February 24, 2017 | Megan Kamath, MD
Chapter Engagement

ACC’s Pennsylvania Chapter has been a champion of education and lifelong learning for members at every stage of training, making it an invaluable resource to all involved. The latter half of 2016 was packed with educational events. Here’s what we have been up to: 

In October 2016, Western Pennsylvania placed a major emphasis on valvular heart disease at its annual fall educational event. Attendees were treated to a comprehensive overview of multimodality imaging techniques including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, cardiac computed tomography and echocardiography. What was particularly intriguing to me was the combination of surgical and medical perspectives offered when discussing structural heart interventions such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR). This helped to broaden my understanding of the topic, and I will use this knowledge during multidisciplinary team meetings at my fellowship training institution.

In November 2016, the Chapter had the honor of being a part of the Mid Atlantic Capital Cardiology Symposium (MACCS) in Washington, DC at Heart House. This was a great one-day meeting which brought together ACC chapters from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. The focus of the meeting was on electrophysiology. The lectures ranged from atrial fibrillation to leadless pacemakers and subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. There was even a special focus session on the new changes under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – Merit Based Incentive Payment Service (MIPS) and the Medicare Access and CHIP Re-Authorization Act (MACRA) – by C. Michael Valentine, MD, FACC, vice president of the ACC. As an FIT, I was grateful for the opportunity to learn about these, as there is often no formal emphasis on health care reimbursement policies during our day-to-day clinical training.

One of the most unique aspects of the MACCS meeting is the focus on fellows’ education and research. Not only did fellows have the opportunity to present research via poster or oral presentation, but fellows were invited to be a part of the late breaking clinical trials session, summarizing the results from the recent AHA meeting and presenting them to all attendees. A new focus this year was on fellows’ networking opportunities with the creation of baseball card style business cards to help fellows looking for opportunities connect with potential employers. 

We look forward with anticipation to what 2017 will bring. I would highly encourage all fellows from Pennsylvania to take advantage of this amazing resource! Join us in continuing the mission of education and advocacy and maintaining a strong presence at the local, state, and national levels!

This article was authored by Megan Kamath, MD, a Fellow in Training (FIT) at Allegheny General Hospital.