Jennifer Neary, RDCS, FASE

Yes! Minneapolis, nicknamed “City of Lakes,” will be the stage for the 2013 Scientific Sessions. It truly is a beautiful city and with the sessions taking place in late June, we should have beautiful weather as well. Minneapolis lies on the banks of the Mississippi River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state’s capital. Known as the Twin Cities, Minneapolis–Saint Paul is the 16 ^th largest metropolitan area in the United States, with an abundance of natural and cultural activities. The convention center is relatively new, and although it is quite large, the layout and event space is well organized.

In addition to all that Minneapolis has to offer, the ASE will be hosting various networking and social events to liven things up, wake us up and keep us entertained.

New to the Field: The Sonographer Meet & Greet, an informal meeting targeted to first-timers and those new to the field of echocardiography, will be held Saturday from 7–8 a.m. in the same room where the day’s sessions on Cardiovascular Sonographer/Imaging Essentials will be held. Ken Horton, RDCS, FASE, chair of the Council on Cardiovascular Sonography, will be your host, and representatives from local societies will be in attendance. The ASE and our local societies are valuable resources for new sonographers and students entering the field. We hope you will join us, as it will give you an opportunity to meet new people and hear a little of what the ASE is all about, what membership has to offer, and how you can become more involved.

The Presidents’ Reception: Join ASE President Patricia Pellikka, MD, on Saturday evening from 4:30-6:30 p.m. to kick off what is sure to be a great week in Minneapolis. Industry exhibits will be open and complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

The 4th Annual ASE Foundation Awards Gala: The 2013 ASE Foundation Awards Gala will be on Saturday, June 29, at WINDOWS on Minnesota. It will be a special event to benefit a great cause. The ASE Foundation provides support for education, research, quality improvement, and professionalism for ASE members and the echocardiography community. For those who are unable to attend the conference, be sure to check the Foundation Web site to learn about the educational grants and scholarships that are made possible by the ASE Foundation. I encourage all of you to read more about the ASEF and to support it in whatever way you can.

Run for Echo: On Monday, July 1 at 6 a.m., and co-sponsored by Siemens Healthcare, IAC, and ASE, the 2nd Annual Run for Echo 5K Run/1 Mile Walk benefits the ASE Foundation.

Echo Jeopardy: It’s back! If you haven’t experienced it, make sure you stick around Monday, July 1 from 5-6:30 p.m. John Gorcsan III, MD will be the host and moderator, and our three teams are sure to be both entertaining and educating.

Keeping with ASE tradition, the social events are sure to be fun, but we all know we’re really there for echo. Judy Hung, MD, with the help of the Scientific Sessions Program Committee, has put together a phenomenal program. This year’s focus is on the utility of echo in clinical decision making. The emphasis will be on the role of echocardiography in diagnosis and guiding therapy, while integrating multimodality and multidisciplinary approaches. The symposia this year will cover a variety of subjects and include three live scanning sessions. New for 2013 is the perioperative/interventional track running on Saturday and Sunday. Here, the ASE Council on Perioperative Echocardiography brings surgeons, interventionists, anesthesiologists, and echocardiographers together to comprehensively discuss issues that arise, and decisions that are made in the perioperative period. Is this session, transcatheter interventions for treatment of aortic stenosis, and mitral regurgitation and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy will be highlighted.

On Sunday and Monday, highlights include the 24 ^th Annual Edler and 14 ^th Annual Feigenbaum Lectures, as well as the Arthur E. Weyman 2013 Young Investigators award competition. After that we finish the week strong, with “Clash of the Titans”, debate between the greats, on Tuesday July 2 ^nd . This will be followed by Athletes Heart: 360 Perspective . Here, the experts will discuss many the nuances of this patient population. Topics include causes of sudden death, screening guidelines, and the impact various types of training have on cardiac remodeling. These will be followed by the First Annual Kalmanson Lecture on Doppler Echocardiography . In this session, “Interpreting with the Masters” experts will present and discuss challenging cases.

In addition to the usual full schedule, there will be 5 breakfast sessions each day beginning Sunday June 30 ^th . Although they are at an additional cost, these sessions will give you an opportunity to hear from experts in each subject in a small and intimate setting. They are limited to 25 people and there are a variety of topics being covered, so be sure to take a peak. If you see something that interests you, I encourage you to reserve your spot early because they will sell out.

I am excited to be a part of ASE 2013. With such a comprehensive program, there’s sure to be something new and of interest for everyone. Balanced with a number of social events, the 24 ^th Annual ASE Scientific Sessions is sure to be a good time and I hope you’ll attend.