Ohio-ACC Newsletter, December 2025

Dear Ohio-ACC Colleague,

Our 35th Annual Meeting brought together 168 cardiovascular professionals for an outstanding day of scientific exchange and collaboration on September 27, 2025, at the Hilton Columbus at Easton. The event featured cutting-edge educational sessions, robust networking opportunities, and impressive research presentations that highlighted both established expertise and emerging talent in the field.

The scientific program delivered exceptional content across multiple cardiovascular subspecialties.

Dr. Ron Blankstein presented the Richard Lewis Memorial Lecture on coronary CTA, sharing current approaches from prevention to intervention. Dr. Hani Najm offered compelling insights into the latest innovations in congenital heart surgery. Additional sessions provided practical guidance on ATTR amyloidosis diagnosis and treatment, minimally invasive transcutaneous vegectomy techniques for right-sided endocarditis, and current dyslipidemia research covering ApoB, Lipoprotein(a), and familial chylomicronemia syndrome.

The meeting fostered excellent networking throughout the day, with 25 exhibiting companies showcasing the latest cardiovascular technologies. Attendees had ample opportunities to connect with colleagues, engage with industry representatives, and review poster presentations. Two participants competed in the FIT Oral Competition, further showcasing promising research from our training programs.

The combination of high-quality scientific content, meaningful professional connections, and celebration of emerging talent made this year's meeting a tremendous success.Special thanks to meeting co-chairs Christina Fink, MD, FACC, and Kenneth Varian, MD, for putting together a top-notch agenda. We hope you enjoy some glimpses of members through the years in our 35th Annual Meeting Slideshow.

Poster Competition Showcase

We had nearly 60 submissions from FITs and Residents in our Annual Poster Showcase. You can view these outstanding cases and research presentations via this link.

Congratulations to our poster winners!

ACC Legislative Conference

The ACC Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, brought together more than 425 ACC members from across the country to advocate for our patients and our profession. Our advocacy priorities included:

1. Enact a sustainable and long-term solution to Medicare reimbursement

2. Provide financial relief for residents by seeking deferment of loan interest during medical residency training (REDI Act, HR 2028/S942)

3. Improve access to cardiovascular maternal monitoring tools (MOM Act HR 4977/S141)

4. Streamline prior authorization with the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act (HR 3514/S1816)

5. Reinstate and maintain critical telehealth flexibilities (CONNECT HR 4206/S1261)

6. Seek Medicare coverage for home-based cardiac rehabilitation (HR 783/S248)

Congratulations to Election Winners

Congratulations to Anne R. Albers, MD, PhD, FACC, for being elected as the next Ohio-ACC President, and to Beth Short, DNP, MSN, AACC, AGACNP, FNP for being appointed as the next Cardiovascular Team Chapter Representative! They will serve in an "elect" role beginning in March 2026 and assume their new roles in March 2027.

Ohio-ACC Board of Trustees Election Results

Congratulations to the 2025-2027 Ohio-ACC Board of Trustees Election winners!

Recruiting Tomorrow's Female Cardiologists - November 15th

The Ohio-ACC held an exciting event targeted at female internal medicine residents and female medical students across Northeast Ohio, which featured a series of mini-talks by cardiology fellows and attendings who discussed work-life integration, the path to cardiology, finding a mentor, and an overview of the various subspecialties of cardiology. Attendees visited a series of booths set up by sponsoring vendors to obtain hands-on experience with common technologies and devices used in cardiology (ultrasound, mechanical support devices, transcatheter aortic valves, ASD/PFO closure devices, etc.). During lunch, attendees had the opportunity to network in small groups with cardiology fellows and attendings from a wide cross-section of cardiology subspecialties. It was an incredible event.

Save the Date

• Ohio-ACC Spring Summit, Marriott Cleveland East, Saturday, April 18, 2026
• Midwest Women in Cardiology Meeting, Hilton Cleveland Downtown, Saturday, June 6, 2026

Happy Holidays

Wishing you a very happy and healthy holiday season! Enjoy the opportunity to share some quality time with your families.

Contact Us

If Gwen Goldfarb, our chapter executive, or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Ellen

CV Team Poster Presentation Opportunity

There will be a CV Team Poster Presentation opportunity at the 2026 Spring Summit on Saturday, April 18, at the Cleveland Marriott East! Ohio CV team clinicians (non-physician clinicians – RN, NP, CNS, PA, PharmD) are invited to submit a case or research. The deadline for submissions is March 18, 2026. Get complete details here.

Ohio-ACC 2025-2026 FIT Grand Rounds Series

We are delighted to present our 2025-2026 FIT Grand Rounds Series, which will focus on Guidelines to Bedside. The goal of the “Guidelines to Bedside” grand rounds series is to bridge evidence-based recommendations with real-world practice, helping clinicians confidently translate guidelines into optimal patient care.

You can watch our first one here:

Cardio-Oncology – Guidelines to Bedside

Guest speaker: Cezar Iliescu, MD, FACC

FIT Co-Hosts:

Bala Pushparaji, MBBS, MetroHealth Medical Center

Seth Scheetz, MD, Cleveland Clinic

Coming up: Cardiogenic Shock – Guidelines to Bedside - REGISTER NOW

12:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 22, 2026

Guest speaker: Mir Babar Basir, DO, FSCAI

FIT Co-Hosts:

Yan Naung Htay, Aultman Hospital/NEOMED/CMEF

Bilal Hussain, University of Cincinnati

Yasmine Robison, Summa Health


Finerenone was approved on 7/14/25 to reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) death, hospitalization for heart failure (HHF), and urgent heart failure (HF) visits in adult patients with HF with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥ 40%.¹ A comparison of finerenone and other mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) key characteristics are summarized in Table 1. The starting dose and target doses of finerenone are dependent on renal function, measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), with further dose adjustments recommended dependent on repeat potassium and eGFR measurements. It is recommended to measure potassium and eGFR prior to initiation and 4 weeks after starting or a dose increase.¹ Of note, finerenone is associated with a mild, transient decrease in eGFR in the first 4 weeks, which stabilizes over time.¹

The labeling change for finerenone was supported by the FINEARTS-HF trial, which was an international, double-blind trial of 6,001 patients with HF and a LVEF ≥ 40% randomized to receive finerenone (n=3,003; 20 or 40 mg/day based on eGFR) or placebo (n=2,998).⁵ Over a median of 32 months, fewer patients in the finerenone group experienced the primary outcome of total worsening HF events and death from CV causes compared to placebo (rate ratio 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74-0.95; P=0.007). Significance was primarily driven by the decreased number of worsening HF events in the finerenone group compared to placebo (RR 0.82; 95% CI 0.71-0.94; P=0.006). Additionally, a prespecified analysis of FINEARTS-HF determined the benefit in reducing CV death and worsening HF events was consistent across all stratum of LVEF (<50%, ≥50 to <60%, and ≥60%).⁶ This is notable compared to TOPCAT, which found no significant effect of spironolactone (n=320) compared to placebo (n=351) in patients with LVEF ≥ 45% on the composite of death resulting from a CV cause, aborted cardiac arrest, or HFH (HR 0.89; 95% CI 0.77-1.04; P=0.14); however, notable regional variations did occur.⁷

More recently, a prespecified secondary analysis of the FINEARTS-HF trial was published.⁸ A frailty index (FI) was calculated for more than 99% of patients. A frailty cutoff, as defined by the Rockwood cumulative deficit approach, of 0.311 or higher was utilized for the ‘most frail’ group (class III); whereas 0.211-0.310 was considered ‘more frail’ (class II); and less than 0.210 was considered ‘nonfrail’ (class I). The mean FI in the trial was 0.284; with 26.7% FI class I, 36.0% FI class II, and 37.3% FI class III. Interestingly, the rates of total worsening HF events, CV death, and all-cause mortality were highest in patients with FI class III and lowest in those with FI class I. Finerenone reduced the composite primary outcome of CV death and total worsening HF events regardless of frailty index class.

Finerenone now presents an FDA-approved therapy option for patients with an LVEF ≥ 40% with benefits maintained across various spectrums of LVEF ≥ 40% and frailty. Comparative analysis between finerenone and the steroidal MRAs has not been evaluated, which may lead to clinician hesitancy in choosing finerenone over traditionally utilized MRAs in clinical practice. It should be noted that to date, FINEHEARTS-HF presents a more conclusive study given the limitations of TOPCAT. Further study and implementation into real-world clinical practice should solidify the role of finerenone in treating patients with HF.

References:

1)     Finerenone (Kerendia). [Prescribing Information]. Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. Whippany, NJ. 8/2025.

2)     Spironolactone (Aldactone). [Prescribing Information]. Pfizer Inc. New York, NY. 3/2018.

3)     Eplerenone (Inspra). [Prescribing Information]. Pfizer Inc. New York. NY. 5/2016.

4)     Heidenreich PA, Bozkurt B, Aguilar D, et al. 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA guideline for the management of heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022;79(17):e263-e421. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2021.12.012.

5)     Solomon SD, McMurray JJV, Vaduganathan M, et al. Finerenone in heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2024; 391(16):1475-1485. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2407107.

6)     Docherty KF, Henderson AD, Jhund PS, et al. Efficacy and safety of finerenone across the ejection fraction spectrum in heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction: A prespecified analysis of the FINEARTS-HF trial. Circulation. 2025; 7;151(1):45-58. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.072011.

7)     Pitt B, Pfeffer MA, Assmann SF, et al. Spironolactone for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(15):1383-1392. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1313731.

8)     Butt JH, Jhund PS, Henderson AD, et al. Finerenone according to frailty in heart failure: A prespecified analysis of the FINEARTS-HF randomized clinical trial. JAMA Cardiol. 2025; 10(8):829-840. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2025.1775.

CardiOhio Podcast

Please take a moment to subscribe to the Ohio-ACC CardiOhio Podcast. Simply copy and paste this URL into the podcast app of your choice, or click here to view in Apple podcasts. These 30-minute audio podcasts are designed to provide practical management tips for our providers. We hope that you will find this information useful for your practice.

Episode 26
Join our guests, Drs. Matthew Tong and Subha Raman, both imaging specialists in Central Ohio, as we review the current state of cardiovascular MRI imaging- including common indications, patient selection, and specific scenarios such as device patients. They offer tips for the cardiac practitioner for ordering studies and interpreting the results in clinical context.

Episode 25

Join us as we welcome back our most popular guest, Dr. Heather Gornik, co-director of the Vascular Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland, as we discuss her role as the lead author of the 2024 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Management of Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease, including a review of key points from the guidelines.

Episode 24

Pressure in Pregnancy: The Current State of Pregnancy-Associated Hypertension

Join our special guest, Dr. Deirdre Mattina from Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, for a review of the current state of peripartum hypertension. We review the current definitions, medical therapy, and lifestyle management, as well as discuss implications for future cardiovascular risk.

Episode 23

ECPR: Something “Extra” to Improve Resuscitation Outcomes

Join our special guests, Drs. Kelsey Gray from Cleveland and Suzanne Bennett from Cincinnati, for a discussion on extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR). We review the rationale for extracorporeal support during CPR, the components of a successful ECPR program, and discuss initial outcomes with the strategy.

Episode 22

Beyond Statins: A Practical Plan to Incorporate the New Lipid Agents

Please join our special guest, Dr. Benjamin Romer from The Ohio State University, as we address the current state of lipid therapy in both primary and secondary prevention patients. He addresses a practical approach to the issue of statin intolerance, then reviews the newer agents including ezetimide and bempedoic acid, as well as the newer percutaneous agents, with a focus on practical tips for implementation. We wrap up with a discussion on the role of coronary calcium scoring to guide therapeutic decisions in select patients.

Episode 21

Atrial Fibrillation in Athletes - Unique Challenges in Diagnosis and Management

Join our special guests, Drs. Auroa Badin and Bradley Lander, as we discuss the case of an elite professional athlete found to have atrial fibrillation. We discuss the challenges regarding anticoagulation, medical therapy, and the role of monitoring for burden of arrhythmia in these patients. Finally, we review the role of definitive ablation, including the shared decision-making process.

Episode 20

Cardio-Obstetrics: Pearls for Every Cardiac Practitioner

Join our special guests, Drs. Lauren Lastinger from The Ohio State University and Sharon Roble from OhioHealth, as we review common issues in cardio-obstetrics for the cardiac practitioner. We will review pearls for managing common cardiovascular conditions during pregnancy, evaluation of cardiac symptoms during pregnancy, common medication pitfalls, and new concepts in peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Episode 19

The New Obesity Drugs: What Cardiac Practitioners Need to Know

Dr. Ian Neeland from University Hospitals in Cleveland

Episode 18

All about FMD and SCAD, with Dr. Heather Gornik

Drs. Heather Gornik and Ellen Sabik, both from University Hospitals of Cleveland

Episode 17

Acute Heart Failure: New Therapies, New Devices, and Management Pearls

Drs. Ankit Bhatia and Gregory F. Egnaczyk, both from The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati

Renew Your ACC Membership For 2026 

Transform the future of cardiology – and your career – by renewing your ACC membership for 2026. With your renewal, you’ll enjoy access to the full suite of JACC Journals, exclusive discounts for ACC.26, collaboration through DocMatter, as well as the power of ACC’s global network and the many tools and resources that help you improve patient care. Renewals are due by Wednesday, Dec. 10. Renew your membership now. 

New ACC Concise Clinical Guidance Addresses Evaluation and Management of ATTR-CM 

A new ACC Concise Clinical Guidance report on “Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis Evaluation and Management” provides updated strategies and best practices for clinicians, taking into account expanding disease-modifying therapies, heart failure therapies and potential future opportunities. The document summarizes challenges associated with the diagnosis, evaluation and management of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), includes an algorithm for cardiac amyloidosis and more. Read more.

New ACC Scientific Statement Details Role of Inflammation in CVD 

A new ACC Scientific Statement on Inflammation and Cardiovascular Disease highlights new groundbreaking research linking inflammation atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and provides consensus-based recommendations for evaluation, treatment and prevention reflecting this new era. Read more.  

ACC Releases Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on TR Evaluation and Management 

The ACC has released a new Expert Consensus Decision Pathway addressing "10 issues for the clinician in tricuspid regurgitation (TR) evaluation and management." Published in JACC, the document focuses specifically on patients with secondary TR in the chronic setting and is intended to serve as a bridge to a future update of the ACC/AHA Valvular Heart Disease Guideline. Read more. 

New ACC Pocket Guide on Adult Immunization in CV Care 

Clinicians’ strong recommendations for vaccination is one of the most powerful drivers of vaccine uptake and, in turn, can also help reduce serious cardiovascular complications. The ACC has recently developed a concise, point-of-care tool outlining recommended vaccines and key considerations for patients with cardiovascular disease, distilling and supporting recommendations set forth in the recent ACC Concise Clinical Guidance document. Download the new free pocket guide today and pair it with NCD Academy’s infographic on vaccine-preventable diseases to support meaningful conversations about the importance of adult immunization. 

Cardiology Magazine: Exploring AI in CV Care, New ACC/AHA BP Guideline, More 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now commonplace and the latest issue of Cardiology magazine delves into its transformative role in cardiovascular care. The cover story explores how clinicians can harness AI as a powerful ally – using clinical expertise to guide emerging tools, generate actionable insights, and improve both patient outcomes and clinician well-being. Also in this issue, hear from Megan Coylewright, MD, MPH, FACC, about her time as CardioSmart editor and the growing impact of the platform on supporting shared decision-making; get up to speed on the ACC/AHA high blood pressure guideline; and more. Read the full issue. 

CardioSmart is the ACC’s dedicated home for patient tools and resources, including infographics, shared decision-making aids, and more. Find information on specific clinical conditions, health lifestyle choices and more at CardioSmart.org.