The past 6 weeks have been busy and productive for the Heart Failure Society of America. I am excited to share and summarize some highlights. Our new CEO John Barnes is wasting no time building and structuring the HFSA staff, launching board approved strategic projects, and moving our society forward. HFSA closed the books for 2018 with a generous positive margin and our reserves are intact with the cooperation of the stock market and the very able management from HFSA Treasurer Corrine Jurgens, PhD, RN, FHFSA and our Chief Operating Officer Joori Jeon. The HFSA website will be updated in the next few months with the evolving organizational chart and HFSA staff member responsibilities. There is always a welcome invitation for anyone to contact John Barnes or myself if you have questions or comments.

National Heart Failure Awareness Week

National Heart Failure Awareness Week took place February 10-16, 2019 and was a huge success. This year HFSA planned multiple live events, patient and caregiver webinars, a special Twitter chat, and more. We saw lots of engagement on social media with #HFSA2019 making 9.4 million impressions on Twitter, almost 3 million more impressions than 2018. HFSA once again hosted a special Heart Failure Awareness Week Twitter chat and was joined by the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses, the HeartBrothers Foundation, John Hopkins University Nursing, Mended Hearts, WomenHeart, the Canadian Heart Failure Society, and the American College of Cardiology to discuss what we can do to improve heart failure care and awareness. This was our most successful Heart Chat to date, with 2.2 million impressions compared to last year’s 325,000 impressions. Here, a complete transcript can be found. We would like to thank everyone who participated this year and we look forward to National Heart Failure Awareness Week 2020 on February 9-15, 2020.

Heart Failure Awareness Week report. Significant improvements over last year on Heart Failure Awareness Week statistics:

• HFSA Website: 3,900 Users (2019) vs 3,400 Users (2018)
• HFSA HFWeek2019 Webpage: 1,500 page views (2019) vs 1,200 page views (2018). 1,150 unique page views (2019) vs 830 unique page views (2018)
• #HFWeek2019: 9.4 million impressions (2019) vs 6.5 million impressions (2018)
• #HFChat2019: 2.2 million impressions (2019) vs 325,000 impressions (2018)
• HFWeek2019 Post Speaker Campaign: 109 Promoters (2019) vs 103 Supporters (2018)
• HFSA Twitter: 75,200,000 Impressions (2019) vs 51,300,000 Impressions (2018)

23rd Annual Scientific Meeting

Advance Registration for the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting is now open! The 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting will be held on September 13-16, 2019 in Philadelphia. This year HFSA 2019 will be located at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The program chairs and committee are hard at work to develop an excellent multidisciplinary program for attendees. Make sure to visit and register today!

We want this to be the largest HFSA ASM ever! I challenge every member to recruit 1 new member that will join you in Philadelphia for our flagship heart failure meeting. Remember, advanced Non-Member Registration Fees include 2019 membership dues and a subscription to the Journal of Cardiac Failure!

I would also like to remind everyone that we are currently accepting abstract submissions for HFSA 2019. HFSA appreciates the significance that research plays in the future of patient care and in the development of early career researchers. Posters and oral abstract presentations are an essential part of the HFSA Annual Scientific Meeting and submissions are encouraged from all professional disciplines. Call for Abstracts are due April 5, 2019.

2019 Optimizing Procedural Standards for Transcatheter Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation and Translating Valve Standards into Action and Outcomes Mini-Roundtables 

HFSA was privileged to participate in this multi-society event hosted by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) held on February 21, 2019 at the ACC’s Heart House in Washington, DC. HFSA Past-President JoAnn Lindenfeld, MD, FHFSA and HFSA Publication and Scientific Statement committee member Alanna Morris, MD, MSc, FHFSA were members of the writing committee.

The essential role of the heart failure specialist was highlighted at this meeting and how the “heart team” functions to provide the best care for each patient with functional/secondary mitral regurgitation. Stay tuned for the important publications to follow.

JoAnn Lindenfeld MD, FHFSA

Alanna Morris, MD, MSc, FHFSA

HFSA Advocacy for Research Funding for Women

We are fortunate that Eileen Hsich, MD, FHFSA, Chair of the HFSA Communications Committee was able to visit Capitol Hill recently. Dr. Hsich was representing WomenHeart and presented important information emphasizing the need to improve female participation in clinical trials especially in heart failure. NHLBI director, Gary Gibbons, MD, had a front row seat for her presentations. Our appreciation to Dr. Hsich and WomenHeart for this important work.

Left to Right: Eileen Hsich, MD, FHFSA; Amanda DeRosa, WomenHeart Champion; Gary Gibbons, MD, Director NHLBI; Marjorie Jenkins, MD Director of Medical Initiatives and Scientific Engagement, Office on Women’s Health, FDA.

At the American College of Cardiology Annual Meeting

HFSA CEO John Barnes and HFSA Director of Development Jessica Deering will host individual meetings with many of HFSA key industry partners. HFSA leaders will join the meetings to discuss ongoing and emerging opportunities for HFSA to collaborate with our industry partners.

In closing…

Looking ahead the Spring and Summer months will be busy with many important international heart failure meetings with HFSA participation and collaboration. The 3rd Annual Futures Leaders Conference, much anticipated by our early career members, will convene May 10-11 in Washington, D.C. If there are any additional important topics I may have omitted to share with our members, please send to me.

Looking forward to Spring and March Madness! Cleveland Browns Super Bowl bound?

Best regards,

Randall C. Starling, MD, MPH, FHFSA
HFSA President
Twitter: @rcstarling