Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (U-CARS) 2025
Thursday, February 20,2025 (all times MST)
7.00-8.00am. Breakfast Industry Theater (Non-CME) - TBD
8.00-8.15am. Introduction
8.15-9.30am. Session 1: Innovation in cardiac adrenergic receptors in disease
Chairs: Robin Shaw, MD/PhD, U of U; Kirk Knowlton, MD, Intermountain Health; Jared Bunch, MD, U of U
- Molecular mechanisms of b-adrenergic stimulated cardiac contractility. Steven Marx, MD, Columbia
- Spatiotemporal activation of cardiac b-adrenergic receptor signaling. Donald Bers, PhD, UC Davis
- Allosteric modulation of b1-adrenergic receptors for catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, Howard Rockman, MD, Duke
(15 min talk + 10 min discussion each)
9.30-10.30am. Keynote address
Michael Bristow, MD/PhD, U of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
10:30-11:00am. Break
11:00am-12:15pm. Session 2: Interorgan and intercellular signaling in cardiac health and disease
Chairs: Scott Summers, PhD, U of U; Jared Rutter, PhD, U of U; Sihem Boudina, PhD, U of U
- The heart in a muscle-liver-adipose "Bermuda triangle". Robert Gerszten, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess/Harvard
- Immune cells at the crossroad to cardiac fibrosis and heart failure. Pilar Alcaide, PhD, Tufts
- Hepato-cardiac signaling in control of pathologic cardiac hypertrophy. Konstantinos Drosatos, PhD, U of Cincinnati
(15 min talk + 10 min discussion each)
12.15-1.15pm. Lunch Industry Theaters (Non-CME)
1.15-3.00pm. Session 3: Myocardial recovery: evidence and implementation
Chairs: James Long, MD, Integris Health; Stephen McKellar, MD, Intermountain Health
- How is progression of disease/HFrEF affecting the cardiac recoverability? Is this the same for all HFrEF therapies? Liviu Klein, UCSF
- How to (a) individualize the probability of recovery and (b) guide recommendations for ‘direct transplant’ vs ‘VAD as bridge’. Maya Guglin, MD, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson
- Durability of recovery after VAD weaning: results from VAD WEAN Recovery Registry. Benjamin Sun, MD, Minneapolis Heart Institute
- Upgraded recommendations for recovery in the ISHLT guidelines. Michael Tong, MD, Cleveland Clinic
- UNOS and INTERMACS evidence of under diagnosis and underutilization of LVAD-mediated recovery. Anelechi Anyanwu, Mount Sinai
- Reasons for under diagnosis and underutilization and ways to address them. Palak Shah, MD, INOVA
Discussants Panel: Snehal Patel, MD, Montefiore; Amanda Vest, MD, Cleveland Clinic; Kartik Sundareswaran, PhD, U of U; Abdallah Kfoury, MD, Intermountain Health; Stavros Drakos, MD/PhD, U of U
(10 minutes each and 45 minutes panel discussion at the end)
3.00-3.30pm. Break
3.30-5.00pm. Session 4: Cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic crosstalk in acute and chronic HF
Chairs: Srinivasan Beddhu, MD, U of U; Aylin Roldan MD, PhD, U of U; Yan-Ting Shiu, PhD, U of U
Featured Presentation: Amino acids for renal protection in cardiovascular disease. Alessandro Belletti, MD, San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy (20 min + 10 min discussion)
- Intersection between skeletal muscle and myocardial muscle recovery in HF. Amanda Vest, MD, Cleveland Clinic
- Metabolic mechanisms of pulmonary vasculopathy in heart failure. Vojtěch Melenovsky, MD, IKEM, Prague, Czech Republic
- Cardiogenic shock, vasoplegia and cardiorenal syndrome. Tom Hanff, MD, U of U
(12 min talk + 8 min discussion each)
Discussants Panel: Alfred Cheung, MD, U of U; Nirupama Ramkumar, MD, U of U; Brandi Wynne, PhD, U of U
5.00-6.00pm. 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 21, 2025 (all times MST)
7.00-8.00am. Breakfast Industry Theaters (Non-CME)
- Bristol Myers Squibb (Ballroom)
8.00-10.00am. Session 5: Featured Research Presentations- Best Submitted Abstracts (Non-CME)
Chairs: Markus Amann, PhD, U of U; Ade Aromoloran, PhD, U of U; Roberta Florido, MD, U of U; Eleni Tseliou, MD/PhD, U of U
- Epigenetics of myocardial recovery. Omar Wever-Pinzon, MD, U of Miami
- Multi-modal biomimetic human translational models for understanding myocardial load response. Michael Ibrahim, MD, PhD, U Penn
- Innovation in stem cell therapy for HF patients. Bojan Vrotvec, MD, U of Ljubljana, Slovenia
- LV unloading and its effect on RV contractility and RV-pulmonary coupling in LVAD recipients. Steven Hsu, MD, Johns Hopkins
- Ventricular restoration to mediate reverse remodeling: AccuCinch trial. Ulrich Jorde, MD, Montefiore/Einstein
- Innovation in recovering donor hearts: insights from the Donor Heart Study. Kiran Khush, MD, Stanford
(Additional topics to be announced based on abstract submissions.)
10.00-10.30am. Break
10.30-12.15 pm Session 6: Debates on vexing clinical issues
Debate 1: Severe multi-vessel coronary artery disease in HF
Chair: James Fang, MD, U of U
Option 1: Revascularization: David Taggart, MD, U of Oxford, England
Option 2: Optimal Medical Therapy: Gerasimos Filippatos, MD, U of Athens, Greece
Discussants Panel: Ivan Netuka, MD, IKEM, Prague, Czechia; John Ryan, MD, U of U; Matthew Goodwin, MD, U of U; Brigham Smith, MD, U of U; Tara Jones, MD, U of U; Libo Wang, MD, U of U
The speakers and panel will discuss various associated clinical characteristics and how this variability may further inform the potential therapeutic options.
(15 min each and 20 min discussion)
Debate 2: Therapeutic approaches to moderate and severe mitral valve regurgitation in HF
Chair: Fred Welt, MD, U of U
Option 1: Interventional approach. Brian Whisenant, MD, Intermountain Health
Option 2: Surgical approach: TBD
Discussants Panel: David Taggart, MD, U of Oxford, England; Ivan Netuka, MD, IKEM, Prague, Czechia; Ethan Tumarkin, MD, U of U; Anwar Tandar, MD, U of U; Vikas Sharma, MD, U of U
The speakers and panel will discuss various associated clinical characteristics and how this variability may further inform the potential therapeutic options.
(15 min each and 20 min discussion)
12.15-1:15 pm Lunch Industry Theaters (Non-CME)
- Abiomed (Ballroom)
- CVRx (Amphitheater)
1:15-2:45pm Session 7: Interesting Cases – Interactive Discussion
Discussants Panel: Antigone Koliopoulou, MD, Onassis, Greece; Rami Alharethi, MD, Intermountain Health; Sean Overton, MD, U of U; Spencer Carter, MD, U of U; Laura Geer, RN, U of U; Marisca Nelson, RN, U of U
- Berlin Heart Institute case – Felix Schoenrath, MD, Charite, Berlin, Germany
- Karolinska Institute case – Emil Najjar, MD, Karolinska, Sweden
- U of Utah case – Speaker TBD
(15 min presentation and 15 min discussion each)
2:45-3:15pm. Break
3.15-4:30pm Session 8: Acute HF and cardiogenic shock
Discussants Panel: Ulrich Jorde, MD, Montefiore; Alessandro Belletti, MD, Milan, Italy; Felix Schoenrath, MD, Berlin, Germany; Anna Ciullo, MD, U of U; Joseph Tonna, MD, U of U
- Native heart recovery and temporary MCS in cardiogenic shock. Manreet Kanwar, MD, Allegheny
- SCAI/SoCCC SHOCK TEAM Think Tank 2024: summary and action items. Jason Katz, MD, NYU
- Reasons for Success and Failure in Developing a Shock Team. Shashank Sinha, MD, INOVA
(15 min presentation and 10 min discussion each)