Dr Michael Shapiro Previews a Jam-Packed ASPC 2023

The ASPC 2023 Congress on CVD Prevention will take place in Arlington, Texas, from July 21-23. Early career and seasoned clinicians have a lot to look forward to this year, with sessions that focus on cardiovascular health in women, lipoprotein(a), international perspectives on preventive cardiology, and leading-edge clinical trials, noted Michael Shapiro, DO, FASPC, president-elect of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC), who is soon to succeed Martha Gulati, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, FASPC.

Transcript

What has you most excited about for ASPC 2023?

We have a great program planned starting right away on Friday's opening session at 10 am. We will feature ASPC’s 4 award honorees lecturing on topics that are near and dear to their hearts.

First, we will have Dr. Emelia Benjamin from Boston University, who will be talking about the prevention of atrial fibrillation and accepting the Honorary Fellow of the ASPC Award. Then we'll have Dr. Larry Sperling, from Emory University, give his talk titled, “My Journey in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: Gratitude From the Heart,” and he will be accepting the Pioneer in Prevention Award. Next, we will have the son, Dr. Charles Roberts, of Dr. William C. Roberts, accept the Joseph Stokes III, MD Award on his behalf, and he will share a few words about his father's incredible contributions to the field of cardiology, including his long tenure—40 years—as the editor in chief of the American Journal of Cardiology. Finally, Dr. Janet Wright, director of the CDC’s Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, will be accepting the Nanette Wenger Award for her leadership and extraordinary contributions to the field of women's cardiovascular health.

Now, traditionally, we host a debate during our congress. It's generally one of the most popular sessions of the entire meeting. This year on Saturday, we are hosting not just 1, but 3 great debates. The first question that we'll address is, should we use CAC [coronary artery calcium] testing in familial hypercholesterolemia, and that will feature Dr. Raul Santos vs Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones. The next debate will ask the question, should I order a polygenic risk score or CAC scan for better risk assessment, and this will feature Dr. Pradeep Natarajan vs Dr. Michael Blaha. And finally, our third debate addresses, do omega-3 fatty acids still have a role in preventing cardiovascular events, and this will feature Dr. Matt Budoff vs Dr. Eugenia Gianos.

Can you tell us about some of the international faculty and their talks on preventive cardiology?

The concept of preventive cardiology of course is a topic near and dear to all of our hearts. Preventive cardiology focuses on cardiovascular risk assessment and risk mitigation, and the field incorporates a wide array of specialties, risk assessment tools, and therapeutic approaches. We're really excited to welcome international faculty this year from around the globe.

On Friday afternoon, we are hosting a special session to better understand global perspectives to answer the question, “What is preventive cardiology?” We'll be hearing first from Professor Anna Abreu from the University of Lisbon, providing the European perspective, followed by Dr. David Maron, representing the US perspective, and finally, Dr. John Mancini, providing the Canadian point of view. And I think we'll have a great interactive discussion after these talks.

How will the topic of lipoprotein(a) be woven throughout the Congress, and why is this such an important area of discussion?

Lipoprotein(a) as a biomarker for risk assessment and the trials testing new therapies to lower lipoprotein(a) are extremely hot topics right now. Session 3 on Friday will focus on the fundamentals of lipoprotein(a), understanding its measurement, including when to measure and what to do about elevated levels. And we'll also have a talk on lipoprotein(a) therapeutics that are in development.

What can you tell us about the leading-edge trials and their results that will be presented this year?

I'm particularly excited about this session on Sunday morning, which features discussions on 3 notable trials in preventive cardiology. First, we'll discuss VA-IMPACT. That's the Investigation of Metformin in Pre-Diabetes on Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Outcomes, and this will be presented by Dr. Gregory Schwartz from the University of Colorado.

Next we'll have a discussion on the PREVENTABLE trial—the Pragmatic Evaluation of Events And Benefits of Lipid-Lowering in Older Adults—and it's substudy CAC-PREVENTABLE. CAC-PREVENTABLE enrolled patients undergoing coronary calcium scoring at baseline of the PREVENTABLE trial, and this will be presented by Dr. Melissa Daubert from Duke University. And finally, we'll discuss SURPASS-CVOT, which is a study of tirzepatide compared with dulaglutide on major cardiovascular events, participants with type 2 diabetes, and this will be presented by Dr. Steven Nicholls from Australia.

Is there anything else you would like to highlight about ASPC 2023?

This meeting really focuses on the next generation of clinicians and researchers, and we certainly welcome all early career folks and trainees to participate. We had a record number of abstracts submissions this year; over 70 were from early career authors. Saturday afternoon, the top 3 early career abstract authors will be presenting their research on the main stage, competing for first, second, and third place. Out in the poster hall, we're expecting over 50 of those abstracts to be on display throughout the weekend.

We've also invited a number of fellows to present cases to an expert panel on the main stage on Saturday afternoon. And then to cap off a great day for early career attendees, we'll be hosting a reception that evening focused on financial planning during the early stage of a clinician's medical career. Finally, myself and our president, Dr. Martha Gulati, will be hosting a town hall dinner panel discussion on Friday night for all attendees of the Congress that will focus on the drug pricing heatwave.