Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, MD, MSc, FASNC, Installed as ASNC’s President for 2023

January 5, 2023 — Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, MD, MSc, FASNC, director of the cardiovascular PET program at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, was installed as president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) for 2023. Dr. Al-Mallah is also the Beverly B. and Daniel C. Arnold distinguished chair and professor of cardiology at the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. He launched his term with a President’s Message encouraging nuclear cardiologists to “broaden their horizon” by adopting the “significant innovations” the field has realized over the past decade.

“Nuclear cardiology imaging remains at the center stage in the era of multimodality testing,” Dr. Al-Mallah says. “We also have an exciting array of new technologies and other innovations available to enhance our diagnostic abilities and serve our patients even better. This is especially important now, considering the global prevalence of diabetes and obesity.”

Recent innovations in nuclear cardiology include:

• New cameras, radiopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence tools;
• Technological advances, such as cardiac PET, hybrid imaging and myocardial blood flow quantitation; and
• Rapidly expanding applications for nuclear cardiology imaging in areas including amyloid, inflammation and infection.

“These enhancements to nuclear cardiology imaging are making it possible for us to see more,” Dr. Al-Mallah says. “The more we see, the more we understand, and the better we can serve our patients.”

His President’s Message outlines a strategy that nuclear cardiology teams should follow for modernizing their labs with the field’s newer innovations as well as resources for learning how to use the new applications to optimize patient care.

Dr. Al-Mallah earned his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He completed his internal medicine residency and cardiovascular training fellowships at Henry Ford Hospital, Wayne State University and at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-Harvard Medical School. He also obtained a master’s degree in clinical research design and biostatistics at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

He has been recognized with several awards for excellent teaching and his research, which has focused on the prognostic value of nuclear cardiology, cardiac PET, cardiac CT and coronary calcium scores and on the use of advanced cardiac imaging for risk prediction, patient management and outcomes. He has published more than 450 articles and book chapters.

Dr. Al-Mallah has been an active member of ASNC since joining in 2005. Most recently, he served as the lead author on the 2022 ASNC/AAPM/SCCT/SNMMI Guideline for the Use of CT in Hybrid Nuclear/CT Cardiac Imaging. He has been the program director for ASNC’s Intensive and Advanced Cardiac PET Workshops as well as for ASNC/Saudi Heart Association Nuclear Cardiology Now: Middle East. On Jan. 17, Dr. Al-Mallah will moderate ASNC’s webinar Private Equity: Impact on Nuclear Cardiology and Lab Modernization.

Dr. Al-Mallah will lead ASNC’s 2023 Executive Council, which also includes President-elect Lawrence Phillips, MD, FASNC; Vice President Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, MD; Secretary Karthikeyan Ananthasubramaniam, MD, FASNC; Treasurer Jamieson Bourque, MD, MHS, FASNC; Immediate Past President Dennis A. Calnon, MD, MASNC; and Once-removed Past President Randall C. Thompson, MD, MASNC.

For more information: www.asnc.org