Highlights of the week:
ACHD Fellow Graduation Dinner Held
On June 17, 2026, the Duke Adult Congenital Program celebrated the graduation of its fifth 2-year Thomas Anstrom Fellow in Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Dr. Nina Morgan. Nina will be going to AdventHealth in Orlando where she will serve as the Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Program. The event was held at The Rooftop of The Durham Hotel.
Congratulations, Nina!
Interventional Cardiology, Structural Fellows Dinner Held
The annual dinner to celebrate our graduating Interventional Cardiology Fellows and our graduating Structural Heart Disease Fellow was held on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at Hope Valley Country Club in Durham.
Congratulations to the following:
- Nathan Goodwin, MD – joining the faculty at St. Luke’s Hospital.
- Priya Roy, MD – joining the faculty at Mercy Health Hospital and Trauma Center.
- Manasi Tannu, MD – joining the faculty at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
- Luke Dawson, MD, our Structural Heart Disease fellow
And congratulations to Nathan Goodwin – he was selected as the 2026 recipient of the Warren S. and Gloria R. Newman Fellowship Award!
We wish each of you all the best as you move forward in your careers – please stay in touch!
Krasuski Departing Duke Health
Richard Krasuski, MD, professor of medicine in cardiology and director of the Duke Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center, celebrated his final week with Duke Heart & Vascular on Friday, June 26. He is heading to Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, where he will serve as the Schar Family Endowed Chair of Congenital Heart Disease.
“It is with a heavy heart that I leave my terrific friends, colleagues, and mentees at Duke,” said Krasuski. “When you put together the world’s best fellows with the world’s best medical students and residents and surround them with the world’s best staff, you get Duke Cardiology. I thoroughly enjoyed the last 11 years at Duke, and I leave behind one of the best Adult Congenital Heart Programs in the world.”
He added: “I will miss the challenging patients, the camaraderie of pediatric and adult cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, and all the great relationships I have forged with the various medical and pediatric specialties. It takes a village to care for these complex patients, and I am blessed to have been part of that.
I will miss my patients dearly, but know that my former team will continue providing them with excellent care. I look forward to continuing our research collaborations through an adjunct professorship and to maintaining my support for Duke Basketball. I am super excited about building a world-class ACHD program with the fantastic team at Inova. Please keep in touch, and feel free to reach out any time I can be of assistance.”
You will be missed, Rich!
Underused Therapy Offers New Hope for Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease
Research has consistently shown that supervised exercise therapy is among the most effective treatments for improving walking ability and quality of life for patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD). Yet many eligible patients are never referred for this evidence-based therapy. Duke’s Peripheral Artery Disease Supervised Exercise Therapy (PAD-SET) Program is working to change that. 
The three-month program offers individualized, supervised exercise therapy for patients with symptomatic PAD, helping them improve walking ability, reduce symptoms, and lower their risk of future cardiovascular events. Managed by Duke’s cardiovascular team and supported by a multidisciplinary rehabilitation staff, the program combines structured exercise with education on PAD, cardiovascular risk reduction, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle habits.
“Exercise therapy is really a cornerstone of treatment for these patients,” said Sean Lowers, manager of Duke Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation at Croasdaile. “In many instances, supervised exercise is just as beneficial as other treatment options in improving their symptoms.”
For patients living with PAD, however, the idea of exercising through leg pain can seem counterintuitive. During therapy, participants intentionally walk to the point where symptoms develop—a process that can be uncomfortable but is essential to achieving lasting improvement.
“We have to reach that point to stimulate the anatomical changes that allow new blood vessels to develop,” Lowers said. “We’re looking at the changes that happen over several months—not what’s happening during the first week or two.”
As new blood vessels develop and blood flow improves, patients are often able to walk farther with less discomfort, making everyday activities easier and improving their overall quality of life. The program also helps reduce risk factors for heart attack and stroke, extending the benefits beyond the legs.
The journey isn’t always easy. Participants attend supervised exercise sessions two to three times each week for three months, often while balancing mobility limitations, work schedules, and other life demands. Perhaps the greatest hurdle is asking patients to continue exercising even when it temporarily increases their leg pain.
That’s where Duke’s rehabilitation team is particularly effective.
“Our staff understands that’s not an easy ask,” Lowers said. “They know when to push and when to back off.”
In addition to closely monitoring each patient’s progress, the team uses coaching techniques such as motivational interviewing to help participants stay engaged through the most challenging stages of the program.
“We do this every day,” Lowers said. “Our team understands both the physiology and how to support patients through what can be a challenging process.”
Although supervised exercise therapy has been covered for eligible patients for several years, awareness is still a challenge.
“For a long time, PAD wasn’t a covered diagnosis for cardiac rehabilitation,” Lowers said. “Because of that, supervised exercise may not be the first treatment option providers think about. We want people to remember that this program exists, it’s covered by insurance for many patients, and it can make a real difference.”
For patients with PAD, supervised exercise therapy has the potential to be transformative—but only if they’re referred. By increasing awareness of Duke’s PAD-SET Program, Lowers hopes more patients will gain access to a treatment that helps them walk farther, reduce pain, regain independence, and lower their long-term cardiovascular risk.
Providers can refer eligible patients by searching Epic or MedLink for Ambulatory Referral for PAD Exercise Therapy. Patients must have symptomatic PAD, a face-to-face evaluation with a provider, and education regarding cardiovascular disease and PAD risk-factor reduction before beginning the program.
Kudos to Regan
Manesh Patel received a wonderful message this week regarding Jessica Regan, and we wanted to share it with our Pulse readers:
“I am writing to let you know about the incredible work Dr. Jessica Regan has done with the medical school. I am one of the course directors for first-year students. Specifically, I am the clinical correlations director and spend most of my time in the spring teaching our MS1s in team-based learning sessions.
This spring, we worked together to create a case for our students, and we co-led a case discussion with 125 first-year medical students. The session went amazingly! Many students came up to me afterwards to let me know how much they enjoyed her teaching style.
Thank you so much, Dr. Regan!” — Nathan Hirshman, MD, Clinical Correlations Director, Duke University School of Medicine; Associate Medical Director of Education, DUH Division of Hospital Medicine
Nicely done, Jessica!
Shout-out to Cosiano
We received a terrific note this week regarding incoming Critical Care Medicine fellow (and finishing CD fellow), Michael Cosiano.
“Of his own volition, Mike took a yearlong course on mechanical ventilation this year. It is a challenging course with a standardized curriculum that requires multiple hours of preparation weekly, monthly tests, and culminates in a proctored final exam adjudicated by PCCM program directors as part of a national consortium. The final exam would be reminiscent of oral boards. I am very proud of Mike- he received the highest grade possible, demonstrating not just his proficiency, but fluency, with the subject matter. I know he will be an asset to the CCM program next year as he has been a power player in ours.” – Willard Applefeld, MD
Outstanding, Mike!
Great Catch, Trammel!
Morgan Trammel, Clinical Pharmacist, 7E Cardiac ICU, identified an incorrect medication dose following discharge and spoke with the care team to correct it. She also contacted the patient directly to provide clear, updated instructions and ensured follow-through with the pharmacy and providers.
Great catch, Morgan! Your timely actions ensured the patient received the correct treatment!
DUHS Update:
On July 1, Duke University Hospital will open its new Obstetric Emergency Department (OB ED) on the 5th floor of Duke North. Staffed by a team of obstetric specialists, the OB ED will be open 24/7 and offer safe, timely, specialized care for obstetric emergencies.
By transforming what was once the OB triage space into the OB ED, “We’re ensuring that anyone who arrives in a moment of urgency receives immediate access to specialized evaluation and treatment from a team trained for the most complex obstetric situations,” according to Kim Wood, Assistant Vice President of Nursing, Women’s and Newborn Service Line, Duke University Health System.
Information regarding the criteria for receiving care in the OB ED, how to get there, and the basics on billing information is available in a team member guide on SharePoint that you can print and share internally.
Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities
NACE/Cardiology Grand Rounds: June 29
2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation with Nishant Shah, MD, and Manesh Patel, MD as moderator
JB Duke Hotel, 230 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
6-7 p.m.
The in-person event at JB Duke is free (as is parking) but limited to 60 people. Live streaming will be available on the NACE virtual online platform. Creating a NACE account is quick and easy.
Registration is required for both the in-person and the live-stream. NACE will offer CME credit. In-person registration link. Virtual event registration link.
Cardiology Grand Rounds
June 30: The Cardiac-Allograft Vasculopathy: Exploring the Enigmatic Enemy of Graft Longevity with Seamus Hughes, MD. 5 p.m., DN 2002 and via Zoom.
All Duke CGR Recordings (except for those containing PHI) can be found on Duke Warpwire by year: 2026, 2025, 2024. Questions about recordings? Contact Tracey Koepke.
2026 Symposia
The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.
- September 26: Duke Case-Based Multimodality Imaging Symposium – Course directors are Sreekanth Vemulapalli and Anita Kelsey. Location: Trent Semans Center, Great Hall.
- October 30: 18th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Vascular Symposium – Course directors are Terry Fortin, Sudar Rajagopal, and Jimmy Ford. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
Please save the dates!
Hitting with Heart Softball Tournament
The 10th Annual Hitting with Heart Softball tournament will be held on Saturday, August 22 at Valley Springs Park, 3805 Valley Springs Road, in Durham. The tournament raises funds that will, in part, support the American Heart Association’s 2026 Triangle Heart Walk.
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.
