Jennifer Neary, RDCS, FASE

Over the four days of the ASE’s 24 ^th Annual Scientific Sessions, many exciting and entertaining lectures were given in a variety of formats by an array of individuals. Congratulations and a big thank you to the ASE staff and Scientific Sessions Program Committee for a job well done and a fantastic program. Although some of the large rooms and vast hallways of the Minneapolis Convention Center felt a little empty, the Sessions were well attended, with over 2,200 attendees. I hope everyone enjoyed the time in Minneapolis and left with new knowledge, insight and ideas on how to better the practice of echocardiography. As many of you know, the ASE Foundation and others support a number of educational and travel grants. To those awarded grants this year, congratulations!

The Feigenbaum Cardiovascular Sonographer Student Travel Grant, supported by a grant from Elsevier Inc., was awarded to Monica Hanzo from LSU Health. The 2013 UltraEcho, Ltd. Cardiovascular Sonographer Student Travel Grant was granted to Juliane DeBorba of the Hoffman Heart Institute in Hartford, CT. Further congratulations to the other sonographer and physician travel grant winners:

Council on Cardiovascular Sonography Travel Grant: Hollie Carron, RDCS, FASE, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas; Yan Wang, RDCS, Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania.

Council on Perioperative Echocardiography Travel Grant: Halyna Prylutska, MD, Montreal University, Quebec, Canada; Karen Zimmerman, BS, RCDS RVT, Munson Medical Center, Traverse City, MI.

Council on Vascular Ultrasound Travel Grant: Katerina D. Exis, RDCS, RVT, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; Brooke Harland, MEd, RDCS, RVT, Baptist Health. Lexington, KY; Anyi Liu, RDMS, RDCS, RUT, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Council on Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Travel Grant: Daniel Forsha, MD, Duke University Medical Center; Thomas Miller, MD, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

The Alan D. Waggoner Sonographer Student Scholarship program was established in 2001 in recognition of Mr. Waggoner’s professional achievements and service to ASE. The award promotes professional growth and development and was granted to the following students for their intellectual merit and strength:

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  Renita Adams, Johns Hopkins School of Cardiac Sonography, Baltimore, MD

  
  
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  Alyson Cooke, Hoffman Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford, CT

  
  
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  Ian Crandall, Hoffman Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford, CT

  
  
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  Christine Dauber, Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY

  
  
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  Stacy Hedges, Georgia Northwestern Tech, Rome, GA

  
  
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  Stephanie Kelley, Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL

  
  
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  Ashley Robertson, UWHC School of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Madison, WI

  
  
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  Rodalyn Soriano, Kettering College, Kettering, OH

  
  
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  Tehila Wiener, Johns Hopkins School of Cardiac Sonography, Baltimore, MD

  
  
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  Wendy Yang, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Francis Hospital, School of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Milwaukee, WI

We began bright and early on Saturday, June 29 ^th with the “New to the field” session lead by Council on Cardiovascular Sonography Chair Ken Horton, RCS, FASE of Intermountain Heart Institute in Riverton, UT. The evening brought the fourth annual ASE Foundation Awards Gala at Windows on Minnesota. The ASE Lifetime Achievement Awards recognize a physician and sonographer who have had lifetimes of outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular ultrasound and have served as role models through service, research and teaching. These individuals have had careers in cardiovascular ultrasound spanning at least 25 years and are recognized at local, national and international levels. The 2013 awards were presented to Dr. James B. Seward and Alan D. Waggoner, RDCS. The ASE Meritorious Service Award was presented to Linda D. Gillam, MD, FASE of Atlantic Health System for her substantial and generous efforts to the Society’s betterment.

Dr. Julio Perez of Washington University in St. Louis, who epitomizes the ideal qualities of a mentor and role model, was awarded the Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching Award.

The first annual Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Echocardiography Award went to Jack S. Shanewise, MD, FASE for his significant clinical, research and educational contributions to the development of perioperative echocardiography.

The event once again sold out and helped to raise $40k for research and educational grants and humanitarian missions.

An impressive number of attendees joined us at 6 a.m. Sunday morning for the Fun Run for Echo 5K/1 Mile Walk. The race was co-sponsored by Siemens, IAC and ARDMS and also raised money for the ASE Foundation. As expected, ASE Past President James D. Thomas, MD, FASE both informed and entertained us in this year’s Edler lecture: “The Miracle of Echocardiography: From Physics to Physiology to Population Health.”

The annual Arthur E. Weyman Young Investigators competition took place Monday morning. Investigators under the age of 40 who are no more than five years from the end of their training are eligible to participate in this annual competition supported by the National Board of Echocardiography. This year’s finalists were Kenya Kusunose, MD, PhD; Shahryar Chowdhury, MD; Sacha Bhatia, MD, MBA; and Alemelu Ramamurthi, MD. For his work entitled “An Educational Intervention Reduces the Rate of Inappropriate Transthoracic Echocardiograms in Ambulatory Care,” Dr. Bhatia was declared the 2013 winner and will present his research at the December 2013 European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging meeting and the April 2014 Japanese Society of Echocardiography 25th Annual Meeting in Kanazawa, Japan.

The competition was followed by the first-ever holographic Feigenbaum Lecture, given by Dr. Partho P. Sengupta of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In his presentation, “Intelligent Platforms for Disease Assessment: Novel Approaches in Functional,” Dr. Sengupta gave us a spectacular glimpse into the current state and future direction of cardiovascular imaging. This was a captivating presentation and was nicely contrasted with a narrative from Dr. Feigenbaum which brought us back to the beginning, to his first encounter with an A-mode imaging machine. It is truly amazing how far we have come in the last 50 years.

After a hiatus of several years, Echo Jeopardy returned to the Scientific Sessions. From the 70s style “disco” introduction to the “final jeopardy” round, the event was lively, entertaining, and educational.

The conference ended on Tuesday with “The Athletes Heart: 360 Perspective,” keeping with the Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy (HOCM) trend, as well as a number of sessions aimed to help attendees navigate the changing healthcare environment. We heard many times at the conference about MedPAC’s report to Congress on Medicare payment differences across ambulatory settings and its implications for healthcare facilities and echocardiography. I encourage you all to stay informed (visit the Connect@ASE site for recent advocacy news) and to see what you can do to help.

The sessions were a great success, with a balance of old and new and glimpses into the future of cardiovascular imaging. The weather was perfect and we could not have been happier with the turnout. As always, we welcome and encourage your feedback on Connect@ASE. We truly value our members’ opinions and rely on your ideas and input in the planning of the Scientific Sessions. We hope to see you again next year in Portland, when the ASE Scientific Sessions celebrate their Silver Anniversary!