| Circulatory News
Recent Editions
Directors Message
Welcome to Circulatory News, the official newsletter of The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine.
This inaugural issue marks the beginning of a new era. With the integration of The Texas Heart Institute and Baylor College of Medicine, we are building a unified, world-class center positioned to lead the future of cardiovascular medicine.
In a field advancing faster than ever, clarity, collaboration, and communication are essential. Circulatory News will spotlight our progress—from clinical innovations and research breakthroughs to institutional updates that reflect our shared mission.
We want to hear from you. If you’re leading or contributing to a publication, procedure, device, or innovation that should be shared more broadly, please reach out to Jon Myers, Director of Communications, at jon.myers@bcm.edu.
Our collective expertise is our greatest strength. I’m proud to lead this extraordinary team and excited for the impact we will make—on our patients, our profession, and the future of cardiovascular care.
— Joseph G. Rogers, MD
Director, The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine Cardiovascular Center
This Week’s Highlights:
Milestone in Robotic Heart Surgery
Congratulations to Dr. Kenneth Liao and his surgical team on the successful completion of a robotic-assisted heart transplant—one of the first of its kind. Through his visionary leadership, Dr. Liao leveraged the precision of advanced robotics to deliver an exceptional patient outcome, further proving that innovative technology has a critical place in life-saving care and the incredible innovations that take place here at The Texas Medical Center.
This achievement is a testament to our collective dedication to pushing the boundaries of cardiovascular medicine. From the surgical team who supported Dr. Liao in the operating room to the post-operative specialists and nursing staff who ensured smooth recovery, every member played a vital role in this landmark procedure. It’s moments like this that define our Center’s mission and elevate our collective potential.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Liao and the entire transplant team for their excellence and pioneering spirit. We look forward to more achievements as they accelerates future innovation in transplant care and robotic-assisted surgery.
Read the story on the BCM website here.
The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Rank #25 in U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals for Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery
Congratulations to our Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery teams for once again earning national recognition in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Our program has been a top performer since the initiation of this national measure of quality, structure, and reputation.
This year’s rankings also brought notable changes across the field, with NYU Langone and Mount Sinai emerging as the highest-ranked cardiovascular programs, displacing long-standing positions held by the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.
While we are proud to be ranked among the top 25 cardiovascular programs, our ambitions remain to be a top 10 performer. We have received a detailed dataset comparing performance across peer institutions which has provided new insights. Our quality committee will convene and use this data to guide the development of a 3 to 5 year plan aimed at achieving top-decile performance. Together, we will build on our foundation of excellence and continue to elevate the standard of cardiovascular care and innovation.
Dr. Klotman Visits New CV Center Research Facilities
BCM CEO, Dr. Paul Klotman, took a tour of the research labs at the Denton Cooley building on Monday where he got to see new innovations and discoveries up close and hear directly from the research teams.
New Advanced Cardiac, Vascular Imaging Tool Installed: TeraRecon
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center is now equipped with TeraRecon, considered the gold standard in cardiac and vascular imaging. The hospital installed TeraRecon in physician offices and operational areas for cardiac mapping. TeraRecon offers advanced 3D and 4D medical imaging. It enables radiologists or cardiologists to analyze coronary vessels with zero-click centerline creation and extraction. Vascular evaluation tools include plaque and soft plaque, stenosis, curvature and tortuosity.
Heart of Innovation and Discovery
Watch the new video from The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine’s Heart of Innovation and Discovery series. This episode, Dr. Camila Hochman talks about the journey of regenerative medicine.
Notice on Board Certification
Dear Texas Health Network Providers,
This email is to inform you of a policy change regarding Board Certification. In January 2025, the grandfather clause, which allowed physicians to practice without board certification, was repealed as part of a chapter-wide reorganization. Please note that the Texas Medical Board (TMB) no longer issues grandfather lifetime clauses.
As a result of this change, all physicians are now required to be board-certified. The Texas Clinically Integrated Network approved on June 15, 2025, that all providers who are not currently board-certified will have until December 31, 2027, to obtain board certification. Failure to obtain board certification by this date will result in termination from the Texas Clinically Integrated Network.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Regards,
Megan Harkey, MHA
Texas Markets Vice President
Notice on Closure of The Texas Heart Institute Journal
After careful consideration and discussion, The Texas Heart Institute Journal has ceased publication. This decision was not made lightly and reflects The Texas Heart Institute’s broader commitment to strategic realignment with Baylor College of Medicine to strengthen our academic and research efforts.
We deeply appreciate the dedication and contributions of so many that have been instrumental in The Journal’s success for more than 50 years. We also express our deepest gratitude for the decades of service from our editorial teams, authors, peer reviewers, and staff. Their dedication helped uphold the Journal’s scientific integrity and mentoring mission, particularly supporting early-career authors through their first publications.
The Journal staff will ensure a smooth transition, including archiving all published content for long-term access. If you have any questions about the closure process, please feel free to reach out.
Legends & Luminaries in Endovascular Medicine
Living Legends and Luminaries in the Field of Endovascular Medicine is hosted by Dr. Zvonimir Krajcer. The series is dedicated to exploring the groundbreaking contributions of key figures in endovascular medicine. Each episode features in-depth interviews with luminaries who have stood on the shoulders of giants and pioneered techniques, devices, and therapies that have transformed vascular surgery and interventional cardiology today.
Watch on Texas Heart TV
Speaking Engagements
Christie Ballantyne Shares Expertise at EAS 2025
Dr. Ballantyne delivered an invited talk on “Lp(a) Management” and co-chaired the session “Early, Sustained, and Comprehensive Control of Lipids and Health” at the European Atherosclerosis Society’s annual meeting in Glasgow on May 5, 2025.
Ajith Nair Presents at Texas Cardiovascular Innovations Conference
Dr. Nair was invited to present at the 2025 Texas Cardiovascular Innovations Conference, Emertging and Novel Therapies in PAH Patients, on Friday, August 22 in San Antonio.
Jorge Miranda performs a live case for Hendolat 2025
Dr. Miranda live streamed a procedure on how to perform intravascular ultrasound, rotational atherectomy and drug coated balloon angioplasty for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease at Hendolt 2025, the biggest peripheral vascular surgery conference in Latin America. During the case, Dr. Miranda had a panel discussion and attendees to the conference doing Q&A. The outcome was a success and the patient was very excited he was able to teach other doctors.
Selected Publications
ARTICLES
Aficamten or Metoprolol Monotherapy for Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Pablo Garcia-Pavia,Martin S. Maron, Ahmad Masri, Bela Merkely, Michael E. Nassif, Maria Luisa Peña-Peña, Roberto Barriales-Villa, Ozlem Bilen, Melissa Burroughs, Brian Claggett, Juan Pablo Costabel, Edileide de Barros Correia, Anne M. Dybro, Perry Elliott, Sheila M. Hegde, Neal K. Lakdawala, Gregory D. Lewis, Amy Mann, Zi Michael Miao, Ajith Nair, Steen H. Poulsen, Patricia Reant, P. Christian Schulze, Scott D. Solomon, Andrew Wang, Regina Sohn, Indrias Berhane, Stephen B. Heitner, Daniel L. Jacoby, Stuart Kupfer, Fady I. Malik, Amy Wohltman, and Michael A. Fifer, for the MAPLE-HCM Investigators. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2504654
Nicholls SJ, Nelson AJ, Ditmarsch M, Kastelein JJP, Ballantyne CM, Ray KK, Navar AM, Nissen SE, Harada-Shiba M, Curcio DL, Neild A, Kling D, Hsieh A, Butters J, Ference BA, Laufs U, Banach M, Mehran R, Catapano AL, Huo Y, Szarek M, Balinskaite V, Davidson MH; BROADWAY Investigators. Safety and Efficacy of Obicetrapib in Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk. N Engl J Med, 2025;393:51-61.
Segar MW, Badjatiya A, Gales J, Lambeth K, Razavi M, Saeed M.J Am Heart Assoc. 2025 Jul;14(13):e042203. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.125.042203. Epub 2025 Jun 23.
Miles TJ, Guinn MT, Tan X, Qi H, Orozco-Sevilla V, Moon MR, Coselli JS, Rosengart TK, Li M, Chatterjee S, Ghanta RK.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 Jul 16:S0022-5223(25)00565-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2025.07.009. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40680825
Iatrogenic aortic dissection: Insights from the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection.
Harris KM, Parikh NB, Nienaber CA, Woznicki EM, Evangelista A, Schermerhorn M, Ouzounian M, Coselli JS, Pai CW, Ehrlich MP, Kaiser CA, Di Eusanio M, Gleason TG, Sultan I, Eagle KA, Patel HJ.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 May 23:S0022-5223(25)00396-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2025.05.011. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40414525
Therapeutic left-to-right shunting in heart failure.
Fioretti F, Nair AP, Anker SD, Borlaug BA, Kereiakes DJ, Lindenfeld J, Stone GW, Butler J.Eur Heart J. 2025 May 14;46(19):1787-1802. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf120.PMID: 39943738
Garcia-Pavia P, Bilen O, Burroughs M, Costabel JP, de Barros Correia E, Dybro AM, Elliott P, Lakdawala NK, Mann A, Nair A, Nassif ME, Poulsen SH, Reant P, Schulze PC, Wang A, Berhane I, Heitner SB, Jacoby DL, Kupfer S, Malik FI, Meng L, Sohn R, Wohltman A, Fifer MA; MAPLE-HCM Study Investigators.JACC Heart Fail. 2025 Feb;13(2):346-357. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2024.11.011.PMID: 39909646
A Novel Clinical Risk Score to Predict Vasoplegia After Adult Cardiac Surgery.
Miles TJ, Guinn MT, Suero OR, Rosengart TK, Moon MR, Coselli JS, Ghanta RK, Chatterjee S.Ann Thorac Surg. 2025 Mar 20:S0003-4975(25)00211-5. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2025.02.022. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40120788
Nichols A, Blackburn KW, Glover VA, Nguyen LH, Etheridge GM, Green SY, Barron LK, Xue AH, Chatterjee S, Orozco-Sevilla V, Moon MR, Coselli JS.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 Mar 18:S0022-5223(25)00207-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2025.03.009. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40112948
Sweet MP, Azizzadeh A, Oderich GS, Brinkman W, Matsumura JS, Ohki T, Zettervall S, Miyamoto S, Patel HJ, Dake MD.J Vasc Surg. 2025 Jul 30:S0741-5214(25)01555-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2025.07.040. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40749959
Sörelius K, Verhoek R, Berard X, Lyons OTA, Puges M, Wyss TR; International Expert Panel on Vascular Graft and Endograft Infections; European Society for Vascular Surgery Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Vascular Graft and Endograft Infections Writing Committee.Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2025 Jul 29:S1078-5884(25)00707-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2025.07.044. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40744353
Elias A, Tung R, Gerstenfeld EP, Hue TF, Lin F, Cheng J, Weiss JP, Tzou WS, Hsia H, Ehdaie A, Cooper DH, Bunch TJ, Arkles J, Nazer B, Lee A, Hadjis A, Nguyen DT, Chelu MG, Moss JD, Hsu JC, Valderrábano M, Bhave PD, Montenegro G, Kim AS, Dillon WP, Marcus GM.Heart Rhythm. 2025 Jul 7:S1547-5271(25)02614-1. doi: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2025.06.035. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40633895
Morcos R, Vijayaraman P, Cano Ó, Zanon F, Ponnusamy SS, Herweg B, Sharma PS, Jastrzebski M, Molina-Lerma M, Whinnett ZI, Vernooy K, Zou J, Nair GM, Pathak RK, Tung R, Upadhyay GA, Curila K, Chelu MG, Ellenbogen KA.Heart Rhythm. 2025 Aug;22(8):2028-2037. doi: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2025.04.005. Epub 2025 Apr 25.PMID: 40288475
Nonstructural Roles of Junctophilin-2 in the Heart.
Hutchison DF, Lahiri SK, Prins KW, Wehrens XHT.JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2025 Jun 4:101272. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2025.03.004. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40742358
Atrial cardiomyocyte-restricted cleavage of gasdermin D promotes atrial arrhythmogenesis
Yue Yuan, Pascal Martsch, Xiaohui Chen, Enrique Martinez, Luge Li, Jia Song, Theresa Poppenborg, Florian Bruns, Jong Hwan Kim, Markus Kamler, James F Martin, Issam Abu-Taha, Dobromir Dobrev, Na Li, European Heart Journal
Evolving concepts of low-density lipoprotein: From structure to function
Chu-Huang Chen, Tatsuya Sawamura, Alexander Akhmedov, Ming-Hsien Tsai, Omer Akyol, Akemi Kakino, Huan-Hsing Chiang, Simon Kraler, Thomas F. Lüscher; European Journal of Clinical Investigation
Epidemiology and longitudinal course of chylomicronemia: Insights from NHANES and a large health care system
Seyedmohammad Saadatagah MD, Mohammadreza Naderian MDMPHc, Miriam Larouche MScd, Daniel Gaudet MDPhDd, Iftikhar J. Kullo MDc, Christie M. Ballantyne MD; Journal of Clinical Lipidology
Latest Texas Heart Institute Journal:
- Effective Thrombectomy for Biventricular Thrombosis With an Endoscope via the Aortic and Tricuspid Heart Valves
Yuki Endo MD, PhD, Yoshiei Shimamura MD, PhD, Chizuo Kikuchi MD, PhD, and Hiroshi Niinami MD, PhD+ - Robot-Assisted Surgical Treatment of Caseoma
Nancy Wang BS, Abdussalam Elsenousi, MD, and Kenneth K. Kiao, MD, PhD - The Role of Electrophysiologic Study in Device Selection for Leadless Atrial Pacing
- Joshua R. Hirsch, MD, Jordan M. Gales, MD, Irakli Giorgberidze, MD, and Hamid Afshar, MD
- In Memoriam: Virendra Singh Mathur, MD
Neil E. Strickman MD
Events, CME, Cardiology Grand Rounds
Previous Years Cardiology Ground Rounds
- Watch 2023-24 Grand Rounds Recordings
- Watch 2022-23 Grand Rounds Recordings (AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM Available)
- Watch 2021-22 Grand Rounds Recordings
Upcoming Symposia
Conferences and Seminars Schedule
MONDAY 5/12
12:00 pm —1:00 pm
TBD
Daniella Concha, MD
Cath Lab Admin
(O609C)
TUESDAY 5/13
12:00 pm —1:00 pm
Business in Cardiology
Wilson Lam, MD
Cath Lab Admin
(O601C)
WEDNESDAY 5/14
12:00 pm —1:00 pm
HF Conference
HFpEF and
Clinical Trials
Ajith P. Nair, MD
Cath Lab Admin
(O609C)
THURSDAY 5/15
12:00 pm —1:00 pm
STEMI Conference
Saad Rehman, MD
Cath Lab Admin
(O609C)
FRIDAY 5/16
7:30 am —8:30 am
EP Weekly Conference
SICD
Hamid Afshar, MD
Cath Lab Admin
(O609C)
Calendar subject to change.
For the latest schedule, see the
Cardiology Education calendar.
James T. Willerson, M.D. Cardiovascular Sciences Seminar Series
Nhat-Tu Le, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences, Academic Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College
Seminar Location: McMillian Auditorium
Richard Wainford, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Seminar Location: McMillian Auditorium
In The News
6 Things to Do Before 9 A.M. to Reduce Your Stroke Risk, According to Experts
Dr. Christie Ballantyne, Chief, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research, was featured in EatingWell to talk about early morning routines and habits for better cardiovascular health.
Breathing New Life Into Lung Transplants
A multidisciplinary team led by Yaxin Wang, PhD, associate investigator and director of the Innovative Device & Engineering Applications (IDEA) Lab, in collaboration with Chris Chan, PhD, and Gabriel Loor, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Baylor College of Medicine and surgical director of the lung transplant program at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, have developed a groundbreaking new system that could transform the way lungs are preserved and transported for transplant.
My Husband Drinks a Pot of Coffee a Day—So I Asked the Experts If That’s Safe
Dr. Stephanie Coulter was recently interviewed by EatingWell to provide valuable insights into the effects of daily coffee habits.
Beyond “Bad Cholesterol”: Researchers at The Texas Heart Institute Take A New Look at LDL and Cardiovascular Risk
A groundbreaking study led by a multi-national team, including key researchers from The Texas Heart Institute (THI), is reshaping our understanding of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and its role in cardiovascular health.
Clinical Trials
Learn more at THI Trials page or BCM Trials page.
Baylor College of Medicine offers a collection of live activities (several of which are eligible for CME credit) as part of its commitment to furthering the education of physicians and other medical professionals on cardiovascular health and patient care.
Visit our website for more information.