A New Era

By James de Lemos, M.D.

Professor of Internal Medicine
Chief of Cardiology

I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to follow my friend and mentor, Joseph Hill, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief of Cardiology at UT Southwestern. I look forward to building on the proud legacy of this Division, which benefited from Joe’s tremendous leadership for more than two decades. I have been a faculty member here for 23 years, with a front-row view of the remarkable transition of UT Southwestern Cardiology from a Division focused on excellence in education and basic science to our current status as a leading institution for clinical and population research and clinical practice, while maintaining our core strengths in basic research and education.

We are in a major growth spurt, with well over 100 faculty and a robust recruitment pipeline for talented clinicians, educators, and researchers. Our regional footprint is expanding rapidly, with new UT Southwestern cardiology practice sites opening this year in Fort Worth, Coppell, and Frisco and expansion of our RedBird campus in South Dallas. Our practices at Parkland Memorial Hospital and the Dallas VA Medical Center continue to thrive, with innovative new programs and faculty that provide the highest level of care to our diverse patient populations. With these developments, we are well positioned to make substantive contributions to minimizing the burden of cardiovascular disease over the years to come.

The pages that follow highlight a few of the many contributions from our faculty and trainees at the 2023 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, which span virtually all areas of cardiovascular medicine. I’d like to especially congratulate Amit Khera, M.D., M.Sc., our Associate Chief for Faculty Development and Director of Preventive Cardiology, who served as the AHA Sessions Program Chair for this year’s highly successful meeting. Two of our senior fellows also received prestigious awards. Glynnis Garry, M.D., Ph.D., received the Melvin L. Marcus Early Career Investigator Award in Basic Cardiovascular Sciences from the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, and Reynaldo Sanchez, M.D., won the Laennec Fellow in Training Clinician Award from the Council on Clinical Cardiology. These awards reflect not only the talent and commitment of these young cardiologists and their mentors but the environment of inquiry and innovation at UT Southwestern.

We hope you enjoy reading the contributions our team made at #AHA23, and we look forward to collaborating with many of you to reduce the toll of cardiovascular disease in our communities.