ASPC Congress to focus on CVD prevention for various clinicians

Seth J. Baum

Leading experts in atherosclerotic CVD, the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, will come together at the American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention to discuss the latest advancements in atherosclerotic CVD and other related issues.

The 3-day meeting will take place Sept. 15 to 17 at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a new location for this year’s meeting. Expert course sessions are scheduled on Sept. 14 and 15.

The agenda targets a broad range of medical professionals, including cardiologists, endocrinologists, lipidologists, nurse practitioners, family practitioners and others, according to the organizers of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) Congress on CVD Prevention.

“We want to target any [medical professional] who is managing or involved in the care of patients [in] whom we want to prevent [atherosclerotic CVD] events,” Seth J. Baum, MD, FASPC, chief medical officer of Excel Medical Clinical Trials; clinical affiliate professor of biomedical science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton; and president and co-chair of the ASPC, told Cardiology Today.

Some of the major focuses of this year’s congress include the intersection between diabetes and heart disease; emerging concepts in lipid management such as high triglycerides and elevated lipoprotein(a); and the latest science on lifestyle, which has always been a major topic at ASPC, Amit Khera, MD, MSc, FASPC, director of preventive cardiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and ASPC Congress chair, told Cardiology Today.

This year, case studies will be featured in three different sessions by Martha Gulati, MD, FASCP, professor of medicine and chief of the division of cardiology at the University of Arizona-Phoenix; Patrick M. Moriarty, MD, FACC, FACP, director of clinical pharmacology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City; and Yehuda Handelsman, MD, an endocrinologist in Tarzana, California, and medical director and principal investigator of the Metabolic Institute of America. Presenting case studies in separate sessions allows it to be more relevant for clinicians, Baum said.

“We tried to make it engaging for the audience,” Khera told Cardiology Today. “Rather than people lecturing at the audience, we wanted to provide cases and make an interactive discussion because it’s really how you learn how to manage your patients.”

Other conference highlights include the following:

Keynote speaker Robert P. Giugliano, MD, SM, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and senior investigator with the TIMI Study Group, will discuss emerging cholesterol drugs including recent findings from the FOURIER trial.
Handelsman will focus on newer diabetic agents and how they may lower CVD.
James de Lemos, MD, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, will discuss new blood measurements including high-sensitivity troponin and novel ways to look at cholesterol.
Mintu Turakhia, MD, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in California, will focus on screening for atrial fibrillation to prevent stroke and death.
Allan D. Sniderman, MD, professor of cardiology at McGill University in Montreal, and Jennifer G. Robinson, MD, MPH, professor and director of the preventive intervention center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, will present their viewpoints on advanced lipoprotein testing.

“I hope [attendees] leave with something tangible, not just another high-level theoretical discussion,” Khera told Cardiology Today. “This is the nexus of research and clinical practice, meaning here are things that are actionable in your practice for your patients, but just a little bit cutting edge.”

All sessions will be livestreamed and available on-demand for those unable to attend.

Cardiology Today and Healio.com staff will provide live coverage from the ASPC Congress, including video interviews and much more. For more information on the ASPC Congress agenda and registration, visit www.aspconline.org. – by Darlene Dobkowski

For more information:

Seth J. Baum, MD, FASPC, can be reached at sjbaum@fpim.org.

Amit Khera, MD, MSc, FASPC, can be reached at amit.khera@utsouthwestern.edu.

Disclosure: Cardiology Today is an official media partner of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology 2017 Congress on CVD Prevention.