I am deeply honored and humbled to take on the leadership of the ACC and further its mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health. This is an exciting, yet challenging, time for the field of cardiology. Our capacity to diagnose and treat heart disease has never been greater. Yet, the sobering fact is that heart and vascular disease remain the leading cause of death around the globe. Equally sobering, the current U.S. health care system is not sustainable.

As a result of these factors, my presidential year will focus on furthering patient-centered care, a style of care that emphasizes educating and involving patients in medical decision making; integrating medical care, and applying principles of disease prevention and behavioral change. The patient is indeed at the center of all ACC activities and of what we do as cardiovascular professionals, be it in clinical practice, administration or research.

It’s easy to be enthusiastic about innovations in research and treatment, but we need to be equally enthusiastic about a future in which, fewer people develop cardiovascular disease in the first place. My challenge to each and every member of the cardiac care team is to be an advocate for health, not just for medicine; to be committed, but adaptable; to get involved and be an advocate for patients; to be collaborative and stretch boundaries; and be educators and mentors.

I look forward to serving the College during the next year. This is a time of transformation: new stages in our careers, new challenges in our practices. Our task is to envision better possibilities and turn them into reality. Whatever comes to fruition over the next 12 months and beyond, will be a credit to the longstanding and often unrecognized labor of many individuals. I look forward to identifying the possibilities and shaping the future of cardiovascular care, together.

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