ACC Clinical Trials Research Program REACH(es) New Heights

ACC

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has selected 50 learners for its 2024 – 2025 Clinical Trials Research (CTR) program, of whom 28 structural heart cardiologists and surgeons will participate in the CTR’s new Project REACH. This incoming cohort of learners will participate in a year-long curriculum designed to advance their skills and careers in clinical trials research and ensure that all individuals have the opportunity to contribute as part of the clinical trials research workforce.

Kick Off

The CTR Program and corresponding REACH program are sponsored by Medtronic and will kick off with a networking reception at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.24) taking place April 6 – 8, 2024, in Atlanta.

Pamela Douglas, MD, MACC, founding chair of ACC’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force

“Ensuring access to leadership for all talent is an essential component of providing quality cardiovascular care to all. Cardiovascular care is not one size fits all and by fostering representation of broader perspectives within cardiovascular clinical trial leadership roles, the ACC’s Clinical Trials Research Program will ensure the data that drives patient care more closely reflects the needs of actual cardiovascular patients.”

Clinical Trials Research Program

The Clinical Trials Research program was established in 2019 by ACC’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force to increase the number of individuals underrepresented in cardiology (URC) in leadership roles for cardiovascular clinical trials by equipping them with the practical and leadership skills to be successful in clinical research.

“Medtronic is proud to support the incoming cohort of dynamic structural heart disease specialists to the CTR REACH program,” said Jeffrey Popma, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer for the Coronary & Renal Denervation business and the Structural Heart & Aortic business at Medtronic. “Medtronic prioritizes the practice of evidence-based medicine in the medical device industry and believes that enhanced patient access and outcomes is dependent on diversity of thought, perspective and varied experiences. We look forward to seeing the great things this group of talented individuals will accomplish in the field of clinical research.”

This year, in collaboration with the Association of Black Cardiologists, the CTR program introduces Project REACH (Research, Equity, and Access for Cardiac Health), an initiative designed to address existing disparities in structural heart clinical trials work. Through CTR and CTR REACH, a cohort of cardiologists, surgeons, structural heart disease specialists and researchers, will participate in a one-year curriculum in clinical research building on health equity principles to provide deeper understanding of the challenges of all patients facing these diseases and to foster support and collaboration among peers in the structural heart sub-specialty.

“Project REACH is an innovative initiative that will address the striking disparities seen in structural heart trials and research,” said Wayne Batchelor, MD, FACC, ACC Clinical Trials Research Program Co-Chair. “Through REACH there is a real opportunity to create meaningful change in how we determine the best ways to care for some of our most vulnerable patients.”

The selected learners for the 2024 – 2025 CTR and CTR REACH Cohort** are:

Hussein Abu Daya, MD, FACC
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

Aderonke Adeniyi, MD, FACC
University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont

**Vratika Agarwal, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center/ New York Presbyterian Hospital
New York

Carlos Alviar, MD, FACC
New York University Langone Medical Center
New York

**Vidhu Anand, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Mayo Clinic
Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota

**Gloria Ayuba, DO, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas

Syeda Atiqa Batul, MD, FACC
Geisinger Health System
Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Katelyn Bruno, PhD
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Quan Bui, MD
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California

Gregory Burkman, MD, FACC
Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Laura Cohen, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston

Johanna Contreras, MD, FACC
Mount Sinai Hospital
New York

**Pedro Cox, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
LSU School of Medicine
New Orleans

Zainab Dakhil, MB, CHB
Ibn Al-Bitar Cardiac Centre and Al-Kindy College of Medicine
Baghdad

**Ersilia DeFilippis, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
New York

**Rimsky Denis, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Private Practice – Structural and Interventional Cardiology
Miami

**Pedro Engel Gonzalez, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Henry Ford Health
Detroit 

**Serdar Farhan, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York

**Tanush Gupta, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Vermont Medical Center
Burlington, Vermont

**Aakriti Gupta, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles

Pura Henriquez, MD, FACC
Plaza de la Salud General Hospital
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Rachna Kataria, MD
Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute/Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

Adnan Khalif, MD, FACC
Allegheny Health Network, Cardiovascular Institute
Pittsburgh

**Lillian Khor, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Veterans Administration Health Care System
Salt Lake City

**Yuli Kim, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia

Agnes Koczo, MD
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Pittsburgh 

Salil Kumar, MD, FACC
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston

**Andrew Leventhal, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort 
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky

**Bruno Lima, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville

**Giorgio Medranda, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island
Mineola, New York

**Vivian Ng, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center
New York

**Olufunso Odunukan, MBBS, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Dignity Health – Yavapai Regional Medical Center
Prescott, Arizona

**Jeffrey Ogbara, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Heart House/Cooper University Hospital
Haddon Heights, New Jersey

**Diana Otero, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University Medical Center
New York

Kaavya Paruchuri, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston

Ashley Pender, MD
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Philadelphia

**Luigi Pirelli, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Columbia University
New York

**Jyothy Puthumana, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Northwestern Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Chicago

Odayme Quesada, MD, FACC
Heart and Vascular Institute, The Christ Hospital
Cincinnati

Raymundo Quintana Quezada, MD, FACC
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Aurora, Colorado

**Jeremy Rier, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort |
WellSpan
York, Pennsylvania

**Patricia Rodriguez Lozano, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Eyal Sagiv, MD, FACC
Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle 

Daniel Silverman, MD, FACC
Medical University of South Carolina & Ralph H Johnson VAMC
Charleston, South Carolina

**Francesca Sperotto, MD CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston 

**Juan Terre, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Tulane University School of Medicine
New Orleans

**Ifeoma Ugonabo, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
University of Tennessee HSC
Memphis, Tennessee

**Joji Varghese, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Hendrick Medical Center
Abilene, Texas

Keyur Vora, MD, FACC
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis

**Priscilla Wessly, MD, FACC CTR Structural Heart Disease Cohort
Aurora St Lukes
Milwaukee

ACC.24 will take place April 6-8, 2024, in Atlanta, bringing together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention.