ACC Announces Next Clinical Trials Research Program Participants
The ACC has selected 50 learners for its 2024-2025 Clinical Trials Research (CTR) program, of whom 28 structural heart cardiologists and surgeons will participate in the program's new REACH (Research, Equity, and Access for Cardiac Health) cohort. The incoming cohort of learners will participate in a year-long curriculum designed to advance their skills and careers in clinical trials research and ensure that all individuals have the opportunity to contribute as part of the clinical trials research workforce.
"Ensuring access to leadership for all talent is an essential component of providing quality cardiovascular care to all," said Pamela Douglas, MD, MACC, founding chair of ACC's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. "Cardiovascular care is not one size fits all and by fostering representation of broader perspectives within cardiovascular clinical trial leadership roles, ACC's CTR program will ensure the data that drives patient care more closely reflects the needs of actual cardiovascular patients."
ACC's CTR program was established in 2019 by ACC's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force to increase diversity in clinical trial research by equipping individuals traditionally underrepresented in cardiology with practical skills and leadership competencies necessary to be successful in the field. REACH, a collaboration with the Association of Black Cardiologists, is a new initiative designed to address existing disparities in structural heart clinical trials. Both the CTR program and REACH are supported by Medtronic.
"REACH is an innovative initiative that will address the striking disparities seen in structural heart trials and research," said Wayne Batchelor, MD, FACC, co-chair of ACC's CTR program. "Through REACH there is a real opportunity to create meaningful change in how we determine the best ways to care for some of our most vulnerable patients."
The selected learners for the 2024-2025 CTR program and Project REACH cohort** will convene for the first time at ACC.24 in Atlanta. They are:
Hussein Abu Daya, MD, FACC
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Aderonke Adeniyi, MD, FACC
University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
**Vratika Agarwal, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center/ New York Presbyterian Hospital
New York
Carlos Alviar, MD, FACC
New York University Langone Medical Center
New York
**Vidhu Anand, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Mayo Clinic
Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota
**Gloria Ayuba, DO, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas
Syeda Atiqa Batul, MD, FACC
Geisinger Health System
Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Katelyn Bruno, PhD
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Quan Bui, MD
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California
Gregory Burkman, MD, FACC
Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Laura Cohen, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston
Johanna Contreras, MD, FACC
Mount Sinai Hospital
New York
**Pedro Cox, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
LSU School of Medicine
New Orleans
Zainab Dakhil, MB, CHB
Ibn Al-Bitar Cardiac Centre and Al-Kindy College of Medicine
Baghdad
Ersilia DeFilippis, MD, FACC
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
New York
**Rimsky Denis, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Private Practice - Structural and Interventional Cardiology
Miami
**Pedro Engel Gonzalez, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Henry Ford Health
Detroit
**Serdar Farhan, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York
**Tanush Gupta, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Vermont Medical Center
Burlington, Vermont
**Aakriti Gupta, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles
Pura Henriquez, MD, FACC
Plaza de la Salud General Hospital
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Rachna Kataria, MD
Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute/Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Adnan Khalif, MD, FACC
Allegheny Health Network, Cardiovascular Institute
Pittsburgh
**Lillian Khor, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Veterans Administration Health Care System
Salt Lake City
**Yuli Kim, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Agnes Koczo, MD
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Pittsburgh
Salil Kumar, MD, FACC
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston
**Andrew Leventhal, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
**Bruno Lima, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville
**Giorgio Medranda, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
NYU Langone Hospital - Long Island
Mineola, New York
**Vivian Ng, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center
New York
**Olufunso Odunukan, MBBS, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Dignity Health - Yavapai Regional Medical Center
Prescott, Arizona
**Jeffrey Ogbara, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Heart House/Cooper University Hospital
Haddon Heights, New Jersey
**Diana Otero, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center
New York
Kaavya Paruchuri, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston
Ashley Pender, MD
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Philadelphia
**Luigi Pirelli, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University
New York
**Jyothy Puthumana, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Northwestern Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Chicago
Odayme Quesada, MD, FACC
Heart and Vascular Institute, The Christ Hospital
Cincinnati
Raymundo Quintana Quezada, MD, FACC
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Aurora, Colorado
**Jeremy Rier, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
WellSpan
York, Pennsylvania
**Patricia Rodriguez Lozano, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Eyal Sagiv, MD, FACC
Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle
Daniel Silverman, MD, FACC
Medical University of South Carolina & Ralph H Johnson VAMC
Charleston, South Carolina
**Francesca Sperotto, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston
**Juan Terre, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Tulane University School of Medicine
New Orleans
**Ifeoma Ugonabo, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Tennessee HSC
Memphis, Tennessee
**Joji Varghese, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Hendrick Medical Center
Abilene, Texas
Keyur Vora, MD, FACC
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis
**Priscilla Wessly, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Aurora St Lukes
Milwaukee
Programs like CTR are part of ACC's efforts to develop a strong, diverse pipeline of clinicians and scientists, create a more inclusive profession through education and awareness, and ultimately reduce health care disparities, and are supported in part by member contributions to the ACC Foundation. Learn more about opportunities to advance and sustain these efforts.
Keywords: Health Equity, ACC Annual Scientific Session, ACC24
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