Letter from President Srihari S. Naidu, MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI
Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year! We’re all looking forward to 2023 as we emerge from the pandemic! I have only one year left on my term as President of the New York Chapter of ACC, and then my co-Governor, Dr. Vidula, and I will be leading the transition to Drs. Feldman and Iyer.
This past year has been a lot of fun! When we reorganized the chapter structure a couple years ago, our aim was to deliver more individualized educational offerings that “speak to our members,” to re-launch advocacy programming at the state level, and to promote networking and career development through memorable interactive events. From a networking standpoint, we held such events as FIT Jeopardy and the Young Investigators Competition for our fellows and early-career members, while having the annual Shark Tank for more seasoned cardiologists, both aboard the Cloud Nine Yacht as it sailed down the East River. We also revamped the Annual CVT Symposium by including a live, hands-on pathology heart dissection session, for the first time ever, overseen by dedicated, expert faculty.
Our DEI programming included monthly virtual mixers with guest speakers on a wide range of topics, while our culmination of the partnership with the Pennsylvania Chapter allowed women and other underrepresented minorities to gain a deeper understanding on how to navigate career hurdles toward success. In addition to multiple lectures throughout the year on various topics tied to the individual committee themes, we also continued our After Shocks events – bite-sized webinars on the important trials coming out of the major meetings – pulling in the actual presenter from that meeting together with a key moderator from New York.
These have proven fun and educational as quick “fire side chats” on major trials, and we expect them to continue as regular offerings from the Chapter. Finally, our advocacy team has been busy building relationships with Albany and the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY), joining forces with colleagues in other specialties to help improve the healthcare landscape in the state. We also sent a delegation to Washington DC to meet with our state legislators to advocate on our behalf. For the first time, our advocacy team includes all the different specialties under Cardiology – including electrophysiology and interventional cardiology, heart failure and imaging, as well as general cardiology – so that we can speak as one voice and make sure we are not neglecting important issues that may relate to only a subset of our team.
Srihari S. Naidu, MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI
President, NYACC
