Nearly two-thirds of people with diabetes have high blood pressure, according to the American Diabetes Association. And, they are two to four times more likely to die of heart disease or have a stroke than people who don't have diabetes. Join us  Saturday, Sept. 28 for a "Lunch & Learn" program presented by the UA Sarver Heart Center Women's Heart Health Education Committee. Presenters include David Marrero, PhD, University of Arizona Health Sciences and the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Linda Dingle, RN, CDE, Pima County Health Department, and Nancy Sweitzer, MD, PhD, UA Sarver Heart Center. The $15 registration fee includes a box lunch and educational handouts.  Online registration closes Sept. 25 at 10 p.m.

Dr. Nancy Sweitzer (red blouse) welcomed the first-year cardiovascular disease fellows to Sarver Heart Center in July. They are from left: Mahesh Balakrishnan, MBBS, Emily Cendrowski, MD, Ignacio Zepeda, MD, Adriana Martin, MD, PhD, Nanda Pullela, MBBS, Juliya Cress, MD, PharmD, and Michael Kendall, MD, MSc.

"About half of our patients are women, yet cardiology remains a male-dominated specialty. If we want to recruit and train a more diverse group of cardiologists, particularly women and under-represented minorities, we need to acknowledge the current state of the profession, change some perceptions, and think creatively about the cardiologists' career of the future," writes Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and chief of cardiology, and editor in chief of Circulation: Heart Failure. Learn about efforts to  provide Tucsonans with more access to cardiovascular care than ever before and a diversity of providers to better reflect our patients.

Deepak Acharya MD, MSPH, joined the UA  Sarver Heart Center as associate professor of medicine. He received his medical degree and completed internal medicine training at Baylor College of Medicine. He then completed his cardiovascular fellowship, advanced heart failure/transplantation fellowship, and clinical research training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He remained on faculty at UAB until 2018, when he came to the UA for interventional cardiology training.

Preethi William, MD,  returned to the UA  Sarver Heart Center as a  clinical assistant professor and cardiologist with the Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Transplant Cardiology Team at Banner - University Medical Center Tucson.  Dr. William earned her medical degree at Vinyaka Missions Medical College in Karaikal, India, then pursued internal medicine training at the University of Arizona, where she also completed fellowships in geriatrics and cardiovascular diseases. Following her training at the UA, she completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology at the University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City.  

Marvin Slepian, MD, regents professor at the University of Arizona and Sarver Heart Center member, will discuss  how advances in wearable technology, virtual reality and integrative imaging hold the promise of revolutionizing how diseases are monitored, controlled and prevented during the UA Arthritis Center's Living Healthy with Arthritis Lecture Series, Wed., Oct. 2, from 6 p.m. - 7:15 p.m., in UA Health Sciences Innovation Building. 

Have you ever wondered what you can do, personally, to beat heart disease? Consider becoming part of the UA Sarver Heart Center Biorepository. Our clinical research team will warmly welcome you to participate whether or not you have heart disease or a known risk factor. Enrollment  means completing a questionnaire, signing an informed consent form that allows researchers to view your electronic medical record and donating about three tablespoons of blood. These blood samples will help scientists better understand heart disease to improve care and treatment now and in the future. Click on the Cardiology Research Registry link to get started.