Programming - Scientific Sessions

CO.ME.02 – Lifetime Valve Care in 2026: Who to Treat, When to Intervene, and Which Technology Wins?
3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., Room S106A
This session will provide an understanding of the latest guidelines for percutaneous management of structural heart disease; frameworks for patient selection, device selection, and post-procedural care, and consider future developments in procedural planning and personalized care.

VB.ME.05 – The Thrombo-Inflammatory Axis: Bridging the Vessel Wall, Blood, and Bedside
3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., Special Session Room, North Hall, Level 3
This high-impact session explores the critical crosstalk between endothelial dysfunction, inflammatory signaling, and platelet biology in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. World-renowned experts will integrate mechanistic insights—from the RAGE axis and transcriptomics to clinical translation—to define the next generation of vascular therapeutics. Attendees will gain a unified vision of the thrombo-inflammatory landscape, moving beyond lipid lowering to target residual cardiovascular risk.

SA.ME.01 – Rethinking Coronary Revascularization: Less Invasive and More Strategic
4:45 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Room S105ABC
Coronary revascularization decisions are evolving beyond anatomy alone. This session reframes CABG and PCI through physiology, less invasive and hybrid approaches, and patient-centered outcomes.

CD.ME.02 – Annual Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red™ Award for Best Scientific Article on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Women
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room S100A
The Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red™ Award recognizes the best article on cardiovascular disease and stroke in women published each year in an American Heart Association Journal. Beginning in 2021 at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, the award provides a cash prize and plaque to the winner. The corresponding author will receive the award on behalf of the co-authors and will present the winning article at Scientific Sessions.

CP.ME.12 – Bioengineering Human Tissue and the Future of Vascular Replacement in Congenital Heart Disease
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Special Session Room, North Hall, Level 3
This session will be a state-of-the-art update on creating living, growing tissues like heart patches, valves, and vessels from stem cells and biomaterials to serve as replacement parts for children with congenital heart disease, overcoming limitations of current synthetic grafts that don't grow with the child and require repeated surgeries. Speakers will discuss the creation of personalized grafts that integrate, remodel, and potentially avoid immune rejection, offering a regenerative solution for complex pediatric heart defects.

GE.ME.06 – The Future is Now: Gene Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room S103A
Gene therapy and precision medicine are rapidly transforming the treatment landscape for cardiovascular disease, with clinical trials now demonstrating promising results. This session will provide a state-of-the-art overview of the clinical trial evidence and real-world implementation of cardiovascular gene therapy. Through concise, high-impact presentations and an interactive panel discussion, attendees will gain practical insight into patient selection, trial design, safety monitoring, regulatory considerations, and equitable clinical deployment.

HN.ME.03 – From Microdosing to Class Switching: What Clinicians need to Know About GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Now
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room N230A
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are transforming care at the intersection of kidney, cardiovascular, and diabetes (KCVD) health. Yet, their rapid adoption brings new challenges and opportunities for clinicians and patients. This session will highlight hot topics including rebound effects after discontinuation, microdosing strategies, emerging generic availability and costs, and access through compounding pharmacies. Framed through the KCVD lens, experts will explore the real-world implications of these issues for optimizing outcomes, ensuring safety, and advancing equitable access in clinical practice.

PL.ME.02 – Reflections from the 2026 AHA/ACC Multi-Society Dyslipidemia Guidelines
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room S105ABC
This Session will provide attendees with an overview of the AHA/ACC Multisociety Dyslipidemia guideline, while also putting new clinical trial evidence into context. A talk about top highlights from the guideline will be followed by talks on lipid measurement, goals for lipid lowering, the impact of CAC on the intensity of LDL-C lowering and the clinical approach to addressing elevated Lp(a).

CD.ME.03 – Distinguished Scientist Lecture
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., Room S100A

EP.ME.05 – What Comes Next for AI: Hear from the Builders of Tech's Future
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., Room S105D
Bringing together some of the biggest names in medical AI, hear from industry leaders about what we can expect from AI in 2027. What technologies are seeing mass adoption? What challenges remain? And most importantly, what does it mean for cardiology?

VM.ME.01 – Pulmonary Embolism Management: Guideline Updates and Evolving Treatment Strategies in 2026
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., Room S105ABC
This session will provide a comprehensive, practice-focused review of the new 2026 ACC/AHA guideline recommendations, including systems-of-care innovations such as PERT programs and evolving interventional strategies. Attendees will gain actionable insights into contemporary decision-making and a forward look at trials poised to reshape the field.

BH.ME.08 – The Brain Checkup: Measuring, Protecting, and Preserving Your Cognitive Future
3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Special Session Room, North Hall, Level 3
This session explores brain health as a shared public-health priority, examining how cognitive function can be assessed, influenced, and preserved across the general population. The moderator opens with an interactive app-based cognitive screening to demonstrate practical approaches to measurement. Presentations then review contemporary tools for quantifying brain health, including composite indices and resilience frameworks, followed by a discussion of modifiable cardiovascular factors that shape cognitive trajectories across the lifespan. Evidence from randomized trials is critically evaluated to assess commonly pursued strategies such as vitamins, cognitive training programs, and infusion-based therapies. The session concludes with forward-looking insights into neuroplasticity and the potential for recovery or adaptation. Designed to be relevant across disciplines, this session equips attendees with evidence-based perspectives to guide conversations about brain health in clinical care, prevention, and community engagement.

PL.ME.03 – The Ups and Downs of Sex Hormones: Critical Windows for Cardiovascular Health in Girls and Women
3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Room S105D
This Session will provide attendees with an overview of how changes in sex hormones at key life transitions from menarche to menopause influence cardiovascular health in girls and women and will discuss a practical guide to screening, risk assessment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease in clinical practice. It will begin with an overview of the key opportunities to address sex-specific screening, diagnosis, and management across the life course, followed by talks regarding a life stage approach to cardiovascular care, and define approaches to optimize cardiovascular health in the pubertal window, peripartum window, and perimenopause window. It will end with a discussion of strategies to enhance the facilitation of interdisciplinary care across specialties. This session will be a joint multi-society initiative with the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and American Academy of Pediatrics.

CK.ME.02 – Bringing the AHA/ACC/ADA/ASN Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome Guideline to Life
8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., Room S105ABC
This Session will provide attendees with an overview of the major components of the CKM guidelines, as well as approaches to enhance CKM syndrome care in clinical practice. It will begin with a description of the top highlights of the guideline, followed by talks regarding risk assessment for guiding CKM syndrome care and best practices for the care of obesity, diabetes and chronic kidney disease for reducing cardiovascular and kidney risk. It will end with a discussion of strategies to enhance multisystem benefits in CKM syndrome care and the facilitation of interdisciplinary care.

CD.ME.01 – Nobel Laureate Address
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room S100A
Join Joshua D. Angrist, PhD | Ford Professor of Economics, MIT Department of Economics for his presentation entitled Intentions are Good, Instrumental Variables is Better: Addressing Nonadherence and Crossovers in Clinical Trials.

MC.ME.09 – RNA Therapeutics for Cardiovascular Disease and Beyond
3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., Room S102A
This Main Event will highlight how advances in RNA and genome-targeted therapeutics are transforming the future of cardiovascular medicine and reshaping treatment strategies across human diseases. Bringing together leaders in base editing, mRNA therapeutics, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and antisense oligonucleotide technologies, this session will showcase some of the most innovative approaches for correcting disease-causing mutations, modulating pathogenic pathways, and enabling precise molecular therapies.Speakers will present pioneering work spanning gene correction, transient therapeutic reprogramming, in vivo genome engineering, and RNA-guided target suppression, illustrating how these platforms are moving from fundamental discovery toward clinical application. Together, these approaches offer powerful new opportunities to address conditions that have long remained difficult to treat, including inherited and acquired cardiovascular diseases, while also guiding therapeutic development in other major areas of medicine.

PH.ME.05 – Optimizing Outcomes in Acute Pulmonary Embolism and Right Ventricular Shock Through Multidisciplinary Care
3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., Room S405A
This session provides a comprehensive overview of the multidisciplinary management of intermediate-high and high-risk pulmonary embolism, beginning with advanced risk stratification and the selection of acute treatment strategies. Experts will discuss the optimization of ICU-level care and the escalating role of mechanical circulatory support and catheter-directed aspiration thrombectomy in stabilizing hemodynamically unstable patients. Finally, the program addresses the critical transition to long-term management, focusing on surveillance strategies for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

AR.ME.14 – The Future of Arrhythmia Care
8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., Special Session Room, North Hall, Level 3
This energetic session will feature international leaders in EP providing fast-paced talks on the most dynamic areas within the field of arrhythmia care. Transformations in the way large amounts of data are being gathered and analyzed, new technology is being leveraged in patient care, and treatments are being personalized will be highlighted. Don't miss it!

JRNL.10 – GLP1 and Implications for Cardiometabolic & Cardiopulmonary Medicine: Henning Lecture 2026
9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Room S102A
This session will focus on Glucagon Like Peptide 1 (GLP) from its discovery to clinical trial applications. Unique aspects of GLP1 biology in cardiometabolic and cardiopulmonary medicine will be discussed. A panel discussion at the end of the formal presentations will engage the audience to interact with the speakers for insights on question/answers and the future of GLP1 receptor agonism.