ACC Scientific Session 2023 to Feature Smidt Heart Institute Experts

February 28, 2023 — Experts from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, California’s premier cardiology and heart surgery provider, will present innovative research findings and lead discussions on the latest high-impact medical breakthroughs during the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Annual Scientific Session & Expo March 4-6 in New Orleans. 

Smidt Heart Institute experts will participate in more than 80 late-breaking presentations, on-demand discussions and poster sessions during the conference. They will also be available for media interviews about innovative and newsworthy science stemming from the conference. 

"The conference is foremost a place for brilliant minds in cardiology research and clinical care to explore, learn and share all the latest advancements in the field," said Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute and the Mark S. Siegel Family Foundation Distinguished Professor. "I’m proud that our leaders are invited again this year to help teach, train and guide. It’s a great honor." 

Raj Makkar, MD, Cedars-Sinai’s vice president of Cardiovascular Innovation and Intervention and the Stephen R. Corday, MD, Chair in Interventional Cardiology, will present late-breaking results on the "Safety and Efficacy of Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Mitral Repair in Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation: An Analysis of the STS/ACC TVT Registry." Makkar also will participate in four other sessions on transcatheter procedures. 

Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, professor, chair of the Department of Cardiology and the Lee and Harold Kapelovitz Distinguished Chair in Cardiology, will lead an expert discussion on the basics of atrial fibrillation management on Sunday afternoon. Following the discussion, Albert will be part of a clinical research panel, and on Monday, she will lead the European Heart Journal’s Year in Cardiovascular Medicine "Joint Symposium of the European Heart Journal and the American College of Cardiology II." 

Joanna Chikwe, MD, founding chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery and the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery, will lead a session on contemporary tricuspid regurgitation treatment Sunday with her presentation, "Keep Your Catheters Away From My Patient! Tricuspid Valve Surgery is King?" She also will participate in a panel discussion on the past, present and future of cardiac surgery. 

Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and director of the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, will receive the 2023 Master of the American College of Cardiology award on Monday. The recognition celebrates Bairey Merz’s leadership and outstanding service to the ACC, as well as excellence in education and clinical practice. 

At the conference, Bairey Merz will lead various presentations on women’s heart health including "Expand Your Differential: Recognizing the Unique Chest Pain Presentations in Women." On Saturday, she will present "Beyond the Obstruction: Testing and Treatment Options in INOCA and MINOCA." On Monday, she will lead a session on prevention, and she will participate in numerous poster presentations throughout the conference. 

Margo Minissian, PhD, RN, executive director of the Geri and Richard Brawerman Nursing Institute and the Simms/Mann Family Foundation Chair in Nurse Education at Cedars-Sinai, will be a panelist on the Joint American College of Cardiology/Journal of the American Medical Association Late-Breaking Clinical Trials on Monday. 

Other notable Smidt Heart Institute faculty presentations include: 

• Natalie Ann Bello, MD, MPH, director of Hypertension Research, will present "The Long Haul: Preventing Future CVD After Hypertensive Disorder of Pregnancy," and will be a panelist on "Hypertension in Women’s Reproductive Years: Focus on Pregnancy." Both sessions are on Monday morning. Bello also serves as co-chair of the newly established Reproductive Health and Cardio-Obstetrics Member Section at ACC, which aims to advance the value and equity of cardiovascular care for patients’ health during and around pregnancy and across the reproductive years. 
• Martha Gulati, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology and associate director of the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center, will lead a discussion on "Providing High Value Care: Structured Risk Assessment and Clinical Decision Pathways in the Evaluation of CP," and will co-lead a session on "Highlighted Original Research: Prevention and Health Promotion and the Year in Review." Gulati also will serve as a speaker on the topic "A Focus on Lipoproteins: Understanding Established and Emerging Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Patients With ASCVD." 
• David Ouyang, MD, a cardiologist in the Department of Cardiology, will participate in a panel discussion about artificial intelligence and multimodality cardiovascular imaging as well as present "Muscle and the Machine: AI in Echocardiography for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy" on Monday. 
• Roopinder Sandhu, MD, MPH, associate professor of Cardiology, will be a panelist Monday during a discussion on "Building AF Centers of Excellence." 
• Siddharth Singh, MD, director of the Post COVID-19 Cardiology Clinic, will participate in a panel discussion about CV imaging in low- and middle-income countries as well as present on "Heart Disease in COVID-19 Infection and Long COVID Syndrome." 
• Rose Tompkins, MD, associate director of the Adult Congenital Heart Program, will be a panelist Sunday during a discussion of "Risk Assessment of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot." 
• Janet Wei, MD, assistant professor of Cardiology, associate medical director of the Biomedical Imaging Research Institute and co-director of the Stress Echocardiography Lab, will participate in a panel discussion on "Microvascular Disease, Spasm, and Myocardial Bridges: Coronary Physiology in INOCA" on Sunday, followed by a presentation on "INOCA Epidemiology and Patient Selection for Invasive Versus Noninvasive Physiology." 

Additional experts available to speak on original research being presented at the conference include Florian Rader, MD, associate professor of Cardiology and co-director of the Clinic for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Aortopathies; Michelle Kittleson, MD, PhD, director of Heart Failure Research and professor of Medicine; and Alan Kwan, MD, a cardiologist and cardiac imaging researcher in the Smidt Heart Institute. 

For more information: www.cedars-sinai.org