Welcome to July – the official midpoint of the calendar year and one of the busiest months for summer travel to destinations near and far. With continued pandemic-related stressors, as well as global headlines tied to war, economics and gun violence, this month is a good reminder to take some time out to care for our own well-being.

You'll find some good summertime travel advice in this month's Number Check. We've also included travel tips to share with your patients as part of our Prioritizing Health feature. While we're on the topic of well-being, don't miss the feature story documenting how Gautam Nayak, MD, FACC, governor and president of the ACC Washington Chapter, and others have built an incredible physician community through the U.S. Medical Soccer Team. Finding activities or hobbies that challenge you, bring you joy and/or foster community and friendships outside of work are so important in helping find balance.

We are also excited about this month's Cover Story that looks at some of the new developments in the field of advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. We spoke to three leaders in the field to understand some of the biggest advances in medical therapy and management strategies, donor selection, organ retrieval and transport and more. There's also advice on when to refer patients to an advanced heart failure transplant specialist and we explore some of the factors contributing to inequity in organ allocation.

Ersilia DeFillipis, MD, sums things up best, saying: "Advanced heart failure and transplant is still a small world. There are a lot of new and exciting opportunities for patients, which I think over the next few decades are really going to change outcomes."

Also in the issue, get the scoop on ACC's Global Lipid Management Train-the-Trainer program that is empowering practice change through education and action in key regions around the world. You can also take a deep dive into the value of Pulmonary Embolism Response Teams (PERTs) to standardize care and improve outcomes in pulmonary embolism (PE) – which, along with deep vein thrombosis, is the third most frequent cause of cardiovascular death globally.

Additionally, a survey of patients with diagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) conducted by the ACC and the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA) offers a closer look at some of the challenges along the patient journey from HCM diagnosis to treatment. And we introduce our new "Conversations With Experts," column and an interview with Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC, led by my editorial colleague, Peter C. Block, MD, FACC, looking at the challenges of de-escalating dual antiplatelet therapy after PCI.

Last, but certainly not least, I highly encourage you to read our feature on "Protecting the Hearts of the Unhoused." It's an excellent article on a topic that often gets overlooked. It's an important reminder that the concept of "global health" begins at home. It's also a further reminder about the importance of understanding the impacts of social determinants of health in improving heart health for all patients.

Enjoy the summer. As always, please send your thoughts and feedback to CardiologyEditor@acc.org and don't forget to share links to your favorite articles on social media using #CardiologyMag.