Transforming cardiology care is a long-game – one that demands sustained, collaborative effort across the cardiovascular community. Recognizing this, ACC Chapters are forging powerful alliances with each other and with ACC Member Sections to reshape the future of care. Whether mentoring the next generation of leaders, sharing global best practices or developing innovative resources for clinicians and patients alike, these partnerships are more than symbolic – they're strategic engines of change. Cardiology takes a closer look at some of the collaborations making in a difference in the lives of clinicians, patients and communities around the globe.

Strengthening the Global Leadership Pipeline

The ACC Virginia Chapter has taken a bold step in global leadership development by partnering with the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) on its Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP) – a transatlantic collaboration that is not only strengthening leadership pipelines but also fostering deep, mutual learning between health systems.

Through a series of immersive sessions held in London and Cambridge, participants explore topics such as emotional intelligence, the DiSC behavior assessment tool, project management, building successful teams and the importance of understanding self in leadership. ACC leaders and staff contribute directly to the curriculum, guiding participants through reflective exercises, video-based confrontation analysis and personalized leadership style assessments.

"The Virginia Chapter's partnership with the BCS Emerging Leaders Programme has been beyond gratifying," says Chapter Governor Victor Soukoulis, MD, PhD, FACC. "Graduates consistently cite the ELP as a pivotal moment in their professional growth, with many inspired to pursue leadership roles and launch new initiatives." One standout example occurred this past year, when Joanna Lim, MD, a UK-based ELP alum, presented at the Mid-Atlantic Women in Cardiology Conference in Washington, DC, sharing her work on a national program to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

Not Taking Heart Health For GRANTed

From the Archives

Watch a Heart-to-Heart discussion hosted by B. Hadley Wilson, MD, MACC, with Victor Rossel, MD, FACC; Jorge Alegria, MD, FACC; Leslie Davis, PhD, RN, NP, FACC; Amy M. Winiger, NP, DNP, FACC; sharing an example of another Chapter Exchange between the ACC North Carolina and Chile chapters.

Since 2021, ACC's Chapter Section grant program provides annual funding to support innovative projects developed through partnerships between Chapters and Sections. Proposals are evaluated based on demonstrated need, innovation, feasibility and alignment with the College's Strategic Plan. One such collaboration taking place this year between the ACC Ireland Chapter and the ACC Heart Failure and Transplant Section is examining heart failure (HF) care delivery throughout Ireland, with the aim of identifying and closing gaps in patient care.

"This project seeks to identify and address issues, gaps, delays and inequities in heart failure care delivery across the island of Ireland," says Ireland Chapter Governor Brendan McAdam, MD, FACC, "The goal is to move from disparate, data-free activity to informative, research-based, gold-standard care pathway integration – to ensure that each patient, regardless of where they live, has access to rapid, expertise in heart failure diagnostics and care delivery."

In 2024, a Chapter Section Grant supported a collaborative initiative between the ACC India Chapter and the ACC Prevention Section to raise air pollution awareness among schoolchildren and communities in West Bengal, India. The program engaged 150 government sector primary schools, each with around 100 students, through a series of workshops and classroom activities. Teachers guided students to lead the movement by participating in discussions, readings, creative projects and community campaigns.

Back in the U.S., a 2023 collaboration between the ACC's Arizona and Mexico chapters, as well as the Prevention and Advanced Career Professionals sections, helped provide screenings and educational materials to migrant workers in partnership with the Ventanilla de Salud Network.

Access the toolkit.

Another great example of successful collaboration is the partnership between the Reproductive Health and Cardio-Obstetrics Section, the Prevention Section and the Pennsylvania State Chapter. Together, the groups developed a practical Postpartum Hypertension Clinic Development Toolkit focused on postpartum care for patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

The impact of these and other grant-funded programs has been profound, underscoring the power of partnerships in transforming cardiovascular care. "The Chapter Section Grants are an amazing way to enhance the College's global collaboration in support of the overarching Strategic Plan," wrote ACC Assembly of International Governors leaders, Antonio C. P. Chagas, MD, PhD, FACC, and Benny J. Levenson, MD, PhD, FACC, in a BOG Update earlier this year. "For some of our International Chapters, the program provides funding for important work that they might not ever have the funds to do themselves."

EXCHANGing Knowledge

ACC Chapter-based exchange programs, linking U.S. Chapters with International Chapters, are among the ways the global cardiovascular community has been coming together to learn from each other and share ways to optimize care and outcomes for more than decade.

"Connecting the ACC California Chapter with the British Cardiovascular Society and creating the first exchange program still remains one of the highlights of my leadership career at the ACC," says John Gordon Harold, MD, MACC. "Since then, it's been exciting to see so many meaningful and sustainable relationships grow between ACC Chapters worldwide."

In a recent example of an Exchange Program in action, the ACC Florida Chapter sent a delegation to Spain in June as part of its ongoing preceptorship with the Sociedad Espanola de Cardiologia (SEC). Inspired by a shared commitment to developing long-term relationships between cardiovascular professionals in the U.S. and Spain, the program features a combination of behind-the-scenes clinical experiences at Spanish hospitals, as well as times for networking and mentoring with Chapter leaders.

"The FCACC-SEC exchange program is a unique opportunity to peek behind the barriers that separate health care systems and observe how things differ, and also how much we have in common," says ACC Board of Governors Chair David E. Winchester, MD, MS, FACC. "I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in thinking about their own practice habits and how to improve them."

Keywords: Cardiology Magazine, ACC Publications, Leadership