Save the dates and begin the countdown – ACC.21 is just around the corner! For a few seconds, imagine the possibilities. Along with thousands of colleagues from around the world, you're listening to a streamed Featured Clinical Research presentation and an idea pops into your head. At that moment, in real time, you can chat with the presenter and panelists and get a response. You share your idea with cardiologists online and get constructive feedback to launch your next project or research. A long-lost colleague, a friend or potential research collaborator notices your name in the chat box, an online connection is established, and a virtual chat/discussion begins on a common topic of interest. With dedicated, focused online engagement, you can learn the latest science and review hot topics in cardiology during ACC.21 Virtual. The learning continues throughout the year with on-demand sessions at your fingertips to answer clinical questions in your practice.

For Early Career professionals looking to brush up on clinical knowledge, engage with the 11 Clinical Learning Pathways. More than 100 Featured Sessions will stream across six channels starting May 15, at 8 a.m. ET. View sessions at your convenience and for extended access for learning throughout the year, select the Silver package registration.

And keep up with ongoing research across all the disciplines with 3,300 eAbstracts plus more than 400 moderated poster sessions, all available on demand through the eAbstracts System.

What are my top picks for EC professionals?

The list starts – of course – with the Late-Breaking Clinical Trials (LBCTs) and Featured Clinical Research (FCR) sessions! This is our opportunity to learn important results that may affect our practice and to interact directly with the clinical trialists and panelists. On the Hot Topics Channel, there are five streamed LBCT sessions (#402, 406, 407, 410 and 411) and three FCR sessions (#403, 409 and 412). Don't miss the Deep Dive sessions on the LBCTs (#408 and 414).

Sharing best practices and learning across borders helps us all to improve heart health. I'm looking forward to the International Perspectives from the European Society of Cardiology and ACC sessions (#699 and 759) for these insights.

These are my picks on the Guidelines Channel. First, the Core Knowledge in Action series. There are sessions on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, aortic stenosis, lipids, atrial fibrillation and stable ischemic heart disease (#801, 802, 803, 804 and 805), Second, the Clinical Spotlight Series, with sessions on anticoagulation, cardiomyopathies and lipids (#1602, 1603 and 1605) and the Updates in Management of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy session (#747) provide an opportunity to discuss recent guidelines with clinical content experts.

For board recertification, these bread-and butter general cardiology sessions on the Interdisciplinary Education Channel have caught my eye and are on my schedule.

• Caring for the Patient with STEMI in 2021: Comprehensive, Competent and Conscientious Care (#609)
• Nuts and Bolts of Pregnancy and Congenital Heart Disease (#626)
• New and Emerging Breakthrough Medicines for HFrEF! Now What Do We Do? (#634)
• ECGs with the Experts: Practical Considerations for the CV Clinician (#648)
• Pharmacotherapy Considerations in Cardio-Obstetrics (#701)
• Topical Topics in Pulmonary Hypertension (#744)
• Hemodynamics of Heart Failure: You Thought You Knew Them (#737)
• Cardio-Oncology: Today's Standard of Practice (#748)

On the Global Cardiovascular Health Channel, I recommend these sessions. Pre-operative Care for Non-cardiac Surgery: Emerging Strategies and Ongoing Controversies (#610); Disparities and the Role of Social Determinants of Health in Acute and Stable Ischemic Heart Disease (#623); Minimally Invasive Therapies and Devices in AHF, with the 2021 Douglas Zipes Young Scientist Award Keynote by Marat Fudim, MD, FACC (#663); and the Lancet Commission on Global Cardiovascular Disease Burden in Women (#789).

The Topic Essentials I Channel is the place to be for the Case-Based Approach from the Experts on Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Clinical Challenges (#602). Early Career professionals seeking research ideas and collaborators will find this a useful channel, with its Best of JACC Journals session with all the editors-in-chief along with the Eugene Braunwald Keynote by Christine E. Seidman, MD (#413).

Also on this channel a number of important Highlighted Original Research and Year in Review sessions will be streaming starting on May 15. And thanks to Silver level access, I'll be diving into the ones I couldn't stream, making sure I don't miss a thing. The topics for these sessions include Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Pulmonary Hypertension, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Interventional Cardiology, Vascular Medicine, Prevention, Noninvasive Imaging, and Vascular Heart Disease (#901, 904, 902, 903, 905, 912, 908 and 914).

For pediatric cardiologists, I want to highlight a session on the Topic Essentials II Channel: Management of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in the Post-COVID World: Where Do We Go From Here? (#669), which includes the Dan G. McNamara Keynote by Howard A. Drucker, MD, FACC, who will share a personal and professional narrative of the pandemic. Also schedule to join the Highlighted Original Research and Year in Review series on Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (#911).

Also, on this channel, for noninvasive cardiologists, I suggest the Clarity from Confusion in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction session (#674), with the Kanu and Docey Chatterjee Keynote by Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, FACC, who shares a futurist's view on this challenging entity. And interventional cardiologists will benefit from the How to Stent a LM Like a Boss: Left Main PCI workshop (#624).

I'll close out my picks with the Challenging Cases in Cardio-Oncology session (#618). And a reminder to not miss the excitement of the FIT Jeopardy: Battle of the State Chapter Semi-Finals (#6004) streaming on Saturday, May 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon and the Finals on Sunday, May 16, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

ACC.21 promises to be a superb educational experience. Just as with an in-person meeting, strategic planning is key to getting the best value from the live streaming sessions, with the ability to chat, discuss and ask questions with your colleagues and faculty, and from the on-demand sessions to continue learning. If you haven't registered, take a few moments and click here to register now.

Hoping to connect and engage with you virtually at ACC.21! Follow along on Twitter with the hashtags #ACC21 and #ACCEarlyCareer, and follow @ACCinTouch. On Instagram, follow along with americancollegeofcardiology.

Clinical Topics: Anticoagulation Management, Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Cardiac Surgery, Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Invasive Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, Prevention, Pulmonary Hypertension and Venous Thromboembolism, Stable Ischemic Heart Disease, Valvular Heart Disease, Anticoagulation Management and Atrial Fibrillation, Atrial Fibrillation/Supraventricular Arrhythmias, Aortic Surgery, Cardiac Surgery and Arrhythmias, Cardiac Surgery and CHD and Pediatrics, Cardiac Surgery and Heart Failure, Cardiac Surgery and SIHD, Cardiac Surgery and VHD, Congenital Heart Disease, CHD and Pediatrics and Arrhythmias, CHD and Pediatrics and Interventions, CHD and Pediatrics and Prevention, Acute Heart Failure, Pulmonary Hypertension, Interventions and Structural Heart Disease, Interventions and Vascular Medicine, Hypertension, Chronic Angina

Keywords: ACC Publications, Cardiology Magazine, ACC Annual Scientific Session, Pregnancy, Heart Failure, Cardiovascular Diseases, Hypertension, Pulmonary, Atrial Fibrillation, ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, Pandemics, Obstetrics, Atrial Appendage, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Social Determinants of Health, Stroke Volume, Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic, Cardiomyopathies, Heart Defects, Congenital, Heart Defects, Congenital, Cardiac Surgical Procedures, Aortic Valve Stenosis, Internationality, Neoplasms, Stents, Anticoagulants, Awards and Prizes, Reference Standards, ACC21

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