Dear SCVP Member,

 

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our events at the USCAP meeting in Los Angeles only a couple of weeks ago. It was terrific to meet in person again to renew old acquaintances, make new friends, and recharge one’s cardiovascular curiosities. A big congratulations to our Young Investigator Awardee Dr. Monica De Gaspari and a special thank you to Dr. Bobby Padera for his terrific roast of our Distinguished Achievement Awardee, Dr. Rick Mitchell. Plenty of pictures and a post-meeting write up are available on our website.

 

There are a number of new activities for 2022. The first is the continuation of our “What I know/what I don’t know” seminar series. I am pleased to report that we have 4 speakers already planned – Drs. Chuck Murry, Gaetano Thiene, Mary Sheppard, and Allen Burke. Dr. Murry will be the first to talk, speaking April 25th on “Regenerating the Human Heart with Stem Cells.” Separate announcements will be forthcoming.

 

After much discussion, we will be starting a cardiovascular pathology journal club, led by Dr. Peter Wang. Some of the details are still being worked out, but we will begin in May. This will be a year-round opportunity to keep abreast of the latest publications related to our field. A big thank you to Drs. Peter Wang, Brandon Larson, Max Buja, and Giulia d’Amati for their efforts to have another SCVP365 activity for our members.

 

A realization of the past two years, related to the COVID epidemic, is the inconsistency of the myocarditis diagnosis. We reached a major decision at our yearly executive meeting that the society would take up the challenge of updating the Dallas Criteria for myocarditis in biopsies and develop criteria for larger tissues (explanted hearts/autopsies/etc.) Look for more information to come regarding this activity and ways to participate in this process.

 

We continue to celebrate other successes of SCVP. Our mentorship program started and led by Drs. Lin and Bois, continues to foster important interactions. Our society has grown in membership. We look forward to a new impact factor for our journal, Cardiovascular Pathology, which will be based upon some of the most cited works in the history of the journal. There has never been a better time to submit your work.

 

WMany of the accomplishments of the past year are the result of members, just like you, requesting changes to make the SCVP of more value. We hope to hear more of your great ideas in the coming year and we will work to implement them.

 

 

 

 

Marc K. Halushka, MD, PhD

President, Society for Cardiovascular Pathology