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For Washington University cardiologist Sumanth Prabhu, MD, the stethoscope is not only indispensable as a diagnostic tool but presents powerful symbolism. He sees it as a channel that connects the patient to the clinician, a conduit through which a current of information flows from the former’s body to the latter’s brain.

Third-year fellow Dr. Doug Hall contributed a piece for the American College of Cardiology’s Sports and Exercise Cardiology Clinical Topic Collection, entitled “Pacemakers and Settings in the Athlete”. Drs. Krissy Mikhova, Daniel Cooper, and Mustafa Husaini also collaborated, and the work was chosen by ACC.org Editor-in-Chief Dr. Kim Eagle as an Editor’s Pick and featured on the website’s front page. The piece uses a quiz to challenge readers to take specifics of a case with a patient presenting with issues with their pacemaker, and determine a likely cause and course of action.

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands—For patients with acute heart failure (HF) and signs of congestion, prompt use of a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor or a natriuresis-guided approach to diuretic therapy both seem to be viable strategies to enhance removal of excess fluid, according to results from two small trials presented earlier this week at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2023. Both approaches improved excess fluid removal, but more data are needed to determine the best strategy, Nancy Sweitzer says.

Sándor J. Kovács Jr., PhD, MD, h.c., Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division, was recently invited to Budapest to a formal inauguration ceremony for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kovács was honored for his outstanding contributions in the fields of physics and medical sciences, especially in the areas of cardiovascular physiology and biophysics.

The Internal Medicine Residents of the class of 2023 voted to recognize faculty who had made a positive impact on their training. Two awards were given for Teacher of the Year, Cardiology. The recipients were Dr. Richard Bach and Dr. Adam May.

Thomas M. Maddox, MD, a professor of medicine in the Cardiology Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named to the National Academy of Medicine’s Digital Health Action Collaborative. The group fosters improvements and innovation in the ways health data and digital technologies are developed and applied to maximize population-level and patient health.

Sharon Cresci, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Genetics in the Cardiovascular Division and Associate Director of the WashU Barnes-Jewish Hospital Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center, recently received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The grant is entitled “Determining Potential Mechanisms of Worse Outcomes in Black HCM Patients”.