Despite the ongoing pandemic and the inability to hold the conference in person, the 2021 Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (UCARS) still managed to attract an impressive 725 attendees from around the globe.
This year’s keynote speaker was Sir Magdi Yacoub, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Imperial College London, and the Founder and Director of the Harefield Heart Science Center, also known as the Magdi Yacoub Institute in London. He is also associated with the Aswan Heart Center in Egypt, and is the Founder and Director of Magdi Yacoub Research Network, which is responsible for creating the Qatar Cardiovascular Research Center. Sir Magdi Yacoub’s talk was entitled “Bridge to Recovery: From Flatlands to Complex Networks.”
Other notable talks included Dr. Van-Khue Ton from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard, who discussed the
impact of exercise on myocardial recovery, Dr. Gerasimos Filippatos from University of Athens who spoke about the impact on new heart failure medications, Dr. Daniel Zimpfer from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria who discussed pediatric myocardial recovery, and Dr. Manreet Kanwar from Allegheny Medical Center, who focused on patient experiences of heart failure, and invited a 22-year-old patient of hers to speak on the topic.
Though the world continues to move through unprecedented times, it was exciting and heartening to see the continued devotion to the field of cardiovascular medicine and cardiothoracic surgery that was evident from all of the speakers and attendees. Recorded sessions from UCARS 2021 are available on the website: ucars.uofumedicine.org.