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The Pulse of ACC | Tackling Reproductive, Maternal Care Challenges For CV Patient
Tackling Reproductive and Maternal Care Challenges For the CV Patient
The U.S. is the only developed country to have rising pregnancy-related mortality, largely due to cardiovascular disease. Solving for this burden requires a multifaceted approach that takes into account racial and ethnic disparities and recent federal and state policies that threaten access to reproductive health care.
To that end, the ACC hosted a Reproductive and Maternal Care For the Cardiovascular Patient virtual Heart House Roundtable this fall that brought together more than 50 maternal health experts and stakeholders to explore barriers to reproductive and maternal care for patients with cardiovascular disease and identify potential solutions.
Discussions centered around cardiovascular-related pregnancy risks, contraception, health disparities and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach that includes cardiovascular specialists, obstetricians and other clinicians involved in reproductive and maternal care.
Participants stressed the need for better care protocols that can ensure consistent care starting from preconception through postpartum. Shared decision-making and targeted patient education also were identified as key components in engaging patients to support their cardiovascular and reproductive health goals.
Click here for CardioSmart's Women and Heart Disease Hub.
Click here to access ACC's Clinical Solutions Hub.
David Winchester, MD, MS, FACC, Named Next BOG Chair-Elect
Congratulations to David E. Winchester, MD, MS, FACC, on being named incoming chair-elect of the ACC's Board of Governors. Winchester, who is the current ACC governor for the Florida Chapter, will assume his chair-elect role in April 2024 following ACC.24 in Atlanta. He will serve as BOG Chair from 2025 to 2026, following Himabindu Vidula, MD, MS, FACC.
Winchester is currently professor of medicine and radiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine and a senior medical adviser for the VA Office of Integrated Veterans Care. He is also the associate program director for the internal medicine residency and course director for the "Cardiovascular Disease" block in the UF College of Medicine curriculum. His research interests include health services research, noninvasive cardiac imaging, and appropriateness of care.
Over the past 15 years, Winchester has served the ACC in a wide variety of roles, including chair of the Fellows-in-Training committee and as a member of the Curriculum Design Committee, the Accreditation Oversight Committee and the Solution Set Oversight Committee.
He is also part of the ACC's delegation to the American Medical Association House of Delegates and recently led the writing group for the Appropriate Use Criteria for Imaging in Chronic Coronary Disease.
Outside of the College, he has also served as director of the Advanced Fellowship in Cardiovascular Imaging and associate program director for Quality and Research for the University of Florida cardiology fellowship.
"The Board of Governors is a dynamic group of individuals who bring exceptional experience and ideas to our profession and to the College," says Winchester. "I am enthusiastically looking forward to serving as chair of the BOG and helping chapters and leaders to achieve their full potential."
Royal Treatment
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) honored ACC Past President Edward T.A. Fry, MD, MACC, with one of two honorary fellowships during a special admission ceremony in October. Fellowship in RCPI recognizes individuals from around the world for their significant contribution to medicine and their respective specialty, including cardiology.
Teaming Up to Transform CV Care in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean
The ACC and the Hellenic Society of Cardiology teamed up to host the ACC Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean 2023 conference in Athens, Greece, last month – shining a spotlight on the latest best practices in clinical care and cardiovascular prevention.
Global experts converged for an innovative educational experience led by meeting co-chairs Tarek Helmy, MD, FACC, and Athanasios J. Manolis, MD, PhD, focused on critical topic areas like electrophysiology, heart failure and cardiomyopathies, interventional and ischemic heart disease, multimodality imaging, prevention and health promotion, and valvular heart disease."
In addition to educational sessions, attendees had the opportunity to strengthen their clinical knowledge and sharpen their core cardiology skills at the interactive learning lab, as well as challenge themselves and cheer on ACC Middle East and Eastern European chapter teams during the popular FIT Jeopardy session. Congratulations to the Ireland Chapter on their FIT Jeopardy win.
Clinical cases and abstracts were also a highlight of the three-day meeting, touching on topics ranging from COVID-19 and cardiovascular burden to cardiovascular disease risk prevention tools in the Middle East.
In one study presented by Firas Al Badarin, MD, FACC, et al., from the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, younger patients from the Middle East and Gulf region presenting with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had a greater prevalence of risk factors, including smoking and high cholesterol, compared with older patients also presenting with a first ACS. Click here to read more on this study.
"The ACC Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean 2023 Conference is a continuation of the international effort by the ACC to partner with cardiologists around the world to disseminate knowledge and advance the field of cardiology," said Helmy. "This was a great opportunity for cardiologists from the region, in collaboration with the ACC, to share expertise, exchange information, and establish and grow professional networks." Visit ACC.org/MiddleEast2023 to learn more.
In addition to the conference, ACC hosted a stakeholder roundtable supported by Viatris that focused on identifying solutions to improve health workforce capacity. ACC Past President Athena Poppas, MD, MACC, delivered the opening remarks, focusing on ACC's ongoing support for health capacity development through programs like NCD Academy, train the trainer programs, and more.
Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Acute Heart Failure
Keywords: ACC Publications, Cardiology Magazine, ACC International, ACC History, Cardiovascular Diseases, Fellowships and Scholarships, Maternal Health, Noncommunicable Diseases, Heart Failure
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