The Pulse – Powered by Duke Heart

Chief’s message:  Radical concept and the Arc of Democracy – July 4th 2026

Hope you all stayed cool and had a happy July 4th (250th Anniversary weekend). Want to thank the teams of clinicians and staff that helped care for our patients and starting residents and fellows.  Starting our residents and fellows off in the best way is always an important part of our year.

Our family was lucky enough to get to Philadelphia for the weekend and spend the weekend seeing Independence Hall   (where both the Declaration was finally drafted and signed and Constitutional Convention with the colonies was held), and the several museums and events. It was great to learn some of the history of the complexities the founding fathers faced in both crafting the declaration and setting up the constitution and the government of the United States.  Most impressive was the amount of disruption, the radical thinking, and continuous commitment and courage it took to move our nation forward.  Inspiring to see and to give us some thought as we continue to work to improve the health of our communities, some integral to all in our region, country, and world where cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death and disability. 

Revolutionary Guard at Constitution Center, above is Independence hall and table where Jefferson with Virginia delegation.

This last week was a busy one with new trainees, organization for our clinical programs for the upcoming year, ASE echo meeting with great amounts of our echo lab represented, another Nature publication from researchers in the CVRC, and announcement of my work as Volunteer President of the AHA this upcoming year.  We have included my post below describing my excitement from Linkedin and AHA announcement.  Look forward to sharing what I learn this year and the impact we have this upcoming year.  Also excited to have Svati Shah, MD announced as the President-Elect for the AHA, a testament to our cardiovascular group and to her amazing work in precision health.

Highlights of the week:

Manesh Patel Begins One-Year Term as AHA President 

I’m honored and humbled to step into the role of volunteer president of the American Heart Association for 2026-27, and proud to be the first South Asian person to hold this role, a moment that reflects my family’s journey and the values they instilled in me. This opportunity also reflects something larger than any one person. It is a testament to the culture of science and teamwork I have been fortunate to be part of at Duke, from the Duke Clinical Research Institute to Duke Heart and Duke Cardiology, where I have spent nearly 30 years building on a legacy of cardiovascular discovery.

Science saves lives. My focus as president will be making sure the discoveries we make are proven, and that proven therapies reach everyone, everywhere. By 2050, nearly half the world’s population may face some form of cardiovascular disease or its risk factors. That is the scale of the opportunity in front of us. The American Heart Association’s mission and commitment to improving human health is energizing and I look forward to working with the thousands of volunteers, clinicians, and scientists to meet this moment.

I especially want to thank all of our faculty and fellows who have helped me learn and the patients who have allowed me to care for them.  I also want to thank the Heart Center board members and leaders, including our Chair Bob Keegan.  Many of you have invested and believed in our ability to make these types of differences and impact.

Finally, if you’ve been putting off seeing a physician, let this be your sign. Know your numbers. Understand your risk. Most cardiovascular disease is preventable, but you can’t feel it until it affects you.

The link to the AHA announcement is here. The AHA also produced this profile story as part of their announcement: New American Heart Association president aims to close the gap between discovery and care. 

Duke Heart & Vascular Earns Multiple AHA Achievement Awards

Every day, our teams come together across Duke Heart & Vascular to deliver safe, evidence-based care for patients. That commitment has once again been recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA), which awarded Duke University Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital multiple 2026 Get With The Guidelines® achievement awards for excellence in heart failure, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease care.

The AHA’s Get With The Guidelines® program recognizes hospitals that consistently apply the latest evidence-based treatment guidelines to improve patient care and outcomes. This year’s recognitions reflect the commitment of our teams across DUHS to delivering high-quality, guideline-directed care across the cardiovascular continuum.

“These recognitions are a reflection of our team,” said Manesh Patel, MD, chief of the division of cardiology and vice president of Duke’s Heart and Vascular Service line. “They represent the dedication of each of you across Duke Heart & Vascular who work together every day to provide safe, evidence-based care for our patients. I’m grateful for your commitment to excellence and for the difference you make in the lives of the patients and families we serve.”

Duke University Hospital

• Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Plus with Target: Heart Failure Optimal and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Get With The Guidelines®–AFib Gold with Target: Ablation
• Get With The Guidelines®–Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Receiving Center Gold Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Get With The Guidelines®–Coronary Artery Disease NSTEMI Gold with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll

Duke Raleigh Hospital

• Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Plus with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll

Together, these recognitions celebrate the entirety of Duke Heart & Vascular, because your dedication makes our exceptional cardiovascular care possible for every patient, every day.

Congratulations to all!

 

Study Reveals First Drug-like Molecules that Control Key Cellular Signaling Proteins

To function normally, nearly every cell in the human body relies on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) to receive and send signals. That’s why GPCRs are targeted by roughly one-third of all FDA‑approved drugs.  

But the signals from these receptors don’t act alone. Decades ago, Duke University biochemist and cardiologist Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD, and colleagues discovered β-arrestins — proteins that attach to activated GPCRs, dampen their signaling, and pull them inside the cell. In the early 2000s, the lab showed that β-arrestins also launch their own signaling pathways, expanding their role far beyond simply shutting receptors off. 

Now, researchers in the Duke Cardiovascular Research Center’s Lefkowitz lab have identified three powerful, drug-like molecules that directly target β-arrestins. The findings, published June 24 in the journal Nature, provide the first clear way to control these proteins with pharmacological precision. 

In multiple tests, the compounds blocked β-arrestins from interacting with GPCRs and carrying out their normal functions, without interfering with the receptors themselves. Instead of shutting down GPCR activity, the molecules effectively remove β-arrestin control, allowing signaling through G proteins to persist. 

The discovery provides the first chemical tools for studying β-arrestins, opening the door for scientists to better understand how β-arrestins shape cellular responses. And it suggests a path toward more precise therapies for conditions involving metabolism, immune responses, cardiovascular function, and brain signaling. 

The study is the result of more than a decade of work from co-first authors Alem W. Kahsai, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, and postdoctoral researcher Natalia Pakharukova, PhD. 

“Alem could have published a creditable paper about these molecules 10 years ago,” said Lefkowitz, Duke Health Distinguished Professor of Medicine and senior author of the study. “But he’s a perfectionist. He wanted to figure out how they actually work.” 

Kahsai “lived and breathed” these molecules 24 hours a day, drawing in collaborators from Duke and across the country to “describe an extraordinary amount of their biology,” Lefkowitz said. 

The team began with a broad, unbiased search of the National Cancer Institute’s vast compound library to identify molecules that might bind β-arrestins. Then they narrowed the field using tests that showed which compounds physically interacted with the protein and stabilized it. The most promising candidates were studied in engineered human cell systems, where researchers could track real-time GPCR signaling, and later in physiologically relevant immune and heart muscle cells to determine whether their effects extended beyond simplified laboratory models. 

Through this step-by-step process, the researchers identified three compounds that disrupted multiple aspects of β-arrestin function — blocking their recruitment to receptors, preventing receptor desensitization and internalization, and shutting down β-arrestin–specific signaling pathways — while leaving G protein signaling intact. 

“We tested these compounds from every angle we could think of before we were convinced they were bona fide β-arrestin inhibitors,” Kahsai said. 

A pivotal moment came when Pakharukova used Cryo-electron microscopy to visualize one of the compounds, called Cmpd-5, binding to a previously unknown “pocket” on β-arrestin. This visualization showed that the inhibitor works “allosterically” – when it binds to this pocket, it changes the shape of β-arrestin globally and prevents it from fully engaging with GPCRs.  

The team tested the inhibitors with several GPCRs, including the GLP-1 receptor, which is the target of widely used weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Even when the receptor was being stimulated by these drugs, adding the new compounds inhibited β‑arrestin control and allowed G protein signaling to continue longer than usual.  

Such an approach promises to allow researchers to dial specific pathways up or down, potentially improving treatment precision while reducing unwanted side effects. 

Kahsai and Pakharukova’s Duke co-authors are: Henry Y. Kwon, Kunal S. Shah, Caroline T. del Real, Bowie N. Shreiber, Jason G. Liang-Lin, Paul J. Shim, Mason A. Lee, Allison M. Schwalb, Uyen Pham, Anand Chundi, Haoran Jiang, Samuel Liu, Preston C. Nibley, Dana K. Bassford, Cal A. Kunzle, Brittany N. Thomas, Jihee Kim, Jialu Wang, Xingdong Zhang, Jeffrey S. Smith, Lindsay A.M. Rein, Sudha K. Shenoy, Sudarshan Rajagopal, Seungkirl Ahn, Howard A. Rockman, Robert J. Lefkowitz, and Ali Masoudi. 

Funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Collaborative Research Consortium on GPCRs, and the Mandel Foundation. 

Congratulations to Alem, Natalia, and their study coauthors!

 

Duke at ASE2026!

Duke was well represented at the American Society of Echocardiography’s 51st Scientific Sessions held June 26 – 28, 2026 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora, CO.

Alicia Armour, Practice Administrator, served as co-chair for the meeting and was fortunate to have several Duke faculty members present across several tracks. Contributing to the success of the meeting were: Anita Kelsey, MD, Sreekanth Vemulapalli, MD, Pamela Douglas, MD, Ashlee Davis, Richie Palma, Carissa Bregadze, Melissa LeFevre, Alina Nicoara, MD, Piers Barker, MD, Tracy Ralston, and Anna Lise Brinson.

Award winners included: Emily Lynch (sonographer travel grant), Laura Miller and Chris Dube (Allan D. Waggoner Student Scholarship Award). A big round of thanks for their contribution to the sessions!

Congratulations, Emily, Laura, Chris, and Alicia! Excellent representation across our team!

 

NACE/Cardiology Grand Rounds on Dyslipidemia Guidelines Success

Our first Grand Rounds partnership with the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE) was a resounding success, with more than 1700 people registered as virtual attendees of the hybrid event.  

The continuing education session, 2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation, was led by presenter Nishant Shah, MD, and moderator Manesh Patel, MD. It was held on Monday, June 29, 2026, at the JB Duke Hotel in Durham.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person and to all those who joined us online. It was an excellent presentation by Dr. Shah with lots of humor throughout, thanks to Dr. Patel. Many thanks to Christy Darnell for her work in making this a successful CME activity.

Congratulations, Nishant, Manesh, and Christy!

 

Shout-out to Thakkar!

We are excited to share that Aetna has updated its policy on lipoprotein A testing, and this comes in large part due to the persistence and dedication of Aarti Thakkar, MD. We received a note this week from Nishant Shah recognizing her work on behalf of the preventive cardiology team:

“I wanted to highlight some great work Aarti Thakkar has led to advocate for insurance coverage for Lp(a) testing. We received this note below from the PRMO showing the success of Aarti’s advocacy and letters she has drafted with Aetna. In addition to Aetna, we now have coverage from many payers in the state of North Carolina that serve Duke Health patients for an Lp(a) test once in a lifetime. Aarti played a big role in helping with the access in order to promote the guideline recommendation of getting an Lp(a) test.” – Nishant Shah, MD 

Note from Jamie Ashmore, Duke PRMO:

“Drs. Pagidipati, Shah, and Thakkar, Good news! With the help and support of your advocacy, Aetna has finally updated their policy on lipoprotein A testing. They will now cover it once per lifetime for patients 19 and over. This would not have happened without your advocacy and the excellent letter you submitted nearly a year ago in support of this effort. Aetna was the last of our major commercial payers who declined to cover this testing, and because they now have the NC State Employees Health Plan, they are a much more significant part of our payer base than in previous years. Thank you so much for your willingness to lend your voices to this effort!”

Way to go, Aarti, Duke PRMO team, Neha, and Nishant! Your advocacy to get patients the care they need, when they need it, is outstanding!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

CGRs have concluded for the summer. We will return in the fall! Meanwhile, please enjoy past recordings.

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 – Registration is now open. 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 10^th 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.

 

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 10^th 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.

 

Chief’s message:  Happy Fathers Day and Events of the Past week

Hope you all are enjoying this weekend with thoughts and celebrations of the fathers in your life. Many in our community support and recognize the impact of families and fathers — so hopefully for the kids, dads, and granddads – there is time to spend with family.

You will find this week again some updates around our graduating fellows and the amazing work that our faculty continue to do with patient care, education, and research with some key publications and findings highlighted.

Highlights of the week:

CD Fellows Celebrated at Annual Dinner

Our annual dinner to celebrate our graduating Cardiovascular Disease Fellows, Cardiovascular Disease Research Pathway fellows, and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Fellows was held at Parizade on Saturday, June 13, 2026.

Congratulations to the following:

• Michael Cosiano, MD, will join the Duke Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.
• David Elliott, MD, PhD, will join the Duke cardiology faculty later this summer.
• Jonathan Hanna, MD, will join the Duke Interventional Cardiology Fellowship.
• Seamus Hughes, MD, will join the Duke Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship.
• DaMarcus Ingram, MD, will join the Duke Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship.
• Ivan Nenadic Wood, MD, PhD, will join the Northwestern University Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship.
• Joshua Rushakoff, MD, MPP, will join the Duke Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship.
• Husam Salah, MD, will join the Duke Interventional Cardiology Fellowship.
• Aarti Thakkar, MD, will join the Duke cardiology faculty later this summer.
• Eric Xie, MD, will join the Duke Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship.
• Anthony Lin, MD, will enter the Duke Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship to finish his 2nd Year.
• Belal Suleiman, MD, will enter the Duke Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship to finish his 2nd Year.
• Paula Rambarat, MD, will join the Duke Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship.
• Allison Levin, MD, MSc, will join the Columbia University Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship.
• Nina Morgan, MD, our finishing ACHD fellow, will enter private practice with Advent Health Pediatrics and Adult Congenital Cardiology.

Each year, we recognize outstanding team members during this annual celebration. This year, those award recipients are:

• Michael Cosiano, MD, was presented with the Walter L. Floyd, MD Excellence in Clinical Cardiovascular Medicine
• Bharathi Upadhya, MD, received the Thomas Bashore Teaching Award.
• Willard Applefeld, MD, received the award for Outstanding Mentorship.
• Emily Towery and Clarence Cumming were each presented with a staff award for Outstanding Service.
• Husam Salah, MD, was presented with the Joseph Greenfield Award.
• Joshua Rushakoff, MD, MPP, was presented with the Brandt and Belinda Louie Award.
• DaMarcus Ingram, MD, was presented with the Cassell-Saperstein Award.

Congratulations to all our fellows and award winners!

 

Closing the Cholesterol Gap

One in four Americans has elevated cholesterol — but with better treatment and system-wide action, millions of heart attacks, strokes, and even dementia could be avoided

What keeps Nishant Shah, MD, up at night? Thinking about all the missed opportunities to prevent heart attacks. “Heart disease remains the number one killer across the globe and many of the risk factors, like high cholesterol, are preventable,” said the Duke Health cardiologist.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs can reduce a person’s chances of developing heart attacks and strokes, and vascular dementia, by preventing plaque from building up on the walls of blood vessels.

But too many patients who could benefit aren’t being treated. Shah, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, recently led a study following almost 2 million patients at 16 academic health centers and found that less than half of patients with known heart disease and high cholesterol were taking medications to lower their cholesterol.

“The study shows a problem across multiple health systems,” he said. “We aren’t controlling cholesterol the way we need to.”

Shah hopes to develop interventions that will help health systems be more effective at controlling cholesterol levels among patients, with the goal of reducing heart attacks across the country.

New Cholesterol Guidelines

The topic is especially timely because new cholesterol guidelines have just been released by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The new guidelines recommend aiming for lower levels of LDL, commonly known as “bad” cholesterol.  “There is more and more evidence that the lower your cholesterol is, the better it is for you,” Shah said.

Under the new guidelines, patients at very high risk for heart disease — those with a history of cardiac events and multiple risk factors — should aim for an LDL cholesterol level below 55 mg/dL. High risk patients, including those who’ve had a previous cardiac event, should target less than 70 mg/dL. For everyone else, the goal is below 100 mg/dL.

To determine risk, the guidelines recommend using PREVENT-ASCVD, a calculator that considers factors such as age, blood pressure, blood sugar and body mass index. When a patient’s risk remains unclear, a coronary artery calcium scan can help guide treatment decisions.

The guidelines also recommend screening and treating earlier, because the negative effects of high LDL cholesterol accumulate over time — the more plaque builds up, the narrower arteries become.

Identifying System Level Barriers

Shah is working with Duke Health preventative cardiologist Neha Pagidipati, MD, MPH, to try to understand why so few people with heart disease are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs that could help them.

The investigators are working with six different health systems to identify barriers that prevent more patients with heart disease from having their LDL tested, receiving a prescription, filling the prescription, or taking the medicine. The researchers are also developing strategies to overcome those barriers.

To generate the maximum benefit, the strategies have to be system-wide, scalable, and financially feasible, Shah said. “We’re trying to figure out how to make a health system-wide impact to really move the needle at a population level,” he said.

At Duke, Shah and Pagidipati, an associate professor of medicine, are leading a clinical trial to evaluate the strategy of using a “care champion” to meet with patients while they are hospitalized and stay in touch after discharge. The care champion is responsible for nudging the patient or providers or both in the service of meeting the LDL goal.

To help educate patients and providers at Duke, Shah said, cholesterol reporting has changed in patients’ electronic health records. In the past, LDL was flagged as abnormal only above 190. That’s been changed to 100. There is also guidance at the bottom of the test result about desirable LDL levels, which will be updated according to the new guidelines.

“We’re trying to find ways to maximize awareness at the provider side and the patient side so we get to the common goal of improving everyone’s cardiovascular risk,” he said.

If so few patients with known heart disease are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, one can imagine uptake is even lower among those who have high cholesterol but haven’t had a heart attack or stroke — yet.

“The problem with high cholesterol is that you don’t feel it,” Shah said. “It’s just circulating in your body until something happens. You want to prevent that something from happening.”

This article, published June 10, 2026, appears in Magnify magazine.

 

New study reveals ‘droplet’ mechanism behind key drug targets

A new study in Nature reveals that one of the body’s most important receptor families signals through liquid-like protein clusters — an unexpected mechanism that could open new avenues for drug development.

Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine found that G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) — targets of roughly one-third of FDA-approved drugs — signal through dew-like droplets called biomolecular condensates, formed by β‑arrestin proteins. 

“Our work shows that these receptors that essentially regulate every aspect of physiology signal using a way that we didn’t appreciate before,” said Sudarshan Rajagopal, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and senior author of the study. “That’s important because it’s potentially druggable; it suggests that there might be different ways to target GPCR signaling that take advantage of their use of these condensates.”

β‑arrestins have long been known to regulate GPCR activity and are best known for their role in stopping their signaling. But a longstanding puzzle in the field has been how just two β‑arrestin proteins regulate nearly 700 GPCRs in the human body.

For decades, GPCR signaling has largely been understood as a one-to-one interaction: a receptor activates a single β‑arrestin, which then passes the signal along to the next molecule in a linear chain. 

But that tidy model didn’t match what MD‑PhD student Preston Anderson had been seeing under the microscope. At levels normally found inside cells, β‑arrestins are known to form clusters inside cells. During a beach vacation to Kure Beach, as he watched clouds drift and merge across the sky, he began to wonder if β‑arrestins might do the same. What if they weren’t just clustering, but assembling in a way that allowed them to communicate?

That night, he drew a sketch proposing an experiment to test his idea. “When I sent it to Sudar, he basically said it wasn’t going to work. But Sudar is such a great mentor; he never says no. He’ll always let you do the experiment,” Anderson said.

Back in the lab, Anderson attached two halves of a glowing protein to the tail ends of β‑arrestins to see whether they would light up when the proteins come together. When he ran the experiment, they did.

“When I saw it glowing, I thought, ‘We’re onto something,’” he said.

The work began to shift the view of β‑arrestins from individual actors to components of a larger, coordinated system.

“One part of our study shows that the way β-arrestins align and orient with one another influences how effectively they regulate receptor signaling,” Anderson said.

In addition to the split-protein test, over three years of work the team tested the idea with multiple approaches, including: 

• Imaging to visualize β‑arrestin droplets both at baseline and near receptors in cells
• Using chemical and genetic tools to promote and disrupt clustering
• Functional assays which showed how those changes affect receptor signaling and internalization.

Together, these experiments showed that β‑arrestin clustering is not incidental — it directly influences how GPCRs function. When the scientists disrupted the condensates, GPCR signaling was disrupted.

Because condensates organize signaling in specific locations, they may offer new ways to more precisely control GPCR activity. That could ultimately allow drugs to target certain signaling pathways while avoiding others.

“It’s a new model for understanding how this system works,” Rajagopal said. “It suggests we should start thinking about how to selectively target these condensates in the context of specific receptors.”

GPCRs are found throughout the body, and drugs that act on them are used to treat conditions ranging from shock to heart disease and asthma. Anderson said his interest in GPCR biology was shaped by his clinical training during the COVID‑19 pandemic, when he saw patients in shock treated with the same set of GPCR-targeting drugs — such as norepinephrine and vasopressin — that have changed little in decades.

The work builds on Duke’s long legacy in GPCR research, including the discoveries of Robert Lefkowitz, MD, which helped define how these receptors function and earned the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The new findings point to a next chapter — one in which the spatial organization of signaling, becomes central to how scientists understand and target these critical systems.

Funding: The American Heart Association, the Mandel Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Other Duke Authors: Adam Kaakati, Juliana Alfonso-DeSouza, Alejandra Patino, Andrew Ahn, Chanpreet Jassal, Samuel Liu, Biswaranjan Pani, Athmika Krishnan, Oscar Chen, Joseph Strawn, and Joshua C. Snyder.

Drs. Rajagopal and Lefkowitz are both principal investigators with the Duke Cardiovascular Research Center.

This article, published online June 1, 2026, was written for Duke University School of Medicine.

 

Shout-out to DeVore

We received a note of praise for Adam DeVore, MD, this week from neurosurgeon Jordan Komisarow. The note reads:

“I am writing to highlight the fantastic care Adam provided on one of my patients. He is a wonderful partner and am grateful to get to work with him.” — Jordan M. Komisarow, MD, vice chair of clinical operations, Department of Neurosurgery.

Way to go, Adam!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

June is Pride Month. At Duke Health, we believe everyone deserves to feel safe, seen, and supported, especially when it comes to their health.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

June 23: Advancing Contemporary Cardiac Electrophysiology: Innovations in Ablation, Rhythm Control, and Anticoagulation with Belal Suleiman, 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.

 

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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

June 24: HF/Tx Case Conference with Jonathan Kusner. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 26: HF/Tx Case Conference 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.

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

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 10^th 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.

 

Highlights of the week:

Graduation Dinners Held for CCE and AHFTC Fellowships

The Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology fellowship program held its annual graduation dinner on Friday, June 5. The team gathered at The Roof atop The Durham Hotel to celebrate Ilia Shadrin, MD, who is completing the two-year program this month.

• Shadrin is heading into private practice at UNC Rex Hospital.

The Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology fellowship program held its graduation dinner on Thursday, June 11, at Hope Valley Country Club in Durham. The program celebrated completing fellows, Aubrie Carroll, MD, Mark Kittipibul, MD; and Merna Hussein, MD.

• Carroll is returning to the Duke Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program to complete her third year.
• Kittipibul has accepted an academic faculty position with the University of Utah.
• Hussein has accepted an academic faculty position with the Medical University of South Carolina.

Congratulations, Ilia, Aubrie, Mark, and Merna! We wish all of you the very best!

 

DUH Cath Lab 2 Reopens

Duke University Hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab number 2 reopened on Tuesday, June 2, following renovations to the space that began last fall. The renovations now give us the full capability to handle any type of case in that lab. The refreshed space will allow us to pursue renovations to other labs while meeting case load demands – and it provides better flow for team members.

“Overall, this is very exciting for the entire team,” said Rebecca Dial, nurse manager, operations for the adult invasive labs and the CVSSU. “We’re now able to more smoothly support our growing clinical volume. The newly renovated space is laid out well, and I know the staff appreciates that their feedback was taken into consideration prior to starting the renovations. The construction team was thoughtful about organization and details as to what worked well and what did not in the original room. A lot of needs have been met.”

Many thanks to everyone who made this possible: our clinical imaging teams, Matt Hancock and the DUH Clinical Engineering team; Chris Boudreaux and the Facilities team; Joe Kelly, Jill Engel, Mary Lindsay, Schuyler Jones, Manesh Patel, also Jansen Clark, Jordan Goldbach, Razib Khan all from Supply Chain; Randa Romstad, Ayla Presnell, Alyssa Mirante, and Tony (Tritony) Van from the adult cardiac cath labs team, and to everyone else who supported and managed this project. The Duke Heart & Vascular leadership team wishes to send a very special shout-out to Rebecca Dial for her management of this project!

Way to go, team!

 

ICYMI: NEJM Two-Part Double Take Miniseries Features Pagidipati

Preventive cardiologist Dr. Neha Pagidipati and her co-authors on a New England Journal of Medicine Perspective/Double Take are featured in a series of online videos recently produced by the NEJM.

The two-part series includes:

Cardiovascular Risk Factors — Hypertension, published online May 20, 2026, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors — Lifestyle Modifications, published May 27, 2026.

Her co-authors are Holly Biola, MD, and James Davis, MD, of Duke; Sadiya S. Khan, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, of Framingham Center for Population and Prevention Science, Boston University; Willie McDonald and Merodean Moody of NC; and Patrick G. O’Malley, MD, MPH, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The videos relate back to the article, Global Effect of Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Lifetime Estimates, published last year in NEJM and authored by The Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium. Yi Zeng, MD, professor of medicine in geriatrics at Duke University School of Medicine, is a member of the Consortium. The videos include b-roll from the 2024 Triangle Heart Walk.

The videos are terrific and well worth watching. Nicely done, Neha!

 

 

HCLC Member Honored by Lee County

Congratulations to Dennis A. Wicker, former lieutenant governor of North Carolina and a current member of the Heart Center Leadership Council! He was recently honored by the commissioners of Lee County, North Carolina. The commissioners voted to name a courtroom in the Lee County Courthouse after Wicker. The dedication of the courtroom and the unveiling of a portrait of Wicker were held on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

We are thrilled that he has been honored in this way, and we are happy to share this good news more broadly with our Heart & Vascular team members.

“Chet Patel and Carmelo Milano saved my life, and Manesh Patel, through the Heart Board, allows me to pay my gratitude forward,” Wicker said.

Wicker honored with portrait unveiling – Sanford Herald, June 6, 2026.

This is a well-deserved honor. Congratulations, Dennis!

 

Chance Meetup in Bled, Slovenia!

Kristen Norlin, director of academic affairs at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, had a chance to catch up with adjunct professor of medicine, Dr. Tom Povcik, and his family on a recent trip to Bled, Slovenia. They randomly ran into each other at a local cafe.

Gorgeous photos – thanks for sharing them with us, Kristen!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

June is Pride Month. At Duke Health, we believe everyone deserves to feel safe, seen, and supported, especially when it comes to their health.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

June 16: In-stent Restenosis and the Next Era of PCI with Husam Salah, 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.

 

Special Cardiology Grand Rounds: June 29

On Monday, June 29, 2026, the Duke Division of Cardiology will hold a special Cardiology Grand Rounds from 6-7 p.m. at the JB Duke Hotel. Duke Heart is partnering with the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE) to host a live, in-person event, coupled with a live-stream, on dyslipidemia.

Nishant Shah, MD, will present 2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation; Manesh Patel, MD, will moderate.

Learning objectives:

• Perform global cardiovascular risk assessment, adding targeted testing for risk-enhancing factors based on guidelines and recommendations.
• Individualize lipid-lowering therapy based on trial data and guideline-recommendations to achieve LDL-C treatment goals for patients with or at high risk for ASCVD.
• Implement routine monitoring and follow up of patients with or at risk for ASCVD to support clinical decision making for LDL-C add-on therapy.

The event is free, but seating is limited.

Registration is required for both the in-person and the live-stream. NACE will offer CME credit. In-person registration link. NOTE: The in-person event at JB Duke is limited to 60 people. Live streaming will be available on the NACE virtual online platform. Creating a NACE account is quick and free.

June 29: NACE/Duke Heart Cardiology Grand Rounds

2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation with Nishant Shah, MD, and Manesh Patel, MD

JB Duke Hotel, 230 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708

6-7 p.m.

 

More information is available on the NACE platform, hyperlinked above.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

June 17: Fellowship Review with Anna Lisa Chamis. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 19: NO CONFERENCE/HOLIDAY

June 24: HF/Tx Case Conference with Jonathan Kusner. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 26: HF/Tx Case Conference 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.

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

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 10^th 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.

 

Chief’s message: End of Year Activities

 This was a hot weekend in the triangle and lots of activities over the last week to continue to meet our missions.  In this episode of the Pulse you will find updates around the yearly heart failure symposium (Largest ever), multiple award winners, many fellows and faculty recognized for clinical care and DCRI fellowship gradulation.  Enjoy the reading.

Highlights of the week:

Annual Heart Failure Symposium Held

Our largest ever annual Duke Heart Failure Symposium was held yesterday, June 6, at the Durham Convention Center in downtown Durham, NC. Led by Marat Fudim, Stephanie Barnes, Rob Mentz, and Richa Agarwal, we had record attendance with 310 participants registered. We also had record industry support with 33 companies providing sponsorship, along with the Heart Center Clinical Research Unit, Duke Clinical Research Institute, and the Duke Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) staff offering hands-on demonstrations.

We hosted seven external speakers including Hassan Alhosaini of Novant Health; Mirnela Byku of the University of Virginia; Matt Cavender of UNC-Chapel Hill; Priyesh Patel of Atrium Health/Wake Forest University; Ryan Tedford of MUSC; keynote speaker Clyde Yancy of Northwestern University, and Amin Yehya of Old Dominion University/Sentara Healthcare. More than 30 speakers were from Duke Health.

The program covered a broad range of topics within the field of heart failure, from medications to cardiometabolic health, to the devices, specialty clinics and innovation that make Duke a special place for care.

Yancy rounded out his trip to NC with a golf game with Robert Califf on Friday — but we are told they “Didn’t keep score” so we are unable to report on who had the better handicap.

A full overview of the agenda and speakers can be found here.

Many thanks to Christy Darnell for project management and day-of coordination, and to Anthony Doll for helping ensure the event ran smoothly for all; and we thank Marat, Christy, and Steph Barnes for sharing their photos with us.

Please save the date for our 2027 event, scheduled for June 12, 2027.

Great job, team!

 

DCRI Fellowship Program Graduates Ten Researchers, Recognizes Excellence

On May 20, fellows, mentors, faculty, and family members gathered at Parizade in Durham to celebrate ten graduates of the DCRI Fellowship Program.

This annual event marks the culmination of a postdoctoral training program that prepares clinical researchers to lead within their chosen specialty. The event was led by Sana Al-Khatib, director of the DCRI Fellowship Program, alongside associate directors Neha Pagidipati and Adam Goode. The evening began with the presentation of awards, followed by the recognition of each graduate with framed certificates, gifts, and personal remarks from mentors who reflected upon each fellow’s unique attributes and time in the program.

Following dinner, the group honored the departing program leaders and their accomplishments with expressions of gratitude and gifts.

“This program has been one of the most meaningful parts of my career at Duke,” said Al-Khatib. “Watching these remarkable fellows grow into even more accomplished researchers and knowing that their work will ultimately benefit patients around the world, is deeply fulfilling. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve this program and its fellows for the past six years, and I am so proud of everything this community has built together.”

For the 2026-2027 academic year, Daniel Gonzalez will assume the role of director of the DCRI Fellowship Program, and Jennifer Rymer will serve as associate director. The DCRI extends its gratitude to Al-Khatib, Pagidipati, and Goode for their exemplary leadership of the program over the past six years.

The DCRI Fellowship Program represents a longstanding commitment to mentoring and training the next generation of clinical researchers. Graduates of the training program are spread throughout the world, with some continuing their medical and research careers at Duke. The program alumni remain close with their peers and mentors, resulting in a broad network of collaborators for Duke and the DCRI.

2026 DCRI Fellowship Award Recipients

Jennifer Rymer received the Robert M. Califf Award for Outstanding Mentorship. This award recognizes a DCRI faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in mentorship activities for DCRI research fellows. Current DCRI fellows select the award through nominations, discussion, and voting.

Husam Salah was presented with this year’s Robert A. Harrington Excellence in Fellowship Award, which recognizes a graduating DCRI research fellow who has contributed the most to the program during his or her tenure and has demonstrated excellence in academic accomplishment, participation in clinical research operations, and peer-to-peer mentoring.

The Karen S. Pieper Teaching and Fellowship Support Award was bestowed upon Shelby Reed. Originally known as the Best Teaching/Support Award, the Pieper Award is designed to recognize staff at the DCRI who are consistent contributors to fellows’ education and strong supporters of the fellowship program. Beginning in 2012, the award was renamed the Karen S. Pieper Teaching and Fellowship Support Award to honor the original recipient who inspired the award’s creation in 2007. Educational activities recognized include teaching statistical methods, manuscript writing, academic financial management, and clinical operations. All DCRI staff are eligible.

The Eric D. Peterson Manuscript Award was presented to Henry Foote. This honor is awarded to a graduating DCRI research fellow whose writing excellence is demonstrated in an impactful and novel article, as well as superior writing skills and potential impact on the field.

This year’s DCRI Fellowship Citizenship Award recipient is Allison Levin. Awardees are graduating DCRI fellows chosen for their strong character and leadership, devoted service to the institution, acceptance of responsibilities and duties, and positive attitude toward peers, the DCRI, and the medical community. Recipients are also recognized for demonstrating an eagerness to learn, showing care for others, and helping when needed.

DCRI graduating fellows:

Lindsay Ballengee, DPT

• Specialty: Rehab Services
• Mentor: Steven George

Henry Foote, MD

• Specialty: Pediatrics (Cardiology)
• Mentor: Christoph Hornik

Jonathan Hanna, MD

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Jennifer Rymer

Seamus Hughes, MD

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Schuyler Jones

Allison Levin, MD, MSc

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentors: Adam DeVore, Richard Krasuski

Anthony Lin, MD

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Zak Loring

Paula Rambarat, MD

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentors: Adam DeVore

Joshua Rushakoff, MD, MPP

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Adam DeVore

Husam Salah, MBBS

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Jennifer Rymer

Satoshi Shoji, MD, PhD

• Specialty: Cardiology
• Mentor: Adam DeVore

Congratulations to all graduates and award recipients. Deep gratitude to Sana, Neha, and Adam for their excellent leadership. Congratulations to Daniel and Jenn as they step into their respective new roles.

 

New AHA Physical Activity Statement Released, Ross Vice-Chair of Committee

A new scientific statement on physical activity from the American Heart Association (AHA) was released last week and calls for an approach that puts physical activity front and center of obesity treatment, weight-loss management, and cardiovascular care. Leanna Ross, PhD, assistant professor in medicine at Duke and a member of the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute, served as a co-author and vice-chair of the writing committee.

The statement, Role of Physical Activity in Obesity Treatment and Cardiometabolic Health: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association, was published in the June 1 issue of Circulation. A news release from the AHA can be found here.

Ross’s co-authors include Damon L. Swift, PhD, chair of the writing group for the scientific statement; Stacey E. Rosen (current volunteer president of the AHA); Deepika R. Laddu, PhD,  Molly B. Conroy, MD, MPH; Charles A. German, MD, MS; Lorraine S. Evangelista, PhD, RN;  Francoise A. Marvel, MD; and Gerald J. Jerome, PhD.

Swift and Ross are featured in a video where they walk through the key clinical insights from the new scientific statement on physical activity in obesity treatment and cardiovascular disease. The discussion highlights the cardiometabolic benefits of physical activity independent of weight loss, the modest impact of exercise alone on body weight, and how combining activity with other treatments, like bariatric surgery and the new GLP-1-based therapies, can improve outcomes. They also share practical messaging strategies clinicians can use to support patient adherence and long-term engagement in physical activity.

Nicely done, Leanna!

 

Shah Completes DCLP, Receives Gorrie Award

Congratulations to Nishant Shah, MD! He recently graduated from the 2026 cohort of the Duke Clinical Leadership Program (DCLP), one of the professional development opportunities offered by Duke School of Medicine. He was one of five participants selected to receive a Thomas Gorrie Clinical Leadership Impact Award for his faculty project. The project Shah utilized in the DCLP involves system-level remote lipid monitoring and management.

“Given that many patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease have uncontrolled LDL cholesterol across the Duke Health System, we created a program that identifies and treats high-risk patients with uncontrolled cholesterol remotely through the electronic medical record,” said Shah, associate professor of medicine in cardiology. “The cholesterol management is led by clinical pharmacists who monitor patients who are agreeable to joining the program.”

The goal of the remote cholesterol management program, Shah says, is to help improve system-level cholesterol management of high-risk patients and provide a service that offers asynchronous lipid care, allowing providers to communicate electronically with their patients rather than relying only on real-time visits. The program was created through a partnership between the Division of Cardiology and the Duke Population Health Management Office. The pharmacy-led program is still in its early phases, but several patients have successfully reached their cholesterol goals, according to Shah.

“I am fortunate to have been selected as one of the participants in this year’s Clinical Leadership Program and delighted to be one of the recipients of the Gorrie Award, thanks to the amazing team we have,” Shah added.

About the Duke Clinical Leadership Program

The DCLP was founded in 2010 by then Chancellor for Health Affairs, Victor Dzau, MD, to help expand leadership capacity within Duke Health. It is currently led by cardiologist Cary Ward, MD, associate dean for faculty development in the School of Medicine. The program is geared toward mid-career clinical leaders to develop skills in everything from negotiation to finance, to thinking about personal well-being as well as the well-being of their team members.

“In the Office of Faculty, we think of leadership as a skill,” said Ward. “Leadership isn’t something that you’re born with, you have to work on it and also work on personal awareness – becoming aware of areas where you might need support, working on your skills, like negotiation, difficult conversations, and how to give feedback to others. All of us spend so much time training to do other things that we often don’t spend a lot of time investing in our own personal growth.”

At the end of the program, participants present their faculty projects, and the Gorrie Impact Award is given to members of the cohort who best exemplify the values and objectives of the DCLP.

“We have a pretty robust professional development system within the School of Medicine,” Ward added. “One of the best things we do is use internal talent to teach our DCLP faculty participants. For example, in DCLP, most instructors are internal to Duke, so we really utilize the wealth of knowledge we have within our institution to teach younger faculty. Our graduates then mentor younger faculty which helps us continue our mission of education, which is important to all of us, no matter how old we are.”

Congratulations, Nishant!

 

Shout-outs to CDU, Cath Lab & CVSSU

We received a note this week noting outstanding teamwork in the CDU, Cath Lab, and CVSSU from Marat Fudim, MD regarding a particularly busy Monday.

“We had a long and busy day in room 4. The team had seven scheduled outpatients and one inpatient, necessitating an early start with the first patient at 7:25 a.m. There were seven cases with CDU support (Fudim says he is confident that is a record, to date.)

Ashlee covered the full day – which I’m fairly sure was the longest CDU day yet — and Jordan and Jeff worked in synchrony “like a K-pop band.”

Six cases were with exercise! That is a new record, I believe, as well. One case was upright, five were supine, and four were study cases with the extra burden of documentation and scrutiny. Furthermore, there were two splanchnic nerve ablation cases in need of extra set-up, sedation, etc.

A shout-out to Matt and Lacey for coming in early and staying late for this remarkably busy day as well. This day literally took them weeks of preparation. The Cath Lab/CDU team was extremely professional, flawless in execution, zero unforced errors and on many occasions a strong display of clinical foresight making my life a lot easier!  The CVSSU had the patients ready faster than I have seen before. The turn overs were essential to allow my fast flow. I was left impressed. Finally, thanks of course to Manesh as well, who always turns up when it’s time to burn some nerves. And can’t forget our future HF fellow Hubert who showed up just in the right time when I needed help.

Clearly this shows it takes a village!” – Marat Fudim, MD

Nice teamwork, everyone!

 

Reminder: State of the School Address, June 10

The annual Duke University School of Medicine State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.

All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.

 

Special Cardiology Grand Rounds Slated for June 29

On Monday, June 29, 2026, the Duke Division of Cardiology will hold a special Cardiology Grand Rounds from 6-7 p.m. at the JB Duke Hotel. Duke Heart is partnering with the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE) to host a live, in-person event, coupled with a live-stream, on dyslipidemia.

Nishant Shah, MD, will present 2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation; Manesh Patel, MD, will moderate.

Learning objectives:

• Perform global cardiovascular risk assessment, adding targeted testing for risk-enhancing factors based on guidelines and recommendations.
• Individualize lipid-lowering therapy based on trial data and guideline-recommendations to achieve LDL-C treatment goals for patients with or at high risk for ASCVD.
• Implement routine monitoring and follow up of patients with or at risk for ASCVD to support clinical decision making for LDL-C add-on therapy.

An email blast will be sent to faculty and staff, so be on the lookout for that. A registration link will be available soon and will be included in the email blast.

The event is free, but seating is limited.

Registration is required for both the in-person and the live-stream. NACE will offer CME credit. In-person registration link. NOTE: The in-person event at JB Duke is limited to 60 people. Live streaming will be available on the NACE virtual online platform. Creating a NACE account is quick and free.

June 29: NACE/Duke Heart Cardiology Grand Rounds

2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation with Nishant Shah, MD, and Manesh Patel, MD

JB Duke Hotel, 230 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708

6-7 p.m.

More information is available on the NACE platform, hyperlinked above.

 

DUHS Updates:

Global Core Training Deadline is Friday

If you have not yet done so, please complete the required Global Core Training modules by Friday, June 12.

Thank you for your attention to this important requirement and for your continued commitment to our patients, teams, and community!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

June is Pride Month. At Duke Health, we believe everyone deserves to feel safe, seen, and supported, especially when it comes to their health.

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

June 9: From Predictive Analytics to a Learning Health System with Anthony Lin, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.

June 16: In-stent Restenosis and the Next Era of PCI with Husam Salah, 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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

June 10: DHP Case Presentation with Jemi Galani. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 12: Wide Complex Tachycardia with Jonathan Piccini. Noon, Zoom only.

June 17: Fellowship Review with Anna Lisa Chamis. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 19: NO CONFERENCE/HOLIDAY

June 24: HF/Tx Case Conference with Jonathan Kusner. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 26: HF/Tx Case Conference 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.

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

Medicine Grand Rounds

June 12: 2026 Joseph C. Greenfield Visiting Professor Lecture will be Curiosity and the Return to Why with Dr. Tony Breu, Harvard Medical School Director of Resident Education, VA Boston Healthcare System. 8 a.m.

 

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 10^th 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.

 

Highlights of the week:

Hartwig, Reeves Named Duke Surgery Vice Chairs of Research

Duke Surgery has appointed thoracic surgeon Matthew Hartwig, MD, MHS, Professor of Surgery, and R. Keith Reeves, PhD, Professor in Surgery, to lead the department’s research activities as Vice Chairs. The two will hold separate but complementary roles that have in the past been part of a single Vice Chair of Research position.

Hartwig will serve as Vice Chair for Clinical Research and Data Science. In this role, he will be the department’s senior strategic and operational leader for clinical research and operations through data science and clinical research infrastructure. Dr. Hartwig has served as Director of the Surgery Office of Clinical Research (SOCR) since 2021, giving him direct research leadership experience. He is Surgical Director of the Duke Lung Transplant Program and the Esophageal Center at Duke, and he directs the Duke Ex Vivo Organ Laboratory (DEVOL). He leads a successful program of clinical, basic, and translational research in thoracic surgery and lung transplantation. Dr. Hartwig is currently principal investigator on numerous funded studies, including industry-sponsored multi-center clinical trials and NIH-supported projects.

Reeves will serve as Vice Chair of Basic and Translational Research. In this role, he will be Duke Surgery’s senior strategic and operational leader overseeing the conduct of all basic and translational research performed across the department. He is a Director at the Center for Human Systems Immunology (CHSI), Director of the Duke Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Development Core, and co-Director of the NIH Center of Excellence for Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling. Dr. Reeves’ group focuses on cutting-edge approaches to harness innate immunity in the context of vaccines and on understanding the immune consequences of aging. He has an exceptional history of federal, industry, and foundation research support.

“Creating two distinct but collaborative research leadership positions allows for division of responsibilities and positions us well to continue to meet the needs of the changing research landscape,” Peter J. Allen, MD, David C. Sabiston Jr. Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery said, adding, “I’m confident that Matt and Keith will help Duke Surgery continue to lead the nation in surgical research.”

Dr. Allen also expressed gratitude to Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, MBA for her leadership as Vice Chair of Research for the past decade. “Under Shelley’s leadership, Duke Surgery’s research program stood out as the nation’s premier academic surgery department for research, with five years as the leading recipient of NIH funding among U.S. medical school surgery departments and a total of $380 million in new and competing federal and non-federal awards.”

Congratulations, Matt, and Keith!

 

Southerland Named Wound Care Director

 

Congratulations to Kevin Southerland, MD! He has been named the new Wound Care Medical Director for the Department of Surgery’s Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AATS ‘26 Update

The annual meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) was held in Chicago from May 2-6, 2026. During the meeting, thoracic surgeon Thomas D’Amico, MD, Gary Hock Distinguished Professor of Surgery, was elected AATS Vice President, and heart surgeon Brittany Zwischenberger, MD, was inducted as a member. 

Congratulations to both!

 

Dzau CV Lecture Delivered by Lefkowitz

Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Medicine, delivered a lecture entitled G-Protein Coupled Receptors on Wednesday, May 27. This was part of Duke’s Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Lecture Seminar Series, supported by the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr., Foundation and sponsored by the Duke Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC).

We had terrific attendance and appreciate all who joined us! Shown here are Howard Rockman, MD, Director of the CVRC, and Lefkowitz.

 

Special Cardiology Grand Rounds Slated for June 29

On Monday, June 29, 2026, the Duke Division of Cardiology will hold a special Cardiology Grand Rounds from 6-7 p.m. at the JB Duke Hotel. Duke Heart is partnering with the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE) to host a live, in-person event, coupled with a live-stream, on dyslipidemia.

Nishant Shah, MD, will present 2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation; Manesh Patel, MD, will moderate.

Learning objectives:

• Perform global cardiovascular risk assessment, adding targeted testing for risk-enhancing factors based on guidelines and recommendations.
• Individualize lipid-lowering therapy based on trial data and guideline recommendations to achieve LDL-C treatment goals for patients with or at high risk for ASCVD.
• Implement routine monitoring and follow-up of patients with or at risk for ASCVD to support clinical decision-making for LDL-C add-on therapy.

An email blast will be sent to faculty and staff, so be on the lookout. A registration link will be available soon and will be included in the email blast.

The event is free, but seating is limited.

Registration is required for both the in-person and the live-stream. NACE will offer CME credit. Live streaming will be available on the NACE virtual online platform. Creating a NACE account is quick and free.

June 29: NACE/Duke Heart Cardiology Grand Rounds
2026 Dyslipidemia Guidelines: Practical Implementation with Nishant Shah, MD, and Manesh Patel, MD
JB Duke Hotel, 230 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
6-7 p.m.

More information is available on the NACE platform, hyperlinked above.

 

DUHS Updates:

Extension of Global Core Training Deadline

To support ongoing efforts to ensure staff completion of required training, DUHS is extending the deadline for Global Core Training from May 31 to June 12. The goal is to ensure compliance while establishing a standard, consistent completion period across the health system.

If you have not already done so, please take time to complete the core modules by Friday, June 12.

Thank you for your attention to this important requirement and for your continued commitment to our patients, teams, and community.

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

June is Pride Month

June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

June 2: Innovations in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation with David Elliot, MD. 5 p.m., DN 2002 and via Zoom.

June 9: From Predictive Analytics to a Learning Health System with Anthony Lin, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.

June 16: In-stent Restenosis and the Next Era of PCI with Husam Salah, 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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

June 3: Board Review with Nishant Shah and Anthony Lin. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 5: ECG Review with Jonathan Piccini. Noon, Zoom only.

June 10: DHP Case Presentation with Jemi Galani. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 12: Wide Complex Tachycardia with Jonathan Piccini. Noon, Zoom only.

June 17: Fellowship Review with Anna Lisa Chamis. DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 19: NO CONFERENCE/HOLIDAY

June 24: HF/Tx Case Conference with Jonathan Kusner. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

June 26: HF/Tx Case Conference 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.

June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

State of the School Address, June 10

The annual Duke University School of Medicine State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.

At this year’s address, Mary E. Klotman, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Duke University SOM, will explore how the School of Medicine community is harnessing artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery, enhance education, improve patient care, and strengthen partnerships, all while keeping our people at the center of everything we do.

All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.

Please join us if you can!

 

2026 Symposia

The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.

• June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
• 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 10^th 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.

 

Chief’s message:  Memorial Day weekend

On this Memorial Day, we pause to honor the brave men and women who gave everything in service to our country — their sacrifice is the foundation of the freedoms we hold dear. This is especially poignant in this 250th year of our Independence. At Duke Heart, we are reminded daily of the spirit of service in the dedicated physicians, nurses, technicians, and staff who show up without hesitation for their patients, often in the most critical moments of their lives. To our veterans and active military — we are forever grateful. To our Duke Heart family — your courage, compassion, and commitment reflect the very best of what it means to serve our community. We are honored to stand alongside all of you.

This weekend we also had many past faculty and fellows in town to remember one of Duke Heart’s own — Dr. Jess Peter — a physician, mentor, and cultural cornerstone of this institution who embodied service in every sense of the word. Jess built the kind of presence that made everyone around him better. He built the acute MI program at Duke from the ground up, saving lives that might otherwise have been lost, and he shaped generations of fellows not just in technique but in character — teaching them that excellence and humility belong together, that a cath lab runs on trust as much as skill, and that you should never take yourself so seriously that you lose the ability to laugh.  The memorial had great stories from both family and duke cardiology and the picture of his life. He loved his family deeply, and left behind a culture of curiosity, teamwork, and genuine care for patients that lives in every person who trained under him. Both on Friday and in cath cases this weekend – I have personal seen the legacy of Jess Peter in action in our cath lab in our actions, perseverance, and ways our faculty and fellows think about interventional care. His memory is a blessing.  

Finally – please find some photos here of our DCRI fellow graduation where we continue the tradition of shaping and teaching the next generation of leaders.  In the upcoming weeks we will be sharing more graduation and accomplishments of our fellows, residents, and faculty across the service line.

 

Highlights of the week:

Life of Dr. Jess Peter Celebrated

A Celebration of Life in memory of Dr. Jess Peter was held on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at The Washington Duke Inn.  Several hundred people were in attendance including many generations of Duke Cardiology faculty and past fellows.  We want to specifically appreciate both Mary Ann Peter and her amazing family, and Dr. Michael Sketch for his support of the Peter family and helping to arrange and MC the event.

The event began with an opening prayer. Speakers included Dr. Michael Sketch, Professor Emeritus of Medicine in Cardiology at Duke; Dr. Christopher O’Connor, President, Inova Schar Heart and Vascular; Dr. David Kandzari, Chief of the Piedmont Heart Institute and Chief Scientific Officer for Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; Dr. Sunil Rao, Director, Interventional Cardiology at NYU Langone, and Dr. Manesh Patel, Chief, Division of Cardiology at Duke and president-elect of the American Heart Association for 2025-26. Dr. Patel also delivered remarks on behalf of the Dean of the School of Medicine, Dr. Mary E. Klotman, and spoke of his own memories of Jess.

Dr. Peter was greatly beloved by many at Duke and beyond. We extend our deepest sympathy — and our gratitude — to Mary Ann, their family, friends, and colleagues.

 

Celebrating Research at Duke Health

A few events were held this week and are planned for next week to celebrate research efforts at Duke.

The Durham City Council, at its May 18, 2026, meeting, proclaimed May 20 as Clinical Trials Day in Durham. You can see the proclamation read by Matt Kopac, Ward 1 Council Member, in this video. Representatives from across the region’s research and education community attended the meeting, including the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Chapter, Durham Technical Community College, North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Durham Early College for Health Sciences, as well as Duke Health, the Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), and the Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR). Willette Wilkins, chief strategy officer, and Matthew Healy, chief operating officer, attended the meeting on behalf of the DCRI.

Clinical Trials Day is officially organized and promoted by the ACRP as an opportunity to pause in reflection, recognition, and admiration of all that has been accomplished thanks to clinical trials and the people behind them. It is celebrated annually on May 20.

This year’s theme is Research Rising, capturing the momentum, ambition, and unwavering commitment we bring to our shared mission of advancing medicine and improving patient care.

The Duke Heart Center Clinical Research Unit celebrated together – part of the team is shown here. If you are interested in learning more about currently enrolling research studies, please check out their Qualtrics site: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1FFwh9RacXQ5feK. There, you can find research studies by therapeutic areas that are currently available to patients. Included are brief descriptions of the study and the name of the principal investigator.

 

Coming up next week, the Duke School of Medicine is holding the inaugural CTSI and DCRI symposia, Trustworthy Translation – Stories of Today, Visions of Tomorrow. This event takes place on Tuesday, May 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Trent Semans Center for Health Education at Duke. The keynote speaker will be cardiologist Dr. Robert Califf, founding director of the DCRI and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. More information can be found here.

Also, next week, Duke Medicine Grand Rounds holds its 2026 Resident Research Day on Friday, May 29, at 8 a.m., featuring presentations by the 2026 Califf Resident Research Award recipients Daniel Bujnowski, MD; Morgan Nakatani, MD; and Roshini Srinivasan, MD.

Please join us in celebrating research at Duke!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

May is Celebrating Each Other Month at Duke Health. Thank you for all you do!

June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

May 26: How Much Scar is Too Much? Scar Burden and Adverse Outcomes in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy with Damarcus Ingram, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.

June 9: From Predictive Analytics to a Learning Health System with Anthony Lin, 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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

May 27: EP Case Conference with Vincent Delgado and Nishkala Shivakumar. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 29: EP Case Conference with Yoo Jin Kim and Rebecca Steinberg. 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.

May 28: HFpEF Imaging Modalities with Rebecca/Harriet

June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Seminar Series

May 27: G-Protein Coupled Receptors with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz. Noon, Auditorium of the Nanaline Duke Building, Duke University. Sponsored by Duke Cardiovascular Research Center and the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation.

 

State of the School Address, June 10

The annual Duke University School of Medicine State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.

At this year’s address, Mary E. Klotman, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Duke University SOM, will explore how the School of Medicine community is harnessing artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery, enhance education, improve patient care, and strengthen partnerships, all while keeping our people at the center of everything we do.

All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited to attend. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.

Please join us if you can!

 

 

2026 Symposia

The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.

• June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
• 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 10^th 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.

 

Chief’s message: Spring Updates

Another busy week with our clinical services and academic teams.  Please find some of the key updates below.  The week started with the School of Medicine Awards – and we were fortunate to have several of our outstanding faculty recognized.  Additionally, you will see that there are several kudos to our fellows, faculty, and staff for clinical and research work.  This week we will have some important grand rounds and welcome many past fellows to Durham for Jess Peter’s Memorial Service.  We look forward to the celebration of Dr. Peter and his contribution to Duke Cardiology.

Highlights of the week:

Heart Center Faculty Earn SOM Awards

On Tuesday, May 12, the Duke University School of Medicine awarded the 2026 Faculty Awards, honoring outstanding contributions in teaching, research, clinical care, professionalism, and service. These awards celebrate the excellence and dedication of faculty members who embody the school’s mission and values.

Congratulations to the following:

• Donald D. Glower, MD, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery, was awarded the Master Clinician/Teacher Award. The award recognizes faculty for exceptional teaching and clinical service within the School of Medicine or Medical Center.
• Gerald Bloomfield, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in cardiology, was awarded the Michelle P. Winn Inclusive Excellence Award. The award recognizes individuals who have significantly advanced inclusive excellence within the School of Medicine community.
• Mitchell Krucoff, MD, professor of medicine in cardiology, was awarded the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. The award honors faculty members who demonstrate compassion, clinical excellence, and respect in patient care.
• Stuart Russell, MD, professor of medicine in cardiology, was awarded a Duke Health Clinical Excellence Award.

The following Research Mentoring Awards recognize excellence in mentoring across clinical, translational, population health, and basic sciences:

• Christopher Kontos, MD, professor of medicine in cardiology, was awarded the Career Research Mentoring Award in Basic Science.
• Jennifer Rymer, MD, associate professor of medicine in cardiology, was awarded the Early Career Research Mentoring Award in Clinical/Translational Science.
• Christoph Hornik, MD, PhD, MPH, Samuel L. Katz Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, a pediatric cardiologist and critical care medicine specialist, was awarded the Career Research Mentoring Award in Clinical/Translational Science.

For the complete list of all 2026 Faculty Awardees, please visit: https://duke.is/4/mjc3.

Congratulations to all!

 

2026 Heart Failure Congress

We had excellent representation at Heart Failure 2026, the annual congress of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology, held May 9-12, 2026, in Barcelona, Spain.

Serving as session co-chairs, speakers/presenters, and discussants, faculty from Duke included Drs. G. Michael Felker, Robert Mentz, Senthil Selvaraj, Marat Fudim, and Stephen Greene; Internal medicine resident Dr. Leela Ekambarapu and cardiology fellow Dr. Paula Rambarat joined them.

“A big shoutout to Paula Rambarat for her presentation. She smoothly navigated travel difficulty (with her young one in hand) to present novel insights from CONNECT-HF on severe heart failure and medical therapies. Making the HF group proud.” — Rob Mentz

Solid work, everyone!

 

Kudos to Goodwin, Roy & Bowen!

Schuyler Jones, MD, shared a lovely note with us this week about interventional cardiology fellows Nate Goodwin and Priya Roy:

“Good afternoon,

We received a great deal of wonderful feedback regarding the EMS education sessions held this week. Both sessions were highly interactive, and the team greatly appreciated the in-depth review of the cases they had been part of. Thank you all for your time, collaboration, and willingness to share your expertise and experiences with everyone.

Nate and Priya, you both did an outstanding job presenting the information in a way that was relatable, engaging, and easy to understand. You fielded a wide variety of questions thoughtfully and created an interactive learning environment that was very well received by the group.

A special thank you as well to *Brittney Bowen for all her assistance in coordinating the event and helping ensure everything came together smoothly. (*Bowen is an administrative specialist with Duke Heart Network)

Thank you again for your support, preparation, and dedication to helping strengthen education and collaboration across our teams.” – Natalie Horseman, associate clinical director, Duke Heart Network

Nicely done, Nate, Priya, and Brittney!

 

Shout-out to Champion!

We received a terrific note this week (shared with us by Anna Lisa Chamis) from Dennis Narcisse regarding an anecdote shared by an EMS provider at the education session held with Person County EMS in Roxboro last week:

“Hi Anna Lisa,

Hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to send you a note and highlight some great feedback that we received about Cosette Champion. Nate Goodwin and I are up in Roxboro today doing EMS education with Person County EMS providers. We are reviewing STEMI activations from Person County over the last 6-12 months and discussing the process.

One of the more senior providers commented on a case where he was riding with a new EMS provider on a STEMI activation back in early March. He said during all the chaos – Cosette stopped to ask for more info from the EMS providers and found out it was the newer EMS providers first STEMI case. He noted that Cosette took the time to explain the cath lab process, the STEMI images, and the entire cath lab process to them.

He went out of his way to note how great an impact this had on both of them and how they had told all their crews how incredible Duke Hospital treated them, especially because it was at midnight and there was so much happening at once. They credited this experience directly to how she treated their team.

Just wanted to highlight how great Cosette is — this is before she had ever been in the cath lab! She was the CICU fellow who took their call that night.” – Dennis

Fantastic job, Cosette!

 

Reminders

Next weekend: Dr. Jess Peter Celebration of Life

A Celebration of Life will be held in memory of Dr. Robert “Jess” Peter on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at The Washington Duke Inn, 3001 Cameron Blvd., Durham, NC, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the program beginning at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Peter’s obituary can be found on the Walker’s Funeral Home site.

The Duke Chronicle published a tribute to Dr. Peter on April 28, 2026. The article is ‘A guiding presence’: Professor of Medicine Robert Peter remembered for mentorship, influence on cardiology.

 

 

State of the School Address, June 10

The annual Duke University School of Medicine State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.

At this year’s address, Mary E. Klotman, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Duke University SOM, will explore how the School of Medicine community is harnessing artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery, enhance education, improve patient care, and strengthen partnerships, all while keeping our people at the center of everything we do.

All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited to attend. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.

Please join us if you can!

 

DUHS Policy Updates

Two system-wide policies have been updated and will go into effect on June 1, 2026: Appearance Standards and Badge Swiping. These updates were developed in response to feedback about inconsistencies across departments and are designed to simplify expectations, reduce ambiguity, and better support operations in both patient-facing and non-patient-facing environments.

Key Policy Updates

Badge Swiping Policy Changes:

• For team members paid monthly, badge swiping will no longer be required for pay processing; however accurate and timely entry of PTO and leave remains your key timekeeping responsibility. Some departments may require exempt employees to swipe in for other operational purposes. For monthly team members, pay is not calculated by badge swipes.
• For team members paid bi-weekly, badge swiping expectations remain in place.

Appearance Standards Policy Changes:

• A single, systemwide standard now applies across DUHS, replacing department-level variations.
• Standards apply across patient-facing, non-patient-facing, and hybrid roles.
• Guidance has been updated to reflect different working environments, including clearer direction for patient care settings and more flexibility for non-patient-facing and hybrid roles.

Policy updates and additional resources, including FAQs, can be reviewed here: Appearance Standards Policy and Badge Swiping Policy. Final versions of the policies will be published to the DUHS Policy Site on June 1, 2026.

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

May is Celebrating Each Other Month at Duke Health. This is a time to pause, connect, and show gratitude for the ways we support one another and care for our patients, teams, and community. Thank you for all you do!

June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

May 19: Summoning Ghosts from Clinical Data: ECG-AI, Context Engineering and the Path to Trustworthy Clinical Intelligence with Ivan Nenadic Wood, MD. 5 p.m., DN 2002 and via Zoom.

May 26: Cardiology Grand Rounds topic TBA with Damarcus Ingram, MD. 5 p.m. DN 2002 and via Zoom.

June 9: From Predictive Analytics to a Learning Health System with Anthony Lin, 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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

May 20: TBD. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 22 Board Prep Tips & Tricks with fellows who have recently taken the Boards. Noon, Zoom only.

May 27: EP Case Conference with Vincent Delgado and Nishkala Shivakumar. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 29: EP Case Conference with Yoo Jin Kim and Rebecca Steinberg. 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.

May 21: Imaging TOF Patient with Bharathi Upadhya

May 28: HFpEF Imaging Modalities with Rebecca/Harriet

June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Seminar Series

May 27: G-Protein Coupled Receptors with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz. Noon, Auditorium of the Nanaline Duke Building, Duke University. Sponsored by Duke Cardiovascular Research Center and the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation.

 

2026 Symposia

The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.

• June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
• 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 10^th 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.

 

Chief’s message:  Mother’s Day weekend

Hope you all have a happy mother’s day weekend to remember and celebrate the mothers in our lives.  This weekend also is an important weekend in the triangle with many groups of families in town for commencement for the universities in the area including Duke and UNC.  This week’s pulse highlights many of the teams working hard in the Heart Center to care for patients and train the next generation.  In addition, we are adding in some of our quarterly funding updates for recognition of the people continuing to help our research work.  Finally – please find the time for the celebration of Dr. Jess Peter.

Highlights and updates of the week:

Dr. Jess Peter Celebration of Life Announced

A Celebration of Life will be held in memory of Dr. Robert “Jess” Peter on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at The Washington Duke Inn, 3001 Cameron Blvd., Durham, NC, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the program beginning at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Peter’s obituary can be found on the Walker’s Funeral Home site.

The Duke Chronicle published a tribute to Dr. Peter on April 28, 2026. The article is ‘A guiding presence’: Professor of Medicine Robert Peter remembered for mentorship, influence on cardiology.

 

 

Mitral Valve Program Earns 7^th MVRR Center Award

We learned this week that our mitral valve program has earned the Mitral Foundation’s 2026 Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center Award for the 7th year in a row.

The Award was created to recognize centers in the United States that have a demonstrated record of superior clinical outcomes in degenerative mitral valve repair resulting from evidence-based guideline treatment. The Mitral Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board, a multidisciplinary group of leaders including surgeons, cardiologists, and imagers from around the country, developed the criteria applied in the evaluation of candidate centers. Based on their review, our center has shown that it continues to meet their high standards of quality care.

Congratulations to Brittany Zwischenberger, Don Glower, Jeff Gaca, Andrew Wang, and our entire mitral valve team, with special thanks to Melissa Williams and our Center of Excellence team for monitoring our data as we continue our push for excellence in quality and safety outcomes.

 

Perfusion Week 2026

We are blessed to have an incredible team of perfusionists here at Duke!

In recognition of Perfusion Week (May 1-7), we extend our sincere appreciation for the critical expertise and unwavering dedication our perfusionists bring to patient care each day. Their work is essential to the success of our cardiac and vascular programs, providing life-sustaining support during some of the most complex and high-risk procedures.

Their precision, vigilance, and deep clinical knowledge ensure the highest standard of care in moments when it matters most. Equally important is their ability to work seamlessly within multidisciplinary teams, contributing to outstanding outcomes and advancing the quality of care we deliver.

While much of their impact occurs behind the scenes, its significance cannot be overstated. Their commitment to excellence, patient safety, and continuous improvement reflects the absolute best of the caregiving profession.

Please accept our deepest gratitude for all that you do to support our patients, our teams, and our mission. Thank you for your expertise, dedication, and extraordinary contributions.

*Our Perfusion team would like to thank their adoring fans for the lunches provided throughout the week. It was greatly appreciated — thank you!

 

Celebrating ECMO Team with ‘Team Day’

Our Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) team celebrated the first annual Global ECMO Team Day on Friday, May 8, 2026.

The event was established by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) in honor of the birth date of ELSO’s founder and ECMO Innovator, the late Dr. Robert Hawes Bartlett.

Bartlett, who died in Oct. 2025, was a strong advocate for the entire team involved in ECMO care. In this spirit, Global ECMO Team Day celebrates the entire ECMO team – from clinical teams and specialists to researchers and device innovators, to those providing ongoing care and recovery support after ECMO. Our Duke team celebrated Team Day with donuts on the ECMO units – cheers to that!

Duke’s ECMO team has even more to celebrate — ours is the first center in the world to have all our experienced/eligible Respiratory Therapy ECMO Specialists achieve both the ELSO Adult ECMO Practitioner Certification and ELSO Neo-Peds Practitioner Certification.

Way to go!

 

Nurses Week 2026

In celebration of National Nurses Week (May 6-12), we would like to offer special thanks to our team nurses.

We extend our sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for the unwavering commitment, clinical excellence, and compassion you demonstrate each day. Your work is foundational to the care we provide and central to the outcomes we achieve for our patients and families.

You consistently exemplify the highest standards of professionalism while navigating complex, high-acuity environments with skill, precision, and empathy. Whether at the bedside, in procedural areas, ambulatory settings, or supporting care across the continuum, your contributions are essential and profoundly impactful.

Beyond your clinical expertise, it is your dedication to teamwork, your advocacy for patients, and your resilience in the face of ongoing challenges that truly distinguish this team. You lead with both competence and compassion, strengthening not only our service line but the entire health system.

Please know that your efforts are recognized, valued, and deeply respected.

Thank you for all that you do to advance care and improve lives each day.

We appreciate you!

 

FON Awards Presented During Nurses Week

Duke Heart & Vascular had a great showing at the 2025 Friends of Nursing Awards luncheon with nine winners from across the service line. The awardees were recognized on Thursday, May 7, 2026, at the Washington Duke Inn.

Our Excellence Award honorees are:

• Violeta Villaruel, BSN, RN, CCRN, Clinical Nurse III, Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit DMP 7W. She received the Wilma Minniear Award for Excellence in Nursing Mentorship.
• Steffi Molina, BSN, RN, CCRN, Clinical Nurse III, Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit DMP 7W. She received the Norma L. Harris Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
• James Hallberg, BSN, RN, CCRN, Clinical Nurse III, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit DMP 7E. He received the Hill-Rom Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
• Gracen Ellington, BSN, RN, PCCN, Clinical Nurse IV, Cardiovascular Short Stay Unit. She received the Nan & Hugh Cullman Heart Center Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
• Emily Anthony, BSN, RN, CCRN, Education Supervisor, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, DMP 7E. She received the DUHS Ernestine Davis & Edward L. Cole Award for Excellence in Coronary Care Unit Nursing.
• Elizabeth Beebe, BSN, RN, Clinical Nurse III, Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit, DMP 7W. She received the Mary Ann & Robert H. Peter Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
• Jacob “Jake” Boger, BSN, RN, Clinical Nurse IV, Cardiology Stepdown Unit 7700. He received the Janet H. Clap Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
• Jessica Corrales Nebot, BSN, RN, Clinical Nurse III, Cardiothoracic Stepdown Unit 6300. She received the Heart Center Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Nursing in Recognition of Mary Ann Peter.
• Morgan Lewis, BSN, RN, Clinical Services Nurse II, Advanced Heart Failure and Lung Transplant Clinic 2F/2G. She received the Nan & Hugh Cullman Heart Center Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.

Congratulations to each of the winners for being recognized for the terrific contributions you make every day to our patients and their loved ones.

First SYNCHRONICITY Patient Enrolled

Last week, Daniel Friedman, MD, and lead clinical research coordinator Jessye Davis, enrolled the first patient at Duke in SYNCHRONICITY, a global randomized trial comparing left bundle branch area pacing with conventional cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB) and an ejection fraction of 35% or less.

Friedman, who is joined by Marat Fudim, MD, on the steering committee for SYNCHRONICTY, helped to design the study and ensure funding for this pivotal trial.

Congratulations to all!

 

Funding Awards for Duke Cardiology, January-March

Congratulations to the following cardiology faculty and students for receiving research funding awards in January, February, or March 2026.

• Anita Kelsey, MD, has received an award from Kardigan Inc. for a project entitled, Phase 3 Ataciguat Study. Total funding is $649,090.
• Christopher Kontos, MD, has received a sub-award via Wake Forest University for a project entitled, Variant Determinants of African American Limb Pathology in Peripheral Arterial Disease. Total funding is $125,969.
• Daniel Friedman, MD, has received an award from Boston Scientific Corporation for a project entitled, Safety and Effectiveness of Left Bundle Branch Area Pacing versus Conventional Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy in Heart Failure. Total funding is $398,410.
• Gerald Bloomfield, MD, MPH, has received a sub-award via Temple University for a project entitled INTEGRATE RX. Total funding is $37,120.
• Jessica Regan, MD, has received an award from the American Heart Association for a project entitled, Interrogating Mechanistic Effects of Clonal Hematopoiesis in Heart Failure. Total funding is $230,960.
• Jonathan Piccini, MD, has received an award from the American Heart Association for a project entitled GWTG Clinical Insights CMS Linkages. Total funding is $530,764.
• Marat Fudim, MD, MHS, has received an award from the National Institutes of Health for a project entitled, The Iron Needed for Function and Undesirable Symptoms in Elderly with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (INFUSEHFpEF). Total funding is $2,982,563.
• Fudim also has received an award from Pharmacosmos Therapeutics Inc. for a project entitled, A phase III randomized trial of ferric derisomaltose in chronic heart failure. Total funding is $268,790.
• Senthil Selvaraj, MD, MS, has received an award from the American Heart Association for a project entitled, Impact of Exogenous Ketone Therapy on Skeletal Muscle Fuel Substrates After Exercise in HFrEF. Total funding is $77,000.
• Sudarshan Rajagopal, MD, has received a sub-award via Battelle Memorial Institute for a project entitled, Mass spectrometry platform for decoding GPCR hyperphosphorylation. Total funding is $251,924.
• Sunag R. Udupa, PhD (PhD student, Lefkowitz Lab) has received an award from the American Heart Association for a project entitled, Structural and Mechanistic Basis of β-arrestin2 Signaling Through MAPK JNK3. Total funding is $70,676.
• Svati Shah, MD, has received an award from Novo Nordisk A/S for a project entitled CVD Biomarkers Study (miR-132). Total research funding is $375,113.

Congratulations to all!

 

State of the School Address Planned for June 10

Mary E. Klotman, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, has announced her State of the School Address will take place from Noon to 12:45 p.m. on Wed., June 10, 2026. It will be held in the Great Hall, Trent Center for Health Education.

At this year’s address, Dean Klotman will explore how our School of Medicine community is harnessing artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery, enhance education, improve patient care, and strengthen partnerships, all while keeping our people at the center of everything we do.

All faculty, providers, staff, trainees, and students are invited to attend. You are welcome to bring your own lunch. Light refreshments and limited giveaways will be available.

Please join us if you can!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

May is Celebrating Each Other Month at Duke Health. This is a time to pause, connect, and show gratitude for the ways we support one another and care for our patients, teams, and community. Thank you for all you do!

May 6 – 12: National Nurses Week

June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

May 13 (Wednesday): Highlights of the Heart Rhythm 2026 Meeting with Implications for Clinical Practice with Sana Al-Khatib, MD. 5 p.m., Zoom only.

May 19: Summoning Ghosts from Clinical Data: ECG-AI, Context Engineering and the Path to Trustworthy Clinical Intelligence with Ivan Nenadic Wood, 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.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

May 13: DHP Case Conference with Rebecca Steinberg. Noon, DMP 7E39, and via Zoom.

May 15: Line Day in CCU with Willard Applefeld & other CCU faculty. Noon, DMP 7E39 only.

May 20: TBD. Noon, DMP 7E39, and via Zoom.

May 22 Board Prep Tips & Tricks with fellows who have recently taken the Boards. Noon, Zoom only.

May 27: EP Case Conference with Vincent Delgado and Nishkala Shivakumar. Noon, DMP 7E39, and via Zoom.

May 29: EP Case Conference with Yoo Jin Kim and Rebecca Steinberg. 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.

May 14: Pericardial Diseases with Fawaz Alenezi

May 21: Imaging TOF Patient with Bharathi Upadhya

May 28: HFpEF Imaging Modalities with Rebecca/Harriet

June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

2026 Symposia

The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.

• June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
• September 26: Duke Case-Based Multimodality Imaging Symposium – Course directors are Sreek 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!

 

Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Seminar Series

May 27: G-Protein Coupled Receptors with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz. Noon, Auditorium of the Nanaline Duke Building, Duke University. Sponsored by Duke Cardiovascular Research Center and the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation.

 

Support Ramos & Visionaries of the Year Campaign

Dayana Ramos, DNP, a critical care nurse practitioner in cardiology (and cancer survivor), continues to work toward her fundraising goal of $25,000 to help advance lifesaving treatments and support for families facing blood cancer during this year’s Visionaries of the Year campaign with Blood Cancer United.

She is hosting a virtual raffle as well as a “Sip to Save Lives” cocktail event this week at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28, at The Velvet Hippo, 119 W. Orange Street, in downtown Durham. Half of the proceeds from sales of the “spicy mango margarita” will benefit Blood Cancer United.

The virtual raffle is for three prizes: a $25 Starbucks gift card; a $50 Amazon gift card, and a Grand Prize — a brewery tour and tasting at Ponysaurus Brewery in Durham. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased directly from Dayana. Winners will be announced on May 16.

Ramos’ fundraising finale is a 5K — and registration is open! The Race for a Cure 5K (run/jog/walk) will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2026, starting at Durty Bull Brewing Company, 206 Broadway St. #104, Durham, NC 27701. Recommended donation of $15 to register. All donations go to Blood Cancer United.

We hope you will consider supporting Dayana in any way you can, even if only with words of encouragement! Her fundraising page for Blood Cancer United can be found here. Her fundraising deadline is May 16.

 

Hitting with Heart Softball Tournament

The 10^th 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.

 

Highlights of the week:

Four Cardiologists Receive 2026 DOM Faculty Awards 

The Duke Department of Medicine held its annual faculty award celebration on Wednesday evening, April 29, at the Nasher Museum of Art.

We are pleased to share that four cardiology division faculty members were recognized with awards. They are:

Daniel Mark, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, received the Career Achievement Award. This recognizes a faculty member whose career at Duke has achieved extraordinary impact in one of the three core missions of the School of Medicine: education, research, or clinical medicine.

Michelle Kelsey, MD, associate professor of medicine, received the Excellence in Education Award. This recognizes one faculty member in each division for excellence in medical education, outstanding leadership, and commitment to the education of fellows, residents, and students.

Daniel Loriaux, MD, assistant professor of medicine, received the Eugene A. Stead Teaching Award, recognizing faculty who exemplify excellence in house staff teaching.

“I am very honored (and surprised) to receive the Stead Award,” said Loriaux. “It’s voted upon by the Internal Medicine House Staff for excellence in teaching and I am very fortunate to have worked with so many great medicine residents in the ICU this year.”

Andrew Wang, MD, professor of medicine, was named to the 2026 Clinical Excellence Society, which recognizes exceptional clinicians who have made contributions to the practice of patient care, clinical innovation, and training the next generation of physicians.

 

Congratulations to each of you on these honors! They are very well-deserved.

 

Hartwig Earns NIH R01

Earlier this year, thoracic surgeon Matthew Hartwig, MD, professor of surgery and professor of biomedical engineering at Duke, received his first NIH R01 grant for his project, Ex Vivo Delivery of Viral-Mediated Gene Therapy for the Amelioration of Post-Transplant Rejection.

Congratulations, Matt!

 

 

 

 

 

Latest HF Publication

Congratulations to Stephanie Barnes, Robert Mentz, Julie Thompson, Jill Engel, and Bradi Granger on their latest research paper, “Implementation of a Digital Patient Activation Tool to Engage Patients With Heart Failure in Intensification of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapies,” published March 31, 2026, in the journal Computers, Informatics, Nursing. This is Stephanie Barnes’ first publication as first author. Way to go, Steph!

Great work, team!

 

Latest NCDR Registry Recognition for DUH, DRH

The National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) has just released new awards to Duke University Hospital and Duke Regional Hospital in recognition of voluntarily reporting safety and quality data to the public via the following NCDR registries:

• CathPCI Registry: assesses the characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of cardiac disease patients who receive diagnostic catheterization and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures.
• EP Device Implant Registry: includes data on cardiac device implant procedures, including implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and pacemakers.
• STS/ACC TVT Registry: Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology TVT Registry tracks patient safety and real-world outcomes for transcatheter valve therapies.

Duke University Hospital received CathPCI, EPDI, and TVT Registry recognition. Duke Regional Hospital received CathPCI and EPDI Registry recognition.

Data transparency via these registries shows our commitment to quality improvement.

Congratulations to all!

 

Shout-Out to Threadcraft and Amin!

Kristin Newby shared a terrific note with us about care provided by cardiovascular disease fellows Marcus Threadcraft and Krunal Amin:

“Good morning,

I would like to take a moment to recognize two individuals on our team who have demonstrated phenomenal care for both our patients and our colleagues. In a time when it’s easy to focus on challenges, it’s just as important to highlight the positives.

I want to acknowledge Marcus Threadcraft for his strong dedication to this unit. Marcus is approachable, knowledgeable, and consistently provides holistic care to patients and their families. It is clear that he values his team and actively promotes high-quality teamwork in all situations. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Marcus as a charge nurse, leader, and bedside nurse, and I’m truly grateful for how he helps make our work more organized and manageable. He steps up during critical situations while ensuring every team member feels included and heard. Marcus consistently seeks feedback and encourages input from others when developing patient care plans. I’ve also heard many of my peers share similar praise about his leadership, teamwork, and dedication.

I also want to acknowledge that Krunal Amin has demonstrated exceptional interpersonal skills since joining us as a resident, and this has continued into Krunal’s first year of fellowship in the CICU. Krunal is a dedicated and hardworking individual who consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that patients, families, and staff are all cared for at the highest level, fostering a strong sense of teamwork and trust. During critical situations, Krunal brings a calm yet passionate presence, remaining composed under pressure while advocating for patients and supporting the care team. Krunal’s holistic approach to care, paired with consistent professionalism and respect in every interaction, makes a meaningful impact on both patient outcomes and unit culture.

I hope these recognitions are shared with both individuals, as they are truly deserving. This is exactly the kind of culture we strive to foster here in the CICU, and I cannot say enough positive things about the impact they have made.” —Best regards, Haylie Puckett BSN, RN, CCRN, CN IV Leader, 7 East – Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Way to go, Marcus and Krunal! You make us proud!

 

Hunara Named Next Chief Administrative Officer for Duke Surgery

The Duke Department of Surgery has announced that Jennifer Hunara, MHA, MBA, will join the department as Chief Administrative Officer and Vice Chair for Administration on June 8. In this role, she will provide comprehensive administrative leadership, coordination, and financial oversight for the department, with responsibility for business operations including finance and budgeting, personnel administration, space and facilities planning, grant administration, and policy interpretation.

The full story appears here.

Welcome, Jennifer!

 

Upcoming CME Events & Opportunities

May is Celebrating Each Other Month at Duke Health. This is a time to pause, connect, and show gratitude for the ways we support one another and care for our patients, teams, and community. Thank you for all you do!

May 1-7 is Perfusion Week.

May 6-12 is National Nurses Week.

June 5: Wear Orange Day at Duke Health – in support of National Gun Awareness Day and “Wear Orange Weekend”. #DukeHealthWearsOrange

 

Cardiology Grand Rounds

May 5: Heart Failure in Adults with Fontan Circulation: Half a Heart, Twice the Challenge with Allison Levin, MD. 5 p.m., DN2002 and via Zoom.

 

CD Fellows Core Curriculum Conference

May 6: Board Review with Nishant Shah and Anthony Lin. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 8: ACS Guidelines with Jenn Rymer. Noon, Zoom only.

May 13: DHP Case Conference with Rebecca Steinberg. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 15: Line Day in CCU with Willard Applefeld & other CCU faculty. Noon, DMP 7E39 only.

May 20: TBD. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 22 Board Prep Tips & Tricks with fellows who have recently taken the Boards. Noon, Zoom only.

May 27: EP Case Conference with Vincent Delgado and Nishkala Shivakumar. Noon, DMP 7E39 and via Zoom.

May 29: EP Case Conference with Yoo Jin Kim and Rebecca Steinberg. 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.

May 7: Imaging Approach to Congenital Heart Disease with Bharathi Upadhya

May 14: Pericardial Diseases with Fawaz Alenezi

May 21: Imaging TOF Patient with Bharathi Upadhya

May 28: HFpEF Imaging Modalities with Rebecca/Harriet

June 4: Endocarditis with Fawaz Alenezi

June 11: CT Fractional Flow Review and Akshay Pendyal

June 18: D-Trans vs L-Trans Congenital Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

June 25: Systemic and Pulmonary Hypertensive Heart Disease with Fawaz Alenezi

 

2026 Symposia

The dates for the following 2026 Duke Heart symposia have been set. We will announce others as they are added.

• June 6: Duke Heart Failure Symposium — Course directors are Marat Fudim, Rob Mentz, Richa Agarwal, and Stephanie Barnes. Location: Durham Convention Center, Durham, NC.
• September 26: Duke Case-Based Multimodality Imaging Symposium – Course directors are Sreek 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!

 

DCRI 30^th Anniversary Forum

May 5: Lead Yourself, Before Leading Others with General Charles Q. Brown, Jr.  Noon, Zoom only.

This week, the Duke Clinical Research Institute will host Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a presentation and discussion during the next DCRI 30th Anniversary Forum event, from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5. General Brown will present “Lead Yourself, Before Leading Others,” which will be followed by a discussion with the DCRI Executive Director, Adrian Hernandez, MD, MHS, and Deputy Executive Director, Danny Benjamin, MD, PhD, MPH.

Gen. Brown is currently the executive-in-residence at the Sanford School of Public Policy and Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. Please join if you can!

 

Victor J. Dzau Cardiovascular Seminar Series

May 27: G-Protein Coupled Receptors with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz. Noon, Auditorium of the Nanaline Duke Building, Duke University. Sponsored by Duke Cardiovascular Research Center and the Edna and Fred L. Mandel Jr. Foundation.

 

Support Ramos & Visionaries of the Year Campaign

Dayana Ramos, DNP, a critical care nurse practitioner in cardiology (and cancer survivor) continues to work toward her fundraising goal of $25,000 to help advance lifesaving treatments and support for families facing blood cancer during this year’s Visionaries of the Year campaign with Blood Cancer United.

She is hosting a virtual raffle as well as a “Sip to Save Lives” cocktail event this week at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28 at The Velvet Hippo, 119 W. Orange Street, in downtown Durham. Half of the proceeds from sales of the “spicy mango margarita” will benefit Blood Cancer United.

The virtual raffle is for three prizes: a $25 Starbucks gift card; a $50 Amazon gift card, and a Grand Prize — a brewery tour and tasting at Ponysaurus Brewery in Durham. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased directly from Dayana. Winners will be announced on May 16.

Ramos’ fundraising finale is a 5K — and registration is open! The Race for a Cure 5K (run/jog/walk) will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2026, starting at Durty Bull Brewing Company, 206 Broadway St. #104, Durham, NC 27701. Recommended donation of $15 to register. All donations go to Blood Cancer United.

We hope you will consider supporting Dayana in any way you can, even if only with words of encouragement! Her fundraising page for Blood Cancer United can be found here. Her fundraising deadline is May 16.

 

Hitting with Heart Softball Tournament

The 10^th 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.