I am deeply honored to serve as the 14th President of the Heart Failure Society of America. Following in the footsteps of former presidents: Jay Cohn, Arthur Feldman, Milton Packer, Marvin Konstam, Gary Francis, Barry Greenberg, Douglas Mann, Thomas Force, LoAnn Lindenfeld, Mandeep Mehra, Chris O’Connor and our immediate past president, Randy Starling, I am also honored to be the second woman president after JoAnn Lindenfeld, and to stand on the strong foundation built by these luminaries. 

HFSA is stronger than ever. With 2,068 members and a record-breaking 3,000 registrants at the last Annual Scientific Meeting, with a healthy financial standing, and newly launched transformative initiatives, HFSA is in a position to be more impactful than ever.

We are proud of our multidisciplinary and diverse membership with representation from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, scientists and other health care disciplines; expanding presence of early career members and fellows-in-training, and we are very excited by our newest members; the patients in our society. 

In the coming year, our emphasis will be to enhance the member value for each one of you. We want you to be more involved in the HFSA in educational, research and advocacy activities; to serve on the HFSA committees and task forces; and to network and be recognized for your contributions. We have a diversified portfolio for our members, and I will try to summarize these products and offerings in the following paragraphs.
 

Education 

Our biggest event that brings the whole heart failure family together, the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), had a record attendance of over 3,000 registrants in September.

It was a huge success and I would like to thank the ASM planning committee co-chairs; Sheryl Chow, PharmD; Dennis McNamara, MD; Sara Paul, DNP, FNP; Wilson Tang, MD; our immediate past president, Randy Starling; our CEO John Barnes, our VP of CME & Education Jaime Abreu, and other HFSA staff for their leadership and tireless efforts.New initiatives at the ASM, such as the Patient and Caregivers Day, Special Diversity Event of HF Awareness in African Americans with Shaquille O’Neal, and Translational Science Symposium; along with impressive presentations from the plenary sessions speakers, late breaking scientific content, satellite sessions and networking opportunities made it an outstanding meeting.

We have a modernized “on-demand” library with a selection of CME courses and webinars. Stay tuned, as we will be expanding the regional meetings, webinars, other MOC /CME and ANCC accredited activities, that will also include an international CME program through TV broadcasting; and we will be launching a new learning management system this year that will provide an individualized portfolio including course selection and tracking. We just held our Heart Failure Review Course October 24-27 in Tampa FL, and will have our Board Review Course later in 2020.
 

Member Recognition, FHFSA and HFSA Certification

We are amplifying the membership portfolio for career advancement, recognition, success and future leadership. In addition to the FHFSA designation, which marks you as a leader in the field of heart failure, we will be launching the HFSA certification, an exciting new initiative to recognize competencies in guideline-directed heart failure management. We aim to unite competency in the heart failure team, close the gaps for evidence based practice and provide a distinction for heart failure expertise. Tributes such as awards, member spotlights, newsletters will continue to be showcased on the web, with increasing opportunities to recognize member distinctions and contributions.
 

Guideline-Directed Heart Failure Management Initiative

To close the gaps in heart failure care, we are embarking on a new initiative to optimize guideline-directed heart failure management, which will likely entail education and will align well with the HFSA certification.
 

Patient Members Portfolio 

In addition to the new membership for our patients, we are expanding our products and activities for patients and advocacy. We have a widely used patient’s app and a risk assessment tool kit, and our patient education modules now come in different languages. Along with advocacy, we will be expanding our heart failure awareness activities and educational products, and will continue patient activities in the future scientific sessions. 

HFSA Research Initiatives and Network

coming soon.
 

Website and Communications Modernization

We are embarking on a communications revamp, with an objective to make HFSA the information source for heart failure. We are modernizing our website and continue to expand our communications products. We have an active foot-print on social media via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with influential social media catalyst teams.
 

International Initiatives

With the leadership of our Immediate Past President, Dr. Randy Starling, we amplified our international relations. We launched a new international membership category; increased our international collaboration and joint sessions with Canadian, European, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Inter-American Heart Failure Associations and Societies; and will continue to expand our outreach globally.
 

Early Career, Mentorship and Future Leaders

We value our early career members, and fellows-in-training, and will strategically expand opportunities for mentorship, scholarship, and leadership training. We will continue the platform for sponsorship for ERAS fellowship match; and increase opportunities for early career participation in all of the activities of the HFSA.

I am excited and humbled to have been given the opportunity to lead the HFSA as the President. Along with our leadership team; our new officers President-Elect Nancy Albert, Treasurer Corrine Jurgens, Secretary John Teerlink, Immediate Past-President Randy Starling; new executive committee members Mona Fiuzat and Mark Drazner; our new board of directors member Colleen McIlvennan and returning board members, and our wonderful HFSA staff under the leadership of our CEO John Barnes; I look forward to HFSA’s continued success. I am committed to build on these past achievements; enhance member value and the impact of the HFSA with an aim for HFSA to be the trusted home for heart failure clinicians and patients.

As we launch our new strategic plan this year, I look forward to working with each one of you and welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions.  

Best regards, 
 

Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD, FHFSA

HFSA President
Twitter: @BiykemB