19th Annual Cardiovascular Disease Update | Cleveland, Ohio
***Continuing Medical Education***
Presented by UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute
Sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Friday, October 23 – Saturday, October 24, 2026
Tinkham Veale University Center
11028 Bellflower Road | Cleveland, OH 44106
Overview
The 19th Annual Cardiovascular Disease Update will focus on precision cardiovascular medicine across prevention, heart failure, structural and coronary intervention, electrophysiology, and the major controversies reshaping contemporary cardiovascular care.
The 2026 meeting will feature two distinct educational experiences:
- Day 1, Friday, October 23: A non-CME industry innovation dinner.
- Day 2, Saturday, October 24: A CME-accredited multidisciplinary cardiovascular update.
The conference is designed to provide attendees with practical, clinically relevant updates while also highlighting disruptive technologies and therapeutic advances that are reshaping cardiovascular medicine.
Who Should Attend
This activity is designed for cardiologists, heart failure cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, vascular medicine specialists, cardiac surgeons, vascular surgeons, advanced practice providers, primary care physicians, fellows, residents, trainees, nurses, pharmacists and allied cardiovascular professionals.Fees (Friday: In-Person Only; Saturday: In-Person or Virtual)
| Physician | Nurse/PA/Tech/Trainee | |
| Both days (both in-person) | $150 | $75 |
| Both days (Friday in-person | Saturday virtual) | $125 | $60 |
| Friday only (in-person) | $75 | $35 |
| Saturday only (in-person) | $100 | $50 |
| Saturday only (virtual) | $50 | $25 |
Day 1: Friday, October 23: Non-CME Industry Dinner
The Future Cardiovascular Enterprise: Artificial Intelligence, Devices and Decentralized Care
The non-CME industry dinner will provide attendees with a forward-looking exploration of transformative innovations currently redefining cardiovascular care delivery, diagnostics, clinical trials, and device-based therapeutics. Sessions will feature leaders from industry, digital health, and cardiovascular technology sectors discussing the translation of emerging technologies into clinical practice. Key themes will include:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) enabled cardiovascular imaging
- Wearable and remote monitoring technologies
- Decentralized and AI-enabled cardiovascular clinical trials
- Neuromodulation and device-based therapies for heart failure
- Smart hemodynamic monitoring and mechanical circulatory support
The evening is intended to foster collaborative dialogue between clinicians, industry innovators, researchers, and healthcare leaders regarding the future direction of cardiovascular medicine.
Non-CME Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Discuss emerging applications of artificial intelligence in cardiovascular imaging, plaque characterization, and personalized risk prediction.
- Evaluate the current evidence supporting consumer-grade cardiovascular monitoring devices and wearable technologies.
- Describe evolving models for decentralized and AI-enabled cardiovascular clinical trials and remote patient monitoring.
- Review novel device-based therapies for heart failure, including baroreflex activation therapy, cardiac contractility modulation, and advanced mechanical circulatory support systems.
- Examine how digital health technologies and AI may influence future cardiovascular care pathways, outcomes assessment, and healthcare delivery models.
- Identify challenges and opportunities associated with integrating innovative cardiovascular technologies into clinical practice.
Day 1: Agenda
5 – 5:55 p.m. | Registration and Cocktails
5:55 p.m. | Dinner
6:25 p.m. | Welcome and Introductions – Sanjay Rajagoplan, MD | Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD
Session 1: Consumer-Grade Cardiovascular Devices: Emerging Evidence
6:30 – 6:50 p.m. | Digital Cardiovascular Care: Wearables, Remote Monitoring and Beyond | Ian Lentnek (Philips)
Session 2: Beyond Anatomy: AI-Driven Coronary Imaging and Personalized Plaque Biology
6:50 – 7:10 p.m. | From Anatomy to Physiology to Plaque Biology: AI-Enabled Coronary CTI | Campbell Rogers, MD (HeartFlow)
Session 3: Digital Therapeutics in Heart Failure
7:10 – 7:30 p.m. | From Data to Dose: AI-Guided Titration of Heart Failure Therapy | Maulik Majmudar, MD (Biofourmis)
7:30 – 7:50 p.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
Session 4: Next Generation Device Therapies for Heart Failure
7:50 – 8:10 p.m. | Beyond Pumps and Pacing: The Autonomic Neuromodulation as the Next Frontier in Heart Failure | Philip Adamson, MD (CVRx)
8:10 – 8:30 p.m. | Cardiac Contractility Modulation: Electrical Reprogramming of the Failing Myocardium | Ishu Rao (Impulse Dynamics)
8:30 – 8:50 p.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
8:50 p.m. | Adjourn
Day 2: Saturday, October 24: CME Sessions (In-Person and Virtual)
Precision Cardiovascular Medicine: From Prevention to Intervention, Rhythm Management and Heart Failure
The CME-accredited multidisciplinary update will feature national and international leaders who have generated and shaped the evidence in their fields, including statin intolerance and bempedoic acid, very low low-density lipoprotein (LDL) strategies, heart failure therapeutics, transcatheter tricuspid intervention, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in stable coronary disease, silent atrial fibrillation (AFib), conduction system pacing, and primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device therapy.
Through focused, practical, and evidence-based talks, this meeting will help clinicians understand how new trials, technologies, and risk-stratification tools are changing everyday decisions—who to treat, when to intervene, and how to match the right therapy to the right patient.
CME Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Apply contemporary evidence to personalize cardiovascular prevention strategies, including LDL-lowering therapies, management of statin intolerance, and cardiometabolic risk reduction.
- Evaluate patient selection and emerging evidence for structural and coronary interventions, including transcatheter tricuspid therapies and revascularization strategies in stable coronary artery disease.
- Interpret recent advances in cardiac electrophysiology, including silent atrial fibrillation, conduction system pacing, digital rhythm monitoring, and precision approaches to sudden cardiac death prevention.
- Incorporate evolving evidence regarding device-based and pharmacologic therapies into clinical decision-making, including contemporary debates surrounding beta-blockers and primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.
- Critically assess landmark clinical trials and emerging technologies that are influencing current cardiovascular guidelines and future standards of care.
- Utilize precision medicine principles to match the right patient with the right therapy across the continuum of cardiovascular disease, from prevention through advanced cardiovascular interventions and heart failure care.
Day 2: Agenda
7 – 7:55 a.m. | Registration and Continental Breakfast
7:55 – 8 a.m. | Welcome and Introductions – Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD | Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD
Plenary Session
Moderators: Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD | Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD
8 – 8:25 a.m. | Heart Failure in 2026: Revisiting Old Drugs and Integrating New Ones | John McMurray, MD, University of Glasgow, UK
8:25 – 8:30 a.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
Session 1: Precision Prevention: The New Era of Cardiometabolic Cardiovascular Care
Chair: Haitham Khraishah, MD | Panelists: Ellen Sabik, MD, Sneha Limaye, MD
8:30 – 8:50 a.m. | What’s Next in PCSK9? | Michael Shapiro,DO
8:50 – 9:10 a.m. | Targeting Very Low LDL: VESALIUS CV and the Future of High-Risk Primary Prevention | Marc Sabatine, MD, MPH
9:10 – 9:20 a.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
9:20 – 9:50 a.m. | Coffee Break and Exhibits
Session 2: Structural and Coronary Interventions: The Next Frontier
Chair: Anene Ukaigwe, MD | Panelists: Vinicius Esteves, MD, Steven Filby, MD
9:50 – 10:10 a.m. | The Ideal Patient for Transcatheter Tricuspid Edge to Edge Repair Versus Replacement: Getting the Right Device to the Right Right Heart | Neil Fam, MD
10:10 - 10:30 a.m. | PCI in Stable Coronary Artery Disease: Symptom Relief Placebo Effects, and the Uncomfortable Lessons from Clinical Trials | Darrel Francis, MD
10:30 – 10:40 a.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
Session 3: Recent Advances in Atrial Fibrillation
Chair: Judith Mackall, MD | Panelists: Anselma Intini, MD, Shashank Jain, MD
10:40 – 11 a.m. | Silent AF, Loud Questions: What Recent Trials Mean for Practice | Rohan Wijesurendra, MD, DPhil
11 – 11:20 a.m. | Secondary Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation: Catheter Ablation and Beyond – The Role of Cardiometabolic Management | Prashanthan Sanders, MD, PhD
11:20 – 11:30 a.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Lunch and Exhibits
Session 4: Controversies in Cardiovascular Medicine: Primary Prevention ICDs: From EF-based Trials to Imaging and Genotype Guided Precision Medicine
Chair: Chantal ElAmm, MD | Panelists: Andres Schuster, MD, Mohammad Najeeb Osman, MD
12:30 – 12:50 p.m. | Primary Prevention ICDs in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy: Time to Revisit – or Too Premature? Insights from the PROFID-EHRA Trial | Nikolaos Dagres, MD, PhD
12:50 – 1:05 p.m. | Primary Prevention ICDs in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy: What Has Clinical Trial Evidence Really Proven? From SCD-HeFT to DANISH and Contemporary GDMT | Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD
1:05 – 1:20 p.m. | Beyond Ejection Fraction: Can Late Gadolinium Enhancement Identify the Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Patient Who Truly Needs an ICD? | Imran Rashid, MD, PhD
1:20 – 1:35 p.m. | Genotype Guided ICD Therapy in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy: Are We Ready for Precision Prevention in Sudden Cardiac Death? | Ivan Cakulev, MD
1:35 – 1:45 p.m. | Discussion and Audience Q&A
1:45 p.m. | Adjourn
Conference Faculty
Activity Directors
Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD, MBA, FACC, FAHA
Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine and Chief Academic and Scientific Officer
University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute
Herman K. Hellerstein MD, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering
Case Western Reserve University
Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD, MSc, FRCP
Deputy Director, Health Services Research Center, University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute
Section Chief, Advanced Heart Failure,
Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Plenary Speaker
John McMurray, MD, FRCP, FACC, FAHA, FESC
Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
Professor, Cardiology, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Guest Speakers
Nikolaos Dagres, MD, PhD
Nikolaos Dagres, MD, PhD
Charité Hospital, University of Berlin, Germany
Past President, European Heart Rhythm Association
Principal Investigator, PROFID-EHRA Trial
Neil Fam, MD, MSc
Director, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit,
University of Toronto
Darrel Francis, MD, MA, MB, BChir, FRCP
Co-Lead, Cardiovascular Division
Head of the Cardiovascular Trials and Epidemiology Section
Professor, Cardiology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, England
Marc Sabatine, MD, MPH
Chair, Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction Study Group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Lewis Dexter, MD Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, United States
Prashanthan Sanders, MD
Director, Center for Heart Rhythm Disorders
Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing
WH Knapman Chair of Cardiology, University of Adelaide, Australia
Michael Shapiro, DO
Director, Center for Preventive Cardiology, Wake Forest Baptist Health
Fred M. Parrish Professor of Cardiology and Molecular Medicine
Wake Forest University, North Carolina, United States
Rohan Wijesurendra, MA, MB, BChir, MSc, DPhil
Co-Principal Investigator, AMALFI trial
Cardiac Electrophysiologist, John Radcliffe Hospital
University of Oxford, England
University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute Speakers
*Denotes Planning Committee Member
Ivan Cakulev, MD*
Medical Director, Non-Cardiac Telemetry
Chantal ElAmm, MD*
Associate Chief Medical Officer,
UH Cleveland Medical Center
Vinicius Esteves, MD, PhD
Director, Valve and Structural Heart Interventions
(UH Elyria & St John Medical Centers)
Steven Filby, MD
Co-Director, Quality, Interventional Cardiology
Shashank Jain, MD
Director, Lead Management Program
Haitham Khraishah, MD
Co-Director, Center for Integrated and Novel Approaches in Vascular Metabolic Disease
Judith Mackall, MD*
Medical Director, Cardiac Device Clinics
Irving B. and Virginia Spitz Master Clinician in Cardiology
Mohammed Najeeb Osman, MD
Chief, Cardiology,
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Ravi Ramani, MD, MMM
Chief Quality Officer and Clinical Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine
Lorraine and Bill Dodero Chair in Heart Failure & Transplantation
Imran Rashid, MD, PhD*
Director, Cardiovascular MRI
Ellen Sabik, MD
Senior Attending Physician, Cardiology
Andres Schuster, MD*
System Medical Director, Echocardiography
Anene Ukaigwe, MD*
Director, Quality, Structural Heart
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center Speakers
Anselma Intini, MD
Associate Program Director, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship
Sneha Limaye, MD
Division of Cardiology
Accreditation Statement
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Saturday, October 24: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 4.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Faculty Disclosure Statement
As an organization accredited by the ACCME, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine CME Program requires that the content of CME activities and related materials provide balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor. All faculty, planners, and others in a position to control continuing medical education content are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the past 24 months regardless of the amount and their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. Ineligible companies are organizations whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Faculty (authors, presenters, speakers) are encouraged to provide a balanced view of therapeutic options by utilizing either generic names or other options available when utilizing trade names to ensure impartiality.
The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine CME Program has implemented a mechanism to identify and resolve all conflicts of interest prior to the activity. The intent of this policy is to identify potential conflicts of interest so participants can form their own judgments with full disclosure of the facts. Participants are asked to evaluate whether the speaker’s outside interests reflect a possible bias in the planning or presentation of the activity.
This program will be supported by grants from industry. A complete list of supporters will be provided in the syllabus materials distributed at the meeting. Acceptance of funding in support of this program does not constitute endorsement of any product or manufacturer.