Antman urges innovation to harness technology, big data

Elliott, Antman, MD.

Scientific researchers and healthcare professionals must transform em-erging technology and big data into innovative ways to help patients, American Heart Association President Elliott Antman, MD, FAHA, said Sunday during his Presidential Address at Scientific Sessions.

Antman cited several examples of groundbreaking science that are alre-ady putting technological and innovative advances to work in his address, “Saving and Improving Lives in the Information Age.”

He also urged more innovation in the fight against heart disease and st-roke — the two leading causes of death in the world.

“We now have tools at our disposal that we could barely imagine only a few years ago,” said Antman, professor of medicine and associate dea-n for Clinical/Translational Research at Harvard Medical School and a senior physician in the Cardiovascular Division of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“New diagnostic and therapeutic options are being discovered at a pac-e unseen in human history,” he said. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to harness these advances to save and improve lives.”

Antman told the story of one of his own patients — a 67-year-old man who was referred for evaluation of heart palpitations — to illustrate tech-nology’s lifesaving possibilities.

Antman prescribed a heart-rhythm monitoring device so the patient cou-ld take readings using an attachment to his smartphone case and email the results to Antman. He quickly diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation and formulated a treatment plan.

Atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib, greatly increases a patient’s risk

for stroke and affects 33.5 million people worldwide. Antman, an expert in AFib, led the research team that last year published results of a study on the anticoagulant edoxaban’s effect on preventing stroke, as well as a larger analysis on the effectiveness of the three newer oral anticoagulants.

He detailed the history of such drugs to show that innovation is needed. Warfarin was essentially developed by chance, he said, while the development of alternative anticoagulants was costly and took many years.

“Obviously, we can’t rely on either method to find effective new therapies,” he said.

While looking ahead, Antman also looked back at some important history. The American Heart Association was founded 90 years ago by six cardiologists at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

“They started this lifesaving organization just four miles away from where you’re sitting now,” he said. “Yet, it was worlds away when you consider what we can offer patients today.”

Using an electrocardiogram to illustrate his point, Elliott compared a handheld device like the one he used to treat his patient to a bulky 28-pound wooden box that contained the ECG machine used by Paul Dudley White, one of the six founders of the American Heart Association.

He also referenced the organization’s founders while making a major announcement — the first funded researchers in the groundbreaking Cardiovascular Genome-Phenome Study, also known as CVGPS. The study is built on the big data of numerous studies, including the Framingham Heart Study and the Jackson Heart Study.

“They are building the future on the power of the past and are following in the footsteps of the American Heart Association’s founders in a bold and novel way,” he said.

Major AHA awards

Several major awards will be presented after the Presidential Address: American Heart Association Chairman Bernie Dennis will present the Chairman’s Award for excellence in volunteer service to Jennifer Mieres, MD, FAHA, FACC, FASNC, senior vice president for community and public health and chief diversity and inclusion ofﬁcer at North Shore-LIJ Health System; medical director of the Center for Learning and Innovation; and professor of cardiology and population health at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

Six top scientists will be named AHA Distinguished Scientists: Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, FAHA; Barbara J. Drew, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN; Charles T. Esmon, PhD, FAHA; Bruce Furie, MD, FAHA; William R. Hiatt, MD, Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine (MSVM), FAHA; Mark A. Hlatky, MD, FAHA, FACC.

The Basic Research Prize will be presented to Andre Terzic, MD, PhD, Director of Regenerative Medicine and Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, Medicine and Pharmacology at the

Mayo Clinic.The Clinical Research Prize will be awarded to Judith Hochman, MD, of the New York University School of Medicine. She is director of the school’s Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center and co-director of its Clinical Translational Science Institute. She is also clinical chief of the Division of Cardiology.

The Population Research Prize will be presented to Vasan Ramachandran, MD, DM, Chief of the Section of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine.

The Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Awards will be awarded to Jeremiah Stamler, MD, professor emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The Research Achievement Award will be presented to Shaun Coughlin, MD, PhD, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute and Distinguished Professor in Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.