October 8, 2017

Greetings!   I am proud to be at the helm of HFSA- day 21, and proud of our society’s strong commitment to advancing the care of heart failure patients.

I thought it would be of value for all of you to know the results of our five-year strategic plan, our vision and mission, and some of the initiatives we have planned for the next several years.  Our vision, very simply, is to significantly reduce the burden of heart failure.  Our mission is to provide a platform to improve and expand heart failure care through collaboration, education, innovation, research, and advocacy.

What are our priorities?  We plan to: (1) cultivate a community of people committed to the delivery of heart failure care by fostering a multidisciplinary community that engages all who treat heart failure patients; (2) educate providers and patients by developing, disseminating, and enhancing adoption of care guidelines and evidence-based therapy; (3) increase our educational opportunities through innovation and greater outreach; (4) re-invigorate our research portfolio by expanding and refining research programs, and engaging investigators, government, industry, and patients to help drive the research agenda; and (5) expand and diversify our advocacy agenda by increasing awareness of the critical need to combat the growing crisis of heart failure.

HFSA will serve as a resource for government, industry, providers, and patients by providing programs and policies to better serve the patients, and will ensure long-term financial and organizational sustainability via accreditation, revenue diversification, and philanthropic giving.

Over the next year, as initiated by our previous Presidents, Mandeep Mehra, and JoAnn Lindenfeld, we will continue to push forward the HFSA certification program.  Providers who achieve certification will have demonstrated a standardized and high level of quality care for heart failure patients that goes beyond advanced heart failure training and fellowship.  In addition, we are actively promoting the HFSA research network, an organization of over 400 committed investigators who will work together to improve the ecosystem of heart failure and clinical research, and increase the awareness of heart failure research for the patients we serve.

In addition, we have initiated an international collaborative effort to be led by Randy Starling, President-Elect, and broadened our collaborations with a global commitment to improve the care and outcomes of our heart failure patients.  Through our strategic initiatives, we will drive awareness, enhance adoption and adherence to heart failure guidelines, innovate around education for greater impact in patient care, expand and define our research programs, enhance our advocacy divisions and policies and ensure long-term stability.

We have a great team that will work to achieve these goals, including our HFSA staff, the volunteer Executive Leadership and the Board of Directors.  I have listed their names following the close of this newsletter.

Finally, I am excited to embark on a mission to transform this organization to focus on a culture of patient first, team-oriented care and collaborative work with innovation and greater advocacy for policies that help our patients.

Let me know your thoughts on our vision, mission, and our strategic initiatives.  Are we on the right path? What should we do differently?  I look forward to hearing from you.

Christopher O'Connor, M.D.
President HFSA
Vision: To Significantly Reduce the Burden of Heart Failure

2017 - 2018 Board of Directors

Officers

PresidentChristopher O’Connor, MD, FHFSA

President-ElectRandall Starling, MD, MPH, FHFSA

SecretaryCorrine Y. Jurgens, RN, PhD, FHFSA

TreasurerBiykem Bozkurt, MD, FHFSA, FACC

Immediate Past PresidentMandeep R. Mehra, MD, FHFSA

Board Members

Nancy M. Albert, RN, PhD, FHFSA

Susan E. Ammon, RN, MS, FNP, FHFSA

Javed Butler, MD, MPH, FHFSA

Sean Collins, MD, MSc, FHFSA

Mark Drazner, MD, MSc, FHFSA

Mona Fiuzat, PharmD, FHFSA

Joseph A. Hill, MD, PhD, FHFSA

Robb Kociol, MD, FHFSA

David Lanfear, MD, MS, FHFSA

Paul J. Mather, MD, MSc, FHFSA

J. Herbert Patterson, PharmD, FHFSA

Jonathan D. Rich, MD

Wai Hong Wilson Tang, MD

John R. Teerlink, MD, FHFSA

Jay N. Cohn, MD, FHFSA(Ex Officio)

Paul J. Hauptman, MD, FHFSA(Ad Hoc)

Jonathan G. Howlett, MD, FHFA, FRCPC, FACC(Ad Hoc)

Cynthia Chauhan(Ad Hoc, Patient Advocate)