Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Dear Colleagues,

This will be my last “BOG Update” as Chair of the Board of Governors. I’ve been privileged and honored to work on your behalf over the past 12 months. This final update will provide you with the agenda for Friday's BOG Meeting and other important information you should peruse prior to Atlanta. We have a good deal of information to present and we look forward to your constructive feedback on initiatives both new and old.

BOG Dinner Update: The BOG Dinner will be held Friday, March 12 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Dr. Eric S. Holmboe from the American Board of Internal Medicine will give the keynote address and will discuss “Professionalism in the New Millennium: Challenges for Medical Professionals and their Societies.” Professionalism will be the major overarching theme of the College over the next year under the leadership of incoming President Ralph Brindis and Incoming BOG Chair Richard Kovacs. Dr. Holmboe will discuss the new ethical challenges that physicians face today that could not have been envisioned when the Hippocratic Oath was developed. Dr. Holmboe is chief medical officer and senior vice president of the American Board of Internal Medicine and American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. He is also Professor Adjunct of Medicine at Yale University, and Adjunct Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. His research interests include interventions to improve quality of care and methods in the evaluation of clinical competence.

The Tradition of Convocation:  (“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present.”—G. K. Chesterton) Convocation is a ceremony of celebration, tradition, transition and renewal held in connection with the Annual Scientific Session. The 2010 convocation marks the conclusion of the ACC’s 60^th anniversary year. Ceremonial aspects of the ACC convocation have a long and colorful history, including full academic regalia that dates back to the twelfth century, and of course the ceremonial mace. This year, as ACC Secretary, I will lead the Fellows procession and serve as the Grand Marshal. The Grand Marshal opens the Convocation and calls it to order by the placing of the College’s mace on a velvet cushion located on a table beneath the lectern. The mace once a familiar weapon in medieval combat later evolved over time into a symbol of leadership. It was adopted by universities and societies as a symbol of the power of the academic quest for truth and wisdom. Olaf Skoogfors, a Swedish gold and silver smith in Philadelphia, was commissioned to create the current mace for the ACC in 1970. College folklore suggests the wood staff for the College mace was imported from the Greek Island of Kos where Hippocrates was born. The metal part of the mace is created from silver and gold and represents the four chambers of the heart. Some of the inserted jewels and shapes symbolize the AV node and the sinus node positioned in key areas of the mace. The symbol of the College is also embossed in silver and gold overlay. The ACC symbol is derived from a landmark anatomical work by Andreas Vesalius, which was published in 1537. The medallion cast ACC seal is suspended by alternating sterling silver circular and octagonal chain links. The chain is worn by the President each year at the Convocation ceremony. At the high point of the ceremony, the chain is transferred to the new president. In this 60th anniversary year, we honor the visionary leaders who founded the College in 1949. "Bernard of Chartres said that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness on sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.”

CardioSmart Atlanta: CardioSmart Atlanta is a community outreach project, organized by the ACC Georgia Chapter with the help of ACC National staff. This program is designed to educate and screen underserved patients in the city of Atlanta and throughout the state of Georgia. The ACC.10 program will take place on Saturday, March 13, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the Omni Hotel Atlanta Grand Ballroom. The Georgia Chapter is recruiting volunteers to perform screenings and educational sessions, as well as informational discussions. The primary focus of CardioSmart Atlanta will be on hypertension, primarily in the African-American population where hypertension has a high prevalence and a large window of opportunity for improved management. CardioSmart Atlanta will also be offering cholesterol, diabetes and BMI screening for all participants. Dr. Bove is optimistic that this program can be duplicated at other state chapters. ACC Georgia Governor, Dr. Joseph Wilson has extended an invitation to all of the Governors and Governor-elects to come and witness how the program plays out in Atlanta.

James T. Dove Lectureship Fund: I continue to be overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the James T. Dove Lectureship Fund. This support, especially from the BOG community,  reflects the high esteem Dr. Dove holds among his colleagues. We have already named the BOG Chapter Recognition Award for the lectureship pays tribute to Dr. Dove’s contribution to the field of quality improvement and medical informatics and highlights his ongoing commitment to the use of technology as a quality-enabler.

We hope to have all our state chapters make a contribution in support of this worthy endeavor. Any contribution is appreciated! To make a contribution, Chapters can donate online via the College's Charitable Giving website at https://services.acc.org/onlinedonations/. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Melissa Bonardi at 202-375-6619 or mbonardi@acc.org.  She can take your information over the phone as well.

If contributing online, you can either log-in with your member sign in and password and the donor fields will be prefilled. You can then change the name information to reflect the Chapter donation and use any applicable credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express).  In the acknowledgement information, make certain to add the name of the Chapter for proper credit. Alternatively if you choose not to login, you can continue with the donation by pressing the applicable link and make the donation with a major credit card as noted.

To date 32 states and one territory have pledged to contribute to the James T. Dove Fund, in addition to the $25,000 donation from the ACC PAC. Dr. Kovacs has pledged to give $100 to any remaining Chapter that needs it. Thank you again, for your generosity.

Au Revoir and the “Passing of the Footbal:” The upcoming BOG meeting will be bittersweet for me, as it will be my last meeting as BOG Chair . I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve you and our member constituents. Dr. Richard Kovacs will begin his tenure at the conclusion of ACC.10 and will work with you in setting the BOG's 2010 priorities. I will pass the “football” to Dick during the BOG Dinner on Friday evening. Dick will ably quarterback the BOG as he did during his College years at the University of Chicago when he was captain of their football team. The future of cardiac care in the United States is squarely in the hands of CMS and the Obama Administration. Disruption of the current system for delivery has disproportionately hurt rural, minority and disadvantaged populations the most, further worsening health disparities and further increasing cost. Not only will quality care be threatened but increased costs are already being seen by Medicare beneficiaries. The time to correct this error is now, not when we start seeing the eventual increase in mortality it forebodes. We congratulate the advocacy efforts of the Governors to date and we hope to leverage the Gonzales bill going forward in support of our patients’ access to quality cardiovascular care. Dick will continue these advocacy efforts on behalf of the BOG.

As the voice of the membership we need to hear your concerns and your opinions as we develop our goals for the future. We have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months, and it couldn’t have happened without your input, comments, questions, opinions and suggestions. I recall the words of Abraham Lincoln as he left Springfield Illinois to assume the Presidency on February 11, 1861: “…To this place and the kindness of these people, I owe everything…”  Our thoughts turn gratefully to the wonderful ACC staff that made our progress possible. We have the best staff of any professional organization. Thanks again to Jayne Jordan, Taryn Gold, Jessica Irizarry, Marthea Wilson and Shalen Fairbanks for all the support they have provided to the Board of Governors and me over the past year. I extend special thanks to the members of the BOG Steering Committee that I highlighted in my last newsletter. I thank each of them for their volunteerism and support of the College.

We are all looking forward to seeing you in Atlanta. Safe travels…

Sincerely,

John Gordon Harold, MD, FACC

Chair, Board of Governors

P.S. A Bit of Atlanta Trivia: As an Irish-American I’m proud to visit the great city of Atlanta which is featured so prominently in that most Irish of novels: Gone With The Wind. The film, often considered the most beloved, enduring and popular film of all time,  premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 15, 1939. I was proud to have cared for Fred Crane who played the part of Brent Tarleton, one of Scarlett's suitors, and who spoke the opening lines in the film. One of the lasting Trivial Pursuit questions was initiated for all time, when an error in the credits listed his name as Stuart, who was actually played by George Reeves. It was deemed too costly to fix this, so it endures this way, but when watching and listening to the dialogue, it is clear who George and Fred play in the movie. Brent speaks the opening lines of the movie, "What do we care if we were expelled from college, Miss Scarlett? The war's going to start soon, so we would have left college anyhow."

I’ll be thinking of Gone With the Wind as the revelers in Atlanta celebrate their annual Saint Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations on Saturday, March 13. Dr. James McClurken and the ACC.10 & i2 Summit 2010 planning committee have created a spectacular meeting in Atlanta. You should look forward to outstanding Southern hospitality as you avail of the diverse educational opportunities offered at ACC.10. The future of Cardiology awaits you in Atlanta.

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