Highlights Summary
Welcome Ceremony
Co-chairs Dr. Keith C. Ferdinand and Dr. Gisette Reyes-Soffer took the stage and encouraged everyone to use the Family Heart Global Summit as a chance to get involved and participate.
Then, Allison Jamison and Dr. Courtney Riley shared their family stories as members of the Family Heart Foundation Board of Directors and the overall Family Heart Community.
Opening Keynote Address
Dr. Ron Adner’s keynote address at the Family Heart Global Summit highlighted how we solve problems through innovation.
He discussed how problems in diagnosis and treatment need to be addressed from multiple segments of the healthcare industry – from patients to practitioners, from pharmaceutical companies to insurance agencies.
Global Panel
Global Efforts to Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes: Doing a Lot with Little
During the Family Heart Global Summit, we brought together healthcare providers from around the world for a panel discussion titled, “Global Efforts to Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes: Doing a Lot with Little.”
Family Heart Pioneer Award
The Family Heart Foundation was proud to recognize the contributions over several decades by Professors Anne Tybjærg-Hansen and Børge Nordestgaard from Copenhagen, Denmark with the 2023 Family Heart Foundation Pioneer Award.
Session 1: Flag, Identify, Network, Deliver™ (FIND)
The FIND session of the Family Heart Global Summit featured presentations by Dr. Joshua Knowles, Dr. Brian Mittman, Dr. Amit Khera, Diane McDougall, and Daniel Himmelstein, an individual discovered through the FIND program.
Session 2: What Stands in the Way of Integrating Innovations and Equity in Cardiovascular Care?
As we looked at the poor state of the lipid lowering landscape today, we gathered leaders in the space, including Bob Bradway, the CEO of Amgen, to discuss what stands in the way of cardiovascular care.
Session 3: Lipoprotein(a): New Opportunities, Old Challenges
The Family Heart Global Summit session on lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), began with Bruce Gordon’s story of surviving a heart attack and living with high Lp(a). The session included presentations from Dr. Gisette Reyes-Soffer, Dr. Florian Kronenberg, and Dr. Alicia Lyle.
Session 4: Bad for All, Worse for Some: Tackling Disparities in Cardiovascular Care
This very important session was focused on racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular care and how we can close those gaps in care. The session included the lived of experience of Aditi Durga, a Family Heart Advocate. It also included presentations from Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, Dr. Nathalie Moise, and Dr. Keith Ferdinand.
Session 5: Community Engagement Panel Discussion
In this panel discussion, Ora Williams shared her story of losing many members of her family to early and aggressive heart disease. We also heard from Dr. Daphne Ferdinand about the importance of community advocacy, not just from a physician standpoint, but as a member of disenfranchised communities.
Keynote Address
Dr. George A. Mensah, the Director of The Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science (CTRIS) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), delivered the second keynote address of the Global Summit, entitled “Advancing Health Equity in the US: We Need Multiple, Wider Lenses to Make Progress.”
Session 6: Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease Across the Lifetime
Our session titled “Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease Across the Lifetime” featured the lived experience of Sydney Phillips and presentations by Dr. Mary McGowan, Dr. Eugenia Gianos, and Dr. Roger Blumenthal.
Session 7: Misalignment of Incentives Is Bad for Patients, Practitioners, and Public Health
As financial burdens fall harder on individuals with lipid disorders, we dedicated one session to discussing the misalignment of incentives in cardiovascular care. There were presentations from Dr. Christie Ballantyne and Dr. Khurram Nasir.
Closing and Call to Action
The Family Heart Foundation focuses on actionable and impactful steps to take to improve outcomes for all individuals. That’s why the Family Heart Global Summit closed with the Co-Chairs, Co-Hosts, and CEO Katherine Wilemon presenting a call to action for all attendees to keep in mind when they returned home.
