Numerous national and international meetings address heart disease but the Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (U-CARS) views cardiology through a different lens. The symposium is uniquely dedicated to understanding how a diseased heart can become healthy again. Now in its 8th year, U-CARS brings thought leaders from around the world to exchange ideas, debate paradigms, and share information focused on issues related to myocardial recovery.
U-CARS will be held on Jan. 16-17, 2020, at the University of Utah Cleone Peterson Eccles Alumni House in Salt Lake City, Utah. See the symposium website for the full agenda and registration.
Registration is free of charge to employees, trainees and students from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, Intermountain Medical Center and Primary Children's Hospital.
"This symposium addresses topics that expand across the basic, translational, and clinical sciences to provide a unique forum to push the field of heart recovery forward," says Craig Selzman, M.D., chief of cardiothoracic surgery at University of Utah Health. Selzman co-organized U-CARS with Stavros Drakos , M.D., professor and director of research for cardiology, Josef Stehlik, M.D., M.P.H., professor of internal medicine, and Abdallah Kfoury, M.D., an advanced heart failure and transplant specialist at Intermountain Healthcare.
"It has become a real go-to conference for the topic of heart recovery," Selzman adds. U-CARS 2019 attracted over 600 attendees worldwide.
This year's symposium highlights issues related to innovation in translational science, building a heart recovery program, recovery from cardiogenic shock, and the systemic milieu for cardiac recovery. Practical "How To" sessions debuted in 2019 and quickly became a popular focus of the meeting. This year's practical sessions focus on paradigms in treatment, recovery and patient-centered decision-making.
"Our conference brings together an amazing combination of science professionals and clinicians," says Drakos. "We'll glimpse their vision and learn from their practice. Also, for a second consecutive year we will have patients participating and sharing their experiences". Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from leading experts and network with academics and practitioners in a variety of fields including cardiologists, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists, ER physicians, nurses, pharmacists and research scientists.
U-CARS 2020 HIGHLIGHTS
Keynote speakers:
Douglas Mann, M.D., Washington University - "Myocardial Remission: End of the Beginning or Beginning of the End?"
Elizabeth Hale Hammond, M.D., Intermountain Health Care & University of Utah - "The Impact of Dogmas in Medicine: The Case of Antibody-Mediated Rejection"
Additional Notable Speakers:
Jeff Molkentin, Ph.D., HHMI/U of Cincinnati - Role of the acute sterile immune response in cardiac rejuvenation by cell therapy.
Olaf Bergman, Ph.D., Karolinska, Sweden - Regeneration in the human heart.
Palak Shah, M.D., Inova/ George Washington University – UTAH-INOVA cardiac reverse remodeling stages.
Chris Hayward, M.D., Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia - Non-invasive pressure volume loops to diagnose cardiac recovery
Media are welcome to attend free of charge or watch the livestream online. Overviews of the sessions are available in the Jan. 16 and Jan. 17 agendas online. All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time.
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