Agenda

Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (U-CARS) 2026

Thursday, February 5, 2026 (all times MST)

7.30-8:00 AM Breakfast Industry Theater (Non-CME) 

(Ballroom)

(Amphitheater)

8.00-8.15am. Introduction

8:15 - 9:45 AM. Session 1. Myocardial recovery: evidence and implementation. (Non-CME)

Chairs: James Fang, MD, U of U; JB Durand, MD, MD Anderson; Rami Alharethi, MD, Intermountain

  1. How is progression of disease affecting cardiac recoverability? Is it the same for all HF therapies? — Biykem Bozkurt, MD, Baylor/Houston
  2. The “5th pillar” of GDMT: effective second line therapies or futile efforts increasing the risk of subsequent advanced therapies? — Vanessa Blumer, MD, Inova
  3. Management of patients with HF Improved Ejection Fraction: knowns and unknowns. — Rob Mentz, MD, Duke
  4. “Responders” and “non-responders” of HF therapies: should this be expected in a heterogeneous disease? How should clinicians, researchers and industry approach it? —  Andrew Ambrosy, MD, Kaiser Permanente Research Division, San Francisco

 9:45 - 10:30 AM : Keynote Address (Non-CME)

"Humbling experiences on the journey from academia to industry."

Dean Y. Li, MD/PhD, President, Merck Laboratories

10.30-10.45am. Break

10:45 - 12:00 PM : Session 2. Vexing Clinical Issues in Myocardial Recovery (Non-CME)

Chairs: Biykem Bozkurt, MD, Baylor/Houston; Manreet Kanwar, MD, U of Chicago; Ross Butchek, MD, Intermountain

How to bridge unstable patients with new HF diagnosis to the “GDMT goldmine”:

 a) Pharmacological bridge to GDMT: vasodilation, inotropes po/iv & other paths. — Brian Houston, MD, MUSC

 b) Mechanical bridge to GDMT: short-term, intermediate or durable? — Gavin Hickey, MD, U of Pittsburgh

 c) Is all of the above a “band-aid” resulting in higher risk Transplant/DT VAD surgeries? — Bart Meyns, MD, U of Leuven, Belgium

 12:00 - 1:15 PM : Lunch Break

Industry Theaters 12:15 - 12:45 PM (Non-CME) 

(Ballroom)

(Amphitheater)

  • Introduction to AMVUTTRA (vutrisiran), for the treatment of ATTR-CM and hATTR-PN in adults. Zubair Shah, MD

 1:15 - 2:30 PM : Session 3. Myocardial Recovery and Advanced Therapies Pathways.

Chairs: Stephen McKellar, MD, Intermountain; Josef Stehlik, MD, U of U

  1. How to (a) individualize the probability of recovery and (b) guide recommendations for ‘direct transplant’ vs ‘VAD as bridge’. — Tom Cascino, MD, U of Michigan
  2. ISHLT guidelines for myocardial recovery. — Igor Gosev, MD, Newark Beth Israel
  3. Long-term outcomes after VAD weaning: results from VAD WEAN Recovery Registry. — Van-Khue Ton, MD, MGH
  4. UNOS and INTERMACS evidence of underutilization of myocardial recovery path and how to address this. — Arvind Bhimaraj, MD, Houston Methodist
  5. “Partial responders” after HF drug or CRT therapy: similarities and differences to “partial responders” after LVAD? — Palak Shah, MD, Inova

 Discussants: Joseph Rogers, MD, Texas Heart Institute/Baylor; Shelley Hall, MD, Baylor/Dallas; Abdallah Kfoury, MD, Intermountain; Yaron Barac, MD, Wake Forest

 2:30 - 3:15 PM : Panel Discussion 1. Heart Transplantation and MCS: current status and future directions.

Chairs: Shelley Hall, MD, Baylor/Dallas; Craig Selzman, MD, U of U

  1. UNOS “recovery safety net” path — Snehal Patel, MD, Northwell/Hofstra
  2. Considerations in young and middle-age patients — Kevin Clerkin, MD, Columbia
  3. Care pathways and shared decision-making tools — Spencer Carter, MD, U of U
  4. Featured Presentation: Past ISHLT President perspective — Stephan Schueler, MD, U of Newcastle

Panel Discussion: Erin Davis, RN; Roberta Florido, MD; Marcy Nelson, RN; Arielle Pearce, APRN, U of U; Benjamin Sun, MD, Minneapolis Heart Institute; Nir Uriel, MD, Columbia

3.15-3.45 PM Break

3:45 - 4:15 PM : Panel Discussion 2. Myocardial recovery in pediatric HF.

Chairs: Iki Adachi, MD, Texas Children’s/Baylor; Sharon Chen, MD, Primary Children’s/U of U

  1. Implementing cardiac recovery “cultural change” in a pediatric program: what have we learned — Jon Edelson, MD, CHOP/U Penn
  2. ACTION Network prospective myocardial recovery trial: design and implementation — David Peng, MD, U of Michigan

Discussants: Shelley Hall, MD, Baylor/Dallas; Ashwin Lal, MD; Eric Griffiths, MD, Primary Children’s/U of U

4:15 - 5:00 PM : Panel Discussion 3. Clinical and bioengineering considerations to promote myocardial recovery.

Chairs: Bart Meyns, MD, U of Leuven; Joseph Rogers, MD, Texas Heart Institute/Baylor

  1. VAD design roadmap to promote myocardial recovery — Ivan Netuka, MD, IKEM
  2. Design paradigm shift leaving the heart intact — Sudhir Kushwaha, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
  3. Pump-Ventricular-Arterial coupling and other innovative approaches — Marcus Granegger, PhD, Medical University of Vienna

Discussants: Yaron Barac, Wake Forest ; Manreet Kanwar, U of Chicago; Benjamin Sun, MD, Minneapolis Heart Institute

5:00 - 6:00 PM : Session 4. Myocardial Recovery in Cardio-Oncology.

Chairs: JB Durand, MD, MD Anderson; Roberta Florido, MD; Anees Daud, MD, U of U

  1. Mechanisms of cardiotoxicity and potential for myocardial recovery in cardio-oncology — Richard Cheng, MD, U of Washington, Seattle
  2. GDMT in Cardio-Oncology: does it work? — Jenica Upshaw, MD, MSc, Beth Israel/Harvard
  3. Cardiac radiation to modulate ventricular remodeling — Ali Javaheri, MD/PhD, Wash U

6:00-7:00pm. Poster Presentations Session (Non-CME)

7.00-10.00pm. Symposium Gala Dinner Reception
Ken Garff Red Zone, South Tower, level 1 (located on south end of Rice Eccles Stadium)
451 S 1400 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Get directions HERE
 

Friday, February 6, 2026 (all times MST)

7.15-7:45 AM : Breakfast Industry Theaters (Non-CME)

 (Ballroom)

  • Devices in HF:  Integration of CCM Therapy with Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy. Marat Fudim, MD

 (Amphitheater)

  • Title TBD. Nir Uriel, MD; Gabriel Sayer, MD

8:15 - 9:15 AM : Session 5. Fibroblasts to heal, repair and recover the heart.

Chairs: Anthony Donato, PhD, U of U; Kirk Knowlton, MD, Intermountain

  1. Fibroblasts and Beyond: Cellular Drivers of Cardiac Recovery — Michelle Tallquist, PhD, University of Hawaii
  2. Turning Scars into Healing: Targeting Fibroblasts for Cardiac Recovery — Arjun Deb, MD, UCLA
  3. Breaking the Cycle of Fibrosis: Mechanical Cues in Cardiac Remodeling — Daniel Silverman, MD, MUSC

Discussants: Ademuyiwa Aromolaran, PhD; Greg Ducker, PhD; Sarah Franklin, PhD, U of U

9:15 - 10:15 AM : Session 6. Myocardial recovery bench to bedside.

Chairs: Sihem Boudina, PhD, U of U; William Holland, PhD, U of U

  1. Establishing discovery and therapeutic programs for recovery: a collaborative multi-system strategy — Kory Lavine, MD, PhD, Wash U
  2. A model of heart failure without oxidative stress — Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, PhD, U of U
  3. An energetic basis for myocardial recovery and reverse remodeling in human heart failure — Joseph Goldenberg, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins

Discussants: TingTing Hong, PhD, U of U; Joseph Palatinus, MD/PhD, U of U; Walter Wray, PhD, U of U

10.15-10.45 AM : Break

10:45 - 12:15 PM : Session 7. Cardiogenic shock and myocardial recovery.

Chairs:  Laura Geer, RN, U of U; Matt Goodwin, MD, U of U; Tom Hanff, MD, U of U 

Featured presentation: Microcirculation and cardiogenic shock: diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. Nir Uriel, MD, Columbia (15 min talk and 10 min discussion)

  1. Variability of temp MCS weaning strategies and how to advance the field. Alex Bernhardt, MD, U of Hamburg, Germany (10 min talk and 5 min discussion)
  2. Four case presentations. 

Aditya Mehta, MD, Deborah Peana, MD, Chloe Theeuwes, MD, Karl Wallenkampf, MD, U of U

(7 min presentation and 5 min discussion each)

12:15 - 1:30 PM : Lunch Break

Industry Theaters 12:30 - 1:00 PM (Non-CME) 

(Ballroom)

(Amphitheater)

1:30 - 2:45 PM : Session 8. Innovative approaches to myocardial recovery: basic and translational.

Chairs: Martin Tristani Firouzi, PhD, Primary Children’s/U of U; David Symons,PhD, U of U; Erik Blackwood, PhD, U of U

  1. Metabolism, fibrosis and RV reserve and recovery — Vojtech Melenovsky, MD, PhD, IKEM, Prague, Czech Republic
  2. Cardiac metabolism during LVAD support: identification of a novel therapeutic pathway — David Kaye, MD, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  3. Lipid metabolism and myocardial recovery — Eleni Tseliou, MD/PhD, U of U
  4. Epigenetics of myocardial recovery — Omar Wever Pinzon, MD, U of Miami
  5. Neuroimmune modulation to improve myocardial function. Stavros Stavrakis, MD/PhD, U of Oklahoma

2.45 - 3:15 PM : Break

3:15 - 5:00 PM : Session 9. Innovative approaches to myocardial recovery: clinical.

Chairs: Alison Brann, MD, U of U; Joel Trinity, PhD, U of U; Frederick Welt, MD, U of U

Featured Presentation: Novel devices in HF: is a tsunami coming? — Marat Fudim, MD, Duke

  1. Aortic stenosis and TAVR as a model to better understand cardiac remodeling and recovery — Andrew Perry, MD, Vanderbilt
  2. Advanced Hemodynamics and Cardiac Energetics as Physiologic Targets of RV and LV Recovery — Jonathan Grinstein, MD, U of Chicago
  3. Ventricular and vascular biomechanics of VA ECMO: diagnostic and therapeutic implications — Kay Everett, MD/PhD, U of South Florida/Tampa General
  4. Promoting vascular recovery during LVAD therapy: role of pulsatility and nitric oxide augmentation — Omar Saeed, MD, Montefiore/Einstein
  5. LVEF-agnostic HF prognosis and access to advanced therapies: are we disadvantaging HFmrEF and HFpEF pts? — Chris Kapelios, MD/PhD, U of Athens, Greece

Discussants Panel: Aysha Amjad, MD, Intermountain; Matthew Griffee, MD; Anwar Tandar, MD; Ethan Tumarkin, MD; Libo Wang, MD, U of U