It’s fantastic to be in New Orleans.

This city has been like a second home to my family. My father moved here in 1986 – just as I was starting my medical residency – to become Dean of Tulane Law School where he remained on the faculty for two decades. Two of my brothers have law practices here, and one still lives here with his family.

My wife Cathy and I have fond memories of regular visits with our sons, Alex and Zach. Trips to the French Quarter, the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium, jazz brunches at Commander’s Palace, and soaking up the music at Jazz Fest and Tipitina’s, are among my favorites.

I’ll never forget one night in particular during my fellowship. My father, a music buff himself, some co-fellows and I went to Tipitina’s to see Jimmy Cliff the night before my abstract presentation at AHA’s meeting. The next morning, I was so hoarse from singing along that I was barely able to give my presentation!

I hope you take time to explore the city, eat some heart-healthy beignets (!), and enjoy all that the Big Easy has to offer – just don’t miss your presentation time!

I began my Presidential year at last year’s Convocation in Chicago by reflecting on The Fantastic Voyage – both the 1960s film and the journey I hoped we would embark on together. And indeed, the past 12 months aboard the good ship ACC have been nothing short of remarkable.

Today, I want to revisit where we’ve been and chart where we’re headed. At Convocation, I spoke about innovation, mentorship and resilience through the lens of my own cardiovascular career. I’d like to expand that conversation now and explore how those same themes continue to shape the ACC as a whole.

Innovation

We are firmly in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and all that it can mean to the College and to us as cardiovascular clinicians.

The College’s foray into AI was underscored in November when ACC inked a contract with Open Evidence for a two-way marketing agreement, opening the door to future collaboration and the potential for content sharing.

Having concise, trustworthy cardiovascular guidance available at the bedside – right on our smartphones – is essential for staying up to date with the latest science. Our trainees expect nothing less.

Partnering with AI companies is one means to this end, but as we look to the future, the College is taking deliberate steps to integrate AI into our work in ways that strengthen our mission, expand our impact and accelerate progress on our Strategic Pillars.

A newly formed ACC Presidential AI Integration Task Force is leading this effort, examining how AI can enhance our core strengths and create innovative pathways to educate, measure and train – building on what the ACC has always done best. Stay tuned as this work gets underway and the Board of Trustees continues to evaluate and prioritize those opportunities that bring the greatest value to our members.

ACC leaders and staff are also working to leverage current AI capabilities where it makes sense now – within our educational portfolio, guidelines and meetings like this. You can see some of these efforts already. Just check out your ACC.26 App and our newly revamped AI Resource Center on ACC.org.

Meanwhile, as new cardiovascular science continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, the College has strategically worked to optimize the delivery of timely, authoritative guidance for its more than 64,000 members. Beyond our foundational Clinical Guidelines, Training Statements and Appropriate Use Criteria, we now offer a suite of agile formats – including Concise Clinical Guidance and Scientific Statements – designed to keep the cardiovascular community aligned with emerging evidence and evolving technologies.

We are also committed to public-private collaborations that are pivotal to helping clinicians implement new guidelines and other evidence-based recommendations in day-to-day clinical practice through education, training, implementation science, and the deployment of innovative solutions to improve care in the U.S. and globally. We would like to thank Merck and Amgen, our corporate collaborators supporting this effort, and we look forward to bringing additional partners into the fold – thinking boldly and collaboratively to advance the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Our JACC Journals are a critical part of this effort, serving as the premier platforms for amplifying and disseminating this work – bringing the best peer-reviewed science, expert commentary and evidence-based clinical guidance directly to the global cardiovascular community. Thanks to Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM, FACC – and all the Editors-in-Chief across the JACC Journals – for raising the Journals to new heights.

Mentorship

Mentorship remains one of the most powerful ways we deliver true member value–shaping careers, strengthening our community and ensuring that wisdom is passed forward with purpose.

The College currently offers an extraordinary range of professional development and leadership opportunities for its members – spanning career stages and roles.

Among them, the:

• Sandra J. Lewis Mid-Career Women’s Leadership Institute
• Internal Medicine and Pediatric Cardiology Programs
• Young Scholars Program for high school and college students
• Emerging Faculty Program
• Clinical Trials Research Program
• ACC Leadership Academy
• Hani Najm Global Scholar and William A. Zoghbi Global Cardiovascular Research Initiatives and more!

MedAxiom’s Cardiovascular Business and Management Essentials Program in partnership with Wharton is another example.

Mentorship is at the heart of each of these programs – most of which continue to grow and evolve thanks to the generous philanthropic support of ACC members. Other programs addressing topics like nonclinical competencies are also being developed. We are also very excited to launch the Thad and Gerry Waites Rural Cardiovascular Research Fellowship and the Fuster Prevention Forum this year.

Graduates of these programs consistently step into new roles across the College – within state chapters, committees, Annual Scientific Session leadership and beyond. I encourage you to take advantage of these pathways as they become available.

Resilience

At times, the Fantastic Voyage has felt a bit like that of Odysseus on his voyage home from Troy. What Cyclops or Sirens lurk around the next bend? As you may or may not be aware, a new administration took over the reins in Washington over a year ago, bringing lots of changes in its wake.

Thankfully our Advocacy staff and Health Affairs Committee leadership have been on top of it all – and extremely busy! During my first week as president I testified on behalf of the College before the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee in support of the HEARTS Act, an approved but unfunded bill to place defibrillators in schools. I also took the opportunity to advocate on behalf of full funding of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which thankfully came to fruition in the recently passed Appropriations Bill.

Two months later, I met with and spoke before the GOP Doctors Caucus, a group of Republican congressional physicians, about the problems raised by the Big Beautiful Bill for our patients, especially those on Medicaid.

In the summer and into the fall, somewhat stymied by the governmental shutdown, we pushed back against many of the provisions in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, including the Efficiency Adjustment – a reduction in payment to physicians because we have become… more efficient? Sounds like quite a perverse incentive to me.

New Nutrition Guidelines have also been released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While we welcome the inclusion of several important science-based recommendations, including a focus on eating whole fruits and vegetables and limiting added sugars, alcohol and highly processed foods, saturated fats and sugary drinks, etc.; other recommendations, including putting red meat and high fat dairy products at the top of the food pyramid, lack the scientific evidence base.

Being nimble and focusing on data and science, and not disinformation, has been a focus of the year. To that end, we recently worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and submitted comments aimed at maintaining the ability to measure quality with our registries in the face of expansion of the use of TAVR to asymptomatic populations and to continue to apply the Heart Team approach. The significance of this was underscored with the recent publication of important six-year findings from the Evolut Low Risk Trial in JACC.

We are also working with CMS to understand the new Heart Failure (HF) model, the first real shot across the bow at Value-Based Health Care and potential payment changes based on quality measures for those who care for HF patients – which is all of us. Please look for information from the ACC and MedAxiom on how to handle these upcoming changes.

CMS is also focusing on technology, AI and wearables with new payment models down the road for incorporating these in our practices.

Many questions remain around these initiatives and others, and it’s essential that we stay engaged so we can continue delivering the highest level of care to our patients.

I encourage all of you to join us at the next Legislative Conference in early October 2026, where you can deepen your understanding of Advocacy and meet directly with your Senators and Representatives to drive meaningful change. Last year, our collective efforts led to a surge in congressional cosponsorships for legislation that directly benefits our patients – a powerful reminder of what we can accomplish together.

Global Impact

There are several other areas I would like to highlight in which the College continues to shine. One is international, for which we just added four new chapters this year in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Nepal and Tanzania – bringing our total International Chapters to 47. Our global membership also continues to grow with roughly 18,000 members from more than 140 countries.

Growing the ACC’s global impact is a major strategic initiative for the College and it’s been a privilege to be a part of this accelerated growth, working in collaboration with our global society partners and other stakeholders.

Examples abound, whether it was hosting side events addressing workforce issues and the global burden of CVD leading up to Fourth High-Level United Nations General Assembly meeting last November; celebrating hospitals in Saudi Arabia that earned ACC’s International Centers of Excellence Distinction; growing our Global Heart Attack Treatment Initiative; or streamlining the ability for international hospitals and health systems to participate in our Global Quality Solutions program.

Not to mention, the excitement of our newly inducted FACC members during our inaugural convocation ceremonies held in conjunction with our ACC Asia, ACC Middle East and ACC Latin America last year was truly palpable and unforgettable.

Health Equity

Health equity also remains a core strategic priority for the ACC, guided by a comprehensive, six-pronged approach that includes advancing diversity in clinical trials to strengthening advocacy and community leadership to improve access to care, particularly in rural areas.

Building better data and developing tools like our interactive Health Equity Heat Map, as well as fostering a more inclusive workforce, and embedding health equity across education and training are also part of this strategy.

We are also partnering with our Member Sections, Chapters, industry and community organizations to drive meaningful change. Our Community Health Fair in New Orleans last weekend is a powerful example of this strategy in action – meeting people where they are and turning commitment into impact. I encourage you all to visit the Health Equity Hub while you’re here to learn more about the many efforts underway.

So yes – the Fantastic Voyage continues. But it is no longer just an idea or a metaphor; it is a shared movement, powered by innovation, strengthened through mentorship and sustained by resilience.

We are navigating an era of extraordinary scientific discovery, where new therapies and technologies are transforming the lives of our patients at an unprecedented pace. While that pace can feel relentless, it is also filled with promise. With the thoughtful integration of tools like AI – and guided by our collective wisdom and values – the ACC is not just keeping up. We are leading the way, together, toward a healthier future for all.

I sincerely hope you enjoy all that is ACC.26 and thank you again to Katie Berlacher, Julie Damp, and Kristin Campbell and the entire ACC Educational team – all who have worked tirelessly over the past year to perfect it.

Keywords: ACC Annual Scientific Session, ACC26, New Orleans