and beyond to ensure that our surgical patients are receiving excellent quality care.”
The full press release detailing the process for Meritorious designation, and the list of hospitals recognized as such, is available on the ACS website.
Congratulations to all team members!
DUHS Leadership Updates
Mathis-Harris Named CNO, PCO for Duke Health Lake Norman
On Monday, Nov. 24, Kristie Barazsu, president and COO of Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital (DHLN) and Terry McDonnell, chief nurse executive of DUHS, jointly announced that Miranda Mathis-Harris, BSN, RN, MBA, CNML, has been named the Chief Nursing Officer and Patient Care Officer for Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital. Miranda has served in this role on an interim basis, where she has provided steady, thoughtful leadership.
Miranda has dedicated more than thirty years to Duke Health. Since beginning her career in 1989 as a Clinical Nurse in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Duke University Hospital, she has taken on a wide range of responsibilities, including Senior Director of Nursing for Patient Flow & Transfer Center, Life Flight, and Emergency Department.
As Chief Nursing and Patient Care Officer, Miranda will serve as a key member of the hospital’s leadership team as a leader who brings sincerity, fairness, and a clear commitment to her teams and to the patients we serve.
Congratulations, Miranda!
Flanagan Named AVP, Patient Flow & Care Coordination, DUHS
Barazsu and McDonnell also announced this week that Katie Flanagan has been named Associate Vice President, Patient Flow and Care Coordination for Duke University Health System, effective November 10.
As Duke Health continues to advance system-wide coordination and improve care across all settings, ensuring strong and seamless patient flow is essential. This work is critical to supporting timely access to care, removing barriers, and improving the overall patient and provider experience. Katie is the right leader to guide this effort during a period of significant system transformation. She will also maintain her current responsibilities overseeing the DUHS Case Management team.
Katie had been serving as Assistant Vice President for Care Coordination for Duke University Health System, and has been instrumental in strengthening care management processes, enhancing cross-campus collaboration, and developing approaches that improve transitions of care and operational efficiency.
In her new role, Katie will lead a newly designed health system structure and team accountable for the strategic and operational oversight of patient flow and the Transfer Center. She will drive key priorities designed to align system capabilities, improve transparency, and support coordination across hospitals and ambulatory settings.
Katie will serve in a dyad partnership with Neel Kapadia, MD, who will join her in leading clinical strategy and physician engagement to advance patient flow across the continuum.
Congratulations, Katie!
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Cardiology Grand Rounds
Nov. 25: No CGR/holiday.
Dec. 2: What’s Hot (or Not) Now in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy with Andrew Wang, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.
Dec. 9: TBD with Zach Wegermann, MD. 5 p.m., DN 2002 and via Zoom.
Dec. 16: Remodeling the Nerve-Heart Interface: Translating Neurobiology to Antiarrhythmic Therapy with Ching Zhu, MD. 5 p.m., DN 2002 and via Zoom.
CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference
Dec. 3: Match Day Review with Anna Lisa Chamis. Noon. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.
Dec. 5: SVT with Jon Piccini. Noon. Zoom only.
Dec. 10: EP Case Presentation with Mugdha Joshi and Chad Kloefkorn. Noon. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.
Dec. 12: Board review with Nishant Shah and Anthony Lin. Noon, via Zoom.
Dec. 17: DHP Case Presentation with Verda Arshad. Noon. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.
Dec. 19: DHP Case Presentation with Harriet Akunor. Noon, Zoom only.
MMCVI Grand Rounds
Multi-Modality Cardiovascular Imaging Grand Rounds: A multi-imaging approach to cardiovascular disease cases. Thursdays, Noon to 1 p.m., via Zoom.
Dec. 4: Echo Imaging to Optimize Cardiac Resynchronization Pacing with Josh Sink
Dec. 11: RV Failure or Pericardial Disease TBD with Cosette Champion
Dec. 18: TBD with Vincent Delgado
Dec. 25: NO CONFERENCE (Christmas)
Upcoming CME Activities:
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.
2026 Duke Heart CMEs
The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.
- Duke Heart Failure Symposium – Saturday, June 6, 2026. Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
- 18th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium – Friday, October 30, 2026. Course directors are Terry Fortin, Sudar Rajagopal, and Jimmy Ford. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
Please save the dates!
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:
November 21 — Monique Starks
Government Technology
Which city is the first in the U.S. to send drones with defibrillators on 911 calls?
November 21 — Nishant Shah
WRAL (Raleigh, NC)
New studies offer insight into reducing heart disease risk
November 21 — Monique Starks
Axios Raleigh
A North Carolina 911 experiment sends defibrillators by drone
November 21 — Monique Starks
LinkedIn.com/Tech Future by Chuck Martin
Drones Deliver Defibrillators in North Carolina 911 Trial
November 21 — Monique Starks
WUNC-FM
Test project promises to bring medical help from the skies
November 22 — Monique Starks
13 News Now (Norfolk, VA)
Drones now delivering AEDs during 911 calls in James City County and Forsyth County
November 23 — Monique Starks/Duke Health
WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)
Medical drones tested in Forsyth County
November 24 — Duke Health/DCRI
La Razon (Spain)
Drones con desfibriladores: la innovación médica que ya salva vidas en EE UU
November 25 — Monique Starks
Emergency Management
