Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

The 2019 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session was a robust and dynamic meeting packed with innovative research, groundbreaking science, and interactive education. Late Breaking Science including the results of DECLARE-TIMI 58, which extended the benefits of SGLT2 inhibition beyond patients with diabetes and established cardiovascular disease to those with risk factors; new data establishing the efficacy and safety of TAVR vs SAVR for low-risk patients; and data demonstrating the use of the Apple Watch for detection of atrial fibrillation shared the spotlight with many other innovative sessions. In the following pages, you will find a comprehensive review of this important meeting including topics such as primary prevention, diabetes, heart failure, vascular medicine, and pulmonary hypertension. We hope you find it interesting and informative!

Thank you,

Marc Bonaca

Biography
Marc P. Bonaca, MD, MPH is a Cardiologist and Vascular Medicine Specialist who serves as the Executive Director of CPC Clinical Research and CPC Community Health, which is an Academic Research Organization created by and affiliated with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He is the Director of Vascular Research and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the inaugural holder of the William R. Hiatt Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research. CPC is a core resource of the University of Colorado research and community outreach infrastructure.

Dr Bonaca earned his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and his Masters in Public Health at Harvard University. He served as a Medical House Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Following his medical residency training, he served as a Cardiology Fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and subsequently completed a fellowship in Vascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital under the mentorship of Mark A. Creager MD. He then served as a Cardiovascular Research Fellow with the TIMI Study Group with the Cardiovascular Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

After completion of his training he joined the faculty of the Cardiovascular Division and Vascular Medicine section of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and became an Investigator at the TIMI Study Group. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital he founded the Aortic Syndrome Program and served as the Medical Director of the Aortic Center. At the TIMI Study Group he was the Chairman of the TIMI Safety Desk and oversaw pharmacovigilance activities for more than 8 large, multinational clinical trials. At TIMI he was an investigator on the TRA2P-TIMI 50 Trial, co-Principal Investigator of the PEGASUS-TIMI 54 Trial, co-investigator and United States National Lead Investigator of the DECLARE-TIMI 58 trial, and Principal Investigator of the REAL-TIMI 63B trial. At TIMI he led investigation in multiple datasets evaluating vascular outcomes including major adverse limb events and venous thromboembolism. He is currently the Center Director and Clinical Project Principal Investigator of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dartmouth Hitchcock Center in the American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network in Peripheral Vascular Disease.

Dr Bonaca’s research focus is on ischemic risk in patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease, risk prediction, and risk modification through the use of pharmacologic and biologic therapies. He has extensive experience in the design and conduct of large multicenter randomized clinical trials as well as analyses in registries and real-world datasets. His key areas of interest include patients with peripheral artery disease, polyvascular disease and diabetes with a focus on the breadth of risk including ischemic limb outcomes, microvascular complications and major adverse cardiovascular events. In addition, he is actively investigating the cardiac, vascular and thrombotic complications associated with novel oncologic therapies. Other clinical research interests include the evaluation of novel antithrombotic, lipid lowering and glucose lowering drugs, and the use of established and novel biomarkers or risk prediction and personalization of therapy. He is a member of the Society of Vascular Medicine, American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA). He currently serves on the ACC PVD Leadership Council and is an associate editor for the Vascular Medicine.

Conflict of Interest Statement:
Grant support to BWH from AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Merck, Pfizer
Grant support to CPC from AstraZeneca, Bayer
Consulting for Aralez, AstraZeneca, Bayer, MedImmune, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi

Posted on 4 June, 2019