The ACC presidential team will be in full force over the next few days at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. The meeting is sure to be full of new and exciting science, and the team will be attending an array of meetings and receptions in order to network and connect with leaders from the other domestic and international cardiovascular organizations.

Dr. Holmes and I already attended a meeting with leaders from AHA, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the World Heart Federation (WHF) to discuss the ongoing issues as addressed by the recent United Nation’s high-level meeting (read about the UN meeting in a previous blog post here). There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re committed to work together to fight this growing global crisis.

Dr. Holmes and I also met with leaders from the Venezuelan Society of Cardiology (VSC) to discuss upcoming opportunities between our two organizations. The ACC recently launched its newest international chapter at the VSC’s annual congress. VSC President Nedina Mendez was instrumental in creating the Venezuela Chapter, which has appointed Bartolome Finizola, MD, FACC, as its representative. The Chapter has already enrolled all cardiovascular trainees as FIT members of the College as a unique benefit. Venezuela is just one of the many countries from the South America region who have expressed interest in joining the ACC.

The ACC’s NCDR^® (National Cardiovascular Data Registry) has 14 abstracts that will be presented during the meeting, which can be viewed here. At the recent ESC meeting in Paris, King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) became the newest international participant to join the NCDR’s CathPCI Registry^®.  KAMC is the second international NCDR participant after Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi joined the CathPCI Registry and ACTION Registry^®–GWTG™ earlier this year.

This week is bound to be an exciting week full of new opportunities and innovation, so be sure to stay up-to-date with the ACC’s coverage of the meeting on CardioSource.org and visit the meeting coverage page for trial summaries, slide sets, video coverage and comments.

Also be sure to follow the ACC on Facebook and Twitter for the latest breaking news and for video coverage and photos of the meeting.

If you are attending the meeting in Orlando, be sure to stop by ACC’s Booth 1308 to learn about the latest news from the College including ACC.12 in Chicago.