The American College of Cardiology (ACC) will be joining with the World Heart Federation (WHF), in conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) for “ACC.23 Together with WCC,” to be held in New Orleans, LA, March 4 – 6, 2023. Program highlights for ACC.23/WCC are offered by the ITN team in this first of a multi-segment overview. Logo image courtesy of ACC.
February 15, 2023 — The American College of Cardiology (ACC) will be joining with the World Heart Federation (WHF), in conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) for “ACC.23 Together with WCC,” to be held in New Orleans, La., March 4 – 6, 2023. The ACC.23/WCC programming, according to planners, offers a vast array of cutting-edge topics taught by top global experts, allowing peers to share research, discuss the latest science, and debate pressing global health issues.
After tuning into a recent comprehensive media overview, featuring the ACC Annual Scientific Session Chair and Vice Chair, the ITN editorial team is offering a 3-part overview — Program Highlights, Late-Breaking Clinical Trials-Featured Clinical Research, and Keynote Sessions — to help those attending, both in-person and virtually, to advance cardiovascular care with the high quality and large quantity of information to be shared during the annual 3-day session.
Top 5 Education and Science Highlights
1) More than 300 Education Sessions will be presented, including 2,085+ faculty-accepted in-person, involving nearly 290 international faculty, and nearly 300 faculty- accepted remote presentations will be offered, available in-person and virtually.
2) A total of 11 Learning Pathways will cover the breadth of cardiovascular practice, including electrophysiology, interventional and Structural Heart Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, among other key topics.
3) There will be 12 Guideline-specific sessions, and six virtual channels of live streaming education will be available across three days.
4) The Scientific Sessions component will include more than 4,000 abstracts selected from over 6,000 submissions (the highest number since 2004), from 84 countries.
5) The Young Investigators Awards received 141 submissions, from which 15 will be presented.
“We really feel that this has been an outstanding year for science at ACC 23 WCC,” said Douglas Drachman, MD, FACC, Chair of the 2023 ACC Scientific Session during his program overview. Drachman is the Director of Education at the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center, and the Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“This is practice-changing science,” said Katie Berlacher, MD, MS, FACC, who is serving as ACC.23 Vice Chair, in referencing the late breaking clinical trials and featured clinical research she discussed during the briefing. Berlacher is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Program Director – Cardiovascular Fellowship, Associate Chief of Education, and part of the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute. She is currently serving as chair of the Lifelong Learning Oversight Committee.
Global Focus, Critical Care, and Guidelines
Speaking to the collaboration with the World Congress of Cardiology, Drachman said, “This partnership really emphasizes ACC’s mission to transform cardiovascular care, and improve heart health for all across the world. There's a tremendous amount of global partnership that's represented in this endeavor, and certainly international strategies to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease on a global level.” He noted this focus is represented in the World Heart Federation’s Heart Café, found in the Lounge and Learn Pavilion, where WHF members will host educational sessions focused on global health and international cardiovascular burden of disease.
Drachman added there will be a significant focus on cardiovascular team-based care involving all the members of the team to focus on delivering the best outcomes for patients.
Planners announced an “ACC.23/WCC Intensive: Critical Care Cardiology” program. This will be led by co-chairs Robert Roswell, MD, FACC and David Dudzinski, MD, FACC, and feature the Bishop Keynote by Susanna Price, MD, PhD; further, it will include eight presentations led by experts in the field addressing cardiogenic science and global approaches to cardiac arrest, with use case presentations and debate.
In noting the ACC Guidelines session, Drachman offered: “Our objectives were to distill these important documents down into practical pearls that attendees can then use for guidance as they return home to their practices.” He noted that these will be both exciting and practical, and include some of the latest updates, including the diagnosis and management of aortic disease, heart failure guidelines, evaluation and diagnosis of chest pain, and the coronary artery revascularization guidelines, among others.
Engaging Attendees with Interactive Programming
There are many tremendously interactive opportunities for education throughout the meeting, according to Drachman, who explained several. He noted: “There's the ever-popular Heart to Heart stage, which offers an opportunity for direct engagement. It's an open format stage, right outside of the main tent, typically with 17 sessions that focus on a variety of timely topics sure to draw the crowds and a lot of engagement, and a lot of entertainment oftentimes, as well.”
Also highlighted was a brand-new interactive session in particular, called "March Matchup," in a friendly spirit of competition, as the NCAA Tournament occurs around the time of ACC’s Scientific Session. In "March Matchup," there will be expert debates on some of the hottest clinical topics. Attendees can find out which interventional trial from 2022 will be crowned the winner in the March Madness style bracket style debate, and can vote as audience members. He added there is even a Family Feud-style learning format in the adult congenital heart disease pathway. Said Drachman, “We really hope that this will encourage maximum audience and faculty engagement and as we like to say, let the clinical games begin.”
Additionally, planners noted that 225 exhibiting companies will offer an up-close look at products and services to help advance cardiovascular care during ACC.23/WCC.
More information:
March 21, 2024 
