Dr. Nathan D. Wong to Deliver 9th HJC Swan Memorial Lecture at Opening of International Academy of Cardiology, Annual Scientific Sessions 2015, 20th World Congress on Heart Disease

July 20, 2015

CIRINA CATANIA
The Catania Group

Beverly Hills, CA (PRWEB) (July 20, 2015) - Asher Kimchi, M.D., Founder and Chairman of the International Academy of Cardiology, today announced that Nathan D. Wong, Ph.D., MPH, Professor and Director, Heart Disease Prevention Program, Division of Cardiology at the University of California, Irvine, California, USA, will deliver the ninth H.J.C. Swan Memorial Lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the International Academy of Cardiology, Annual Scientific Sessions 2015, 20th World Congress on Heart Disease, that will be held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, from Saturday, July 25 through Monday, July 27, 2015.

Dr. Wong’s presentation, “State-Of-The-Art CVD Prevention: Looking Beyond and Interpreting the ACC/AHA Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Guidelines” will provide an overview and interpretation of key features of these important guidelines, including those on cardiovascular disease risk assessment, cholesterol management, lifestyle, and obesity, and will highlight recent research findings that help in the further understanding of these guidelines and their utility and implementation. With the foundation of preventive cardiology being the appropriate assessment of cardiovascular disease risk, and with recommendations for treatment intensity based on global cardiovascular risk, the guidelines on cardiovascular risk assessment provide an important starting point for consideration of treatment options. The large body of evidence that has accumulated on the use of imaging and biomarker tests also provides opportunity for further refinement of risk estimation.

Deserving of more attention, the lifestyle and obesity management guidelines emphasize certain dietary patterns, physical activity, and multiple sessions with lifestyle interventionalists for maintaining sound cardiovascular health. Finally, the cholesterol management guidelines, which has drawn the most attention (and the most misunderstanding and controversy), emphasizes the identification of four statin eligible groups, a focus on treatment intensity as opposed to initiation and goal levels for LDL-cholesterol, continued monitoring of lipid levels to assess adherence, and the option to use evidence-based non-statin therapy. The clinician-patient discussion focuses on lifestyle management, discussing risks and benefits of therapy, and patient preferences and is a centerpiece of the guidelines and crucial for ensuring patient adherence. Many patients worldwide identified as potentially benefitting from treatment are not on recommended treatments, but are also not following recommended lifestyle guidelines, thus placing them at significant residual cardiovascular risk. This emphasizes the importance of greater communication, dissemination, and implementation of these ACC/AHA and other national and global prevention guidelines.

Dr. Nathan D. Wong is Professor and Director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program, Division of Cardiology at University of California, Irvine, holds joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology at UCLA and UC Irvine and Radiology at UC Irvine, and is also a past president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. He holds PhD and MPH degrees in Epidemiology from Yale University, and is a cardiovascular epidemiologist and specialist in preventive cardiology, with principal research interests in subclinical atherosclerosis, diabetes, lipids, and their control and relation to cardiovascular disease. He is also a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and National Lipid Association, and immediate past chair of the AHA Prevention Science Committee.

Dr. Wong has been an investigator or collaborator with many cardiovascular prospective studies and clinical trials, including the Framingham Heart Study, Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular Health Study, and Women’s Health Initiative. He has authored or coauthored over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, co-edited seven textbooks, including the Braunwald companion on Preventive Cardiology and newly published ASPC Manual on Preventive Cardiology. Dr. Wong is a deputy editor for Global Heart, official journal of the World Heart Federation and serves on the editorial boards of JACC Cardiovascular Imaging and other cardiology journals. He also is editor of the Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Clinical Topic Collection for the American College of Cardiology.

Dr. Wong was the 2011 recipient of the Jan Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contribution in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention and has also received a Distinguished Fellowship Award from the International Academy of Cardiology, and is an Honorary Member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. He lectures nationally and internationally on various topics in cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention.

Dr. Asher Kimchi comments, “We are most fortunate to have Dr. Wong with us at the 20th World Congress on Heart Disease. His teachings and research are unparalleled and we are looking forward to his presentation on ‘State-Of-The-Art CVD Prevention: Looking Beyond and Interpreting the ACC/AHA Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Guidelines.’"

Asher Kimchi, M.D., is the Clinical Chief of Cardiology and the Co-Medical Director of the Preventive and Consultative Heart Center of Excellence at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California. He is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.

On Saturday, July 25, 2015, at 9:00 am, the Founder and Chairman of the International Academy of Cardiology, Dr. Asher Kimchi, will greet the Congress’ attendees from fifty-one countries at the Opening Ceremony of the 20th World Congress on Heart Disease. The Opening Ceremony and Awards Presentations will be chaired by Dr. John A. Elefteriades, New Haven, CT, USA; Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine; Chairman, Scientific Executive Committee; Chairman, Section of Cardiovascular Surgery, International Academy of Cardiology.

The following Members of the International Academy of Cardiology will also take part in the Opening Ceremony:

• Dr. Jeffrey Borer, Brooklyn, NY, USA; Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, SUNY, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn NY; Member of the Scientific Executive Committee and Chairman of the Section of Valvular Heart Disease, International Academy of Cardiology
  
  
• Prof. Naranjan S. Dhalla, Canada, Distinguished Professor and Director of Cardiovascular Developments, SBRC, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Member of the Scientific Executive Committee and Chairman of the Section of Cellular Biology of the Heart, International Academy of Cardiology

• Prof. Laurence Sperling, Atlanta, GA, USA; Professor of Medicine, Medical Director of Preventive Cardiology Clinic, Emory University; Member of the Scientific Executive Committee, International Academy of Cardiology

• Prof. Nathan D. Wong, Professor and Director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program, Division of Cardiology, University of California, Irvine; Member of the Scientific Executive Committee, International Academy of Cardiology
  
  

Awards will be presented for Distinguished Contributions to Medicine and Cardiology.

The International Academy of Cardiology has established five awards to honor the memory of distinguished colleagues who made a major contribution to Medicine and Cardiology and who were members of the faculty for previous International Academy of Cardiology meetings. As in previous years, a very prestigious Awards Committee selected the recipients.

Dr. John A. Elefteriades and Dr. Jeffrey S. Borer, Co-Chairmen of the Awards Committee, will present the following awards for 2015 at the Opening Ceremony of the Congress:

• The WALTER BLEIFELD MEMORIAL AWARD for distinguished work in the field of Clinical Research
  
• The ALBRECHT FLECKENSTEIN MEMORIAL AWARD for distinguished work in the field of Basic Research
  
• The JAN J. KELLERMANN MEMORIAL AWARD for distinguished work in the field of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
  
• The HANS-PETER KRAYENBUEHL MEMORIAL AWARD for distinguished work in the field of Research in Cardiac Function
  
• The MELVIN L. MARCUS MEMORIAL AWARD for distinguished contribution as a Gifted Teacher
  
• The DISTINGUISHED FELLOWSHIP AWARD for profound contribution to Cardiovascular Medicine and important service to the Academy

Dr. Kimchi notes that, “The Congress will provide the opportunity for a comprehensive overview of the latest research developments primarily in the areas of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Genetics of Heart Disease, Cardiac Imaging, Coronary Artery Disease, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Preventive Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Lipoprotein Disorders, Hypertension, Metabolic Syndrome, Heart Failure, Valvular Heart Disease, Diseases of the Aorta, Cardiac Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology, Implantable Cardiac Pacemakers and Cardioverter-Defibrillators, Sudden Cardiac Death, Pediatric Cardiology, Congenital Heart Disease, Cardiac Surgery, Heart Transplantation, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Measurement of Outcome and Quality of Cardiovascular Care."

According to Dr. Kimchi, "Papers will be presented in the form of plenary sessions, symposia and posters and will include superb scientific material originating from numerous laboratories around the globe that was carefully selected by the Scientific Abstract Review committee from over seven hundred abstracts submitted for presentation at the meeting. The four hundred studies selected for presentation originate from laboratories in thirty-nine countries. This assures that the meeting will be a major scientific event."

Dr. Kimchi proudly announced, “The World Congress on Heart Disease has been endorsed by most prestigious medical societies and associations. The scientific program of the Congress has been reviewed by the American Medical Association and approved for 22.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. The Congress is affiliated with the American College of Cardiology, California Chapter, the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, and the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences and has been endorsed by the Heart Valve Society.”

The International Academy of Cardiology, founded twenty-six years ago by Dr. Asher Kimchi, is dedicated to the advancement of global research in cardiovascular medicine through the support of scientific meetings and publications. Over the past two decades, the World Congress on Heart Disease has become one of the most prestigious meetings in cardiovascular medicine and has been attended by thousands of physicians and scientists worldwide.

Registration for the 20th World Congress on Heart Disease, presented by the International Academy of Cardiology, in Vancouver, BC, Canada from July 25-27, 2015 is available online at http://www.CardiologyOnline.com. The Congress takes place at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, 655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

For further information or to book interviews, please contact Cirina Catania at The Catania Group, Inc., klimedco(at)ucla(dot)edu.

CIRINA CATANIA
The Catania Group
news@catania.us

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