ACC NEWS
President’s Page: Reflecting on the Power of One
James T. Dove, MD, FACC, ACC President* and
Bonnie Weiner, MD, MSEC, MBA, FSCAI, FACC, SCAI President
* Address correspondence to: James T. Dove, MD, FACC, American College of Cardiology, c/o Padmini G. Rajagopal-Moorehead, 2400 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20037
By now, many of you know about and may have already registered for the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Annual Scientific Sessions in partnership with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit (SCAI-ACC i2), which will run concomitantly with ACC.08, March 29 to April 1, in Chicago. This meeting will combine the best of the annual meeting of the SCAI and the ACC i2 Summit. It will provide a setting at which the medical community will have access to top-tier information and experts in interventional cardiology, scientific education, training, and communication.
The decision to take this approach to an interventional cardiology meeting for 2008 did not come easily. The more intimate SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions has a 30-year (and counting) tradition. It has included many long-standing highlights, such as the Hildner and Founders’ Lectures, and the Judkins Cardiac Imaging, Hemodynamic, and Peripheral Symposia. In its third year, the highly successful ACC i2 Summit has an established profile with its late-breaking clinical trials, live case transmissions, and state-of-the-art lectures.
The SCAI and ACC embraced the value and power of a single educational venue for interventional cardiology in the spring of 2008. This approach draws from the strengths of both while adding new programming that takes advantage of their combined expertise. The co-chairs of the meeting are Ted Feldman, MD, FSCAI, FACC, and David R. Holmes, Jr., MD, FACC, FSCAI. The Program Committee draws representatives from both organizations, many of whom are members of both, which will also be the case for many attendees.
Programming will include: - • Daily programming on coronary, peripheral/carotid, pediatric, and structural topics.
- • Live case transmissions from 7 sites worldwide.
- • Late-breaking clinical trials, emerging technologies, and oral abstracts sessions.
- • Case reviews on intravascular ultrasound, left main, chronic total occlusion, valvular and structural procedures, bifurcation, complications, endovascular procedures, and great save.
- • Comprehensive programming on angiographic and other imaging modalities during the Judkins Cardiac Imaging Symposium.
- • Focused education on hemodynamics and diagnostic catheterization through SCAI’s Hemodynamics Symposium.
- • Extensive review and updates on the diagnosis and management of peripheral arterial disease during the Peripheral Symposium.
- • Hands-on training in cardiac computed tomography.
- • Programming focused on the business and policies of medicine, including regulatory, reimbursement, and other policy issues facing interventional cardiologists and new procedures.
- • Debates on the COURAGE (Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation) trial, percutaneous coronary intervention versus coronary artery bypass graft, drug-eluting stent selection, embolic protection, vulnerable plaque, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, patent foramen ovale closure for stroke, percutaneous aortic valve replacement in Europe, elective percutaneous coronary intervention, and carotid stenting in asymptomatic patients.
- • Special programming for fellows-in-training, nurses, and catheterization laboratory administrators.
Each day of the meeting will feature a special invited lecturer: - • Eberhard Grube, MD, will give the International Lecture on Saturday, March 29.
- • The SCAI’s Founders’ Lecture, which honors F. Mason Sones, MD, and Melvin Judkins, MD, will be given by Barry Rutherford, MD, on Sunday, March 30.
- • William Hillenbrand, MD, will give the new Pediatric Lecture on Monday, March 31.
- • The SCAI’s traditional Hildner Lecture will be given by Alice Jacobs, MD, on Tuesday, April 1.
Essentially, this meeting has the potential to draw many of the stakeholders in interventional cardiology together under one tent in 2008. It will position all of us to share expertise, to network, and perhaps resolve some of the hot issues we face in interventional cardiology. The unity of knowledge and expertise possible with this meeting extends beyond interventional cardiology.
As the presidents of the ACC and SCAI during this transition year, when our signature meetings have evolved into one, we both have been asked many questions about how this new partnership will work. Besides many logistical questions, we hear, for example: Can I attend both SCAI-ACC i2 and ACC.08? Answer: Yes, a combined registration option is offered. Will SCAI hold its Annual Banquet? Answer: Yes, there will be an Annual Banquet. For details, check your final program or go to
http://www.scai-acci2.org.
Members of both the SCAI and ACC want to know how this new meeting can possibly deliver all the features they have liked about the individual meetings. The answer is that SCAI-ACC i2 will not look exactly like the SCAI’s annual meeting or the ACC’s i2 Summit. Instead, we have created a third entity, which will offer you the SCAI’s intimate feel and collegial interaction and its "best of the best in interventional cardiology" and "news you can use" focus. In concert, the ACC’s late-breaking clinical trials and emerging technologies sessions, live cases, and other innovative, interactive sessions will continue. We feel confident that you will come away from this meeting fully updated on both the latest breakthroughs and analysis of how to apply that information as you treat your interventional patients.
The unity of knowledge and expertise possible with this joint meeting extends beyond interventional cardiology to all aspects of cardiology. Beyond its obvious value to the cardiology community, this unified programming effort comes at a time when the medical community needs to be working together. Unifying our ideas and expertise strengthens our efforts to ensure the highest quality of care for our patients.
This is not the merger of two societies but a collaboration to organize a phenomenal interventional meeting. We hope that you will agree.
Be sure to register soon for SCAI-ACC i2, ACC.08, or both meetings and join our collective community in Chicago, March 29 to April 1, 2008.
We would like to know what you think! Please contact us with your thoughts and feedback. Write to James T. Dove, MD, FACC, at president{at}acc.org and Bonnie Weiner, MD, FSCAI, FACC, at president{at}scai.org.
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