The Nominations Committee, chaired by Dr. Vera Rigolin, has nominated the following candidates for Officers and Directors of the American Society of Echocardiography.
Please vote for the officers and directors using this ballot. You may write in nominees in the blank spaces instead of the person nominated. You may only vote for one person for each position. The new officers and directors will be introduced at ASE’s Annual Awards Presentations and Edler Lecture plenary session in Denver, CO, on Saturday, June 20, 2020. Your ballot must be received by March 15, 2020. Please review the slate below and cast your vote. Thank you.
Officer Nominated to Presidential Ladder (One-Year Term – Expires June 2021)
Vice-President
Stephen Little, MD, FASE
Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center
Houston, TX
Dr. Little, is medical director of the Valve Clinic – a multidisciplinary medical clinic at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center focused on the assessment and treatment of complex valvular heart disease. He is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and adjunct associate professor at Rice University in the Department of Bioengineering.
Dr. Little’s recent research activities and peer-reviewed publications have focused on novel use of 3D echocardiography for the quantification of native and prosthetic valve dysfunction as well as imaging guidance for percutaneous structural heart interventions. In collaboration with research scientists and mathematicians, Dr. Little’s research group creates complex heart valve constructs to address an increasingly important clinical need – to improve our understanding of heart valve dysfunction by employing multimodality imaging to better characterize and quantify these complex intra-cardiac flow conditions.
Dr. Little has given of his time and talents to ASE for over a decade. Most recently he has served as Chair of the ASE Guidelines and Standards committee and well as the Structural Heart Disease Industry Task Force. He served on ASE’s Board of Directors from 2015 – 2018.
He received his medical degree from McMaster University and completed postgraduate training in internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Little completed research fellowships in echocardiography at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Echocardiography. He is board certified in cardiovascular disease from the ABIM, and a diplomate of NBE in transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography.
Officer Nominated for Council Representative (Two-Year Term – Expires June 2022)
Meryl Cohen, MD, FASE
Children’s Hospital
Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Cohen is a board-certified pediatric cardiologist in the Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with expertise in fetal, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography. In addition to her clinical work, she serves as the director of the CHOP Cardiology Fellowship Training program and is an Associate Chief of the Division of Cardiology.
As a researcher, Dr. Cohen focuses on understanding growth in children with congenital heart disease. “In particular,” she says, “I am working on the risk, timing and cause of obesity in children with heart disease, and how to prevent it. I also use echocardiography as a tool to predict outcomes for various forms of congenital heart disease.”
Dr. Cohen has been serving in various capacities within ASE since 2004 starting with a Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Council Steering Committee. She has served on numerous task forces that have included the Work Task Force Survey (CPELP) as well as the development of a Pediatric Travel Grant. She has also served as Program Co-Chair and Chair at the end of that term working with the ASE organization to develop the Pediatric and Congenital portion of the Scientific Sessions. Over the past decade, she served on other committees including the Awards Committee, the Education Committee and the Guidelines and Standards Committee. I then chaired the CME committee for two years. From 2013-2017 she served as a member-at-large on the Board of Directors. Through this term she was involved in several task forces including the Industry Relations Committee, ASE Governance Task Force which developed new guidelines for the four ASE councils and the Point of Care echo Task Force which has now led to a much larger role for POCUS representation in the ASE organization. Dr. Cohen chaired or co-chaired three JASE guidelines in congenital heart disease, one which is about to be published. Most recently she served as Chair and Past-Chair of the Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Council. Last year, she was honored with the Pediatric Echo teaching award and presently serves as a mentor in the ASE Leadership Academy.
Dr. Cohen received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College. She received her medical degree from Stony Brook University School of Medicine and complete internship and residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She completed her fellowship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics as well as the American Board of Pediatrics/Pediatric Cardiology.
Directors Nominated to Serve Two-Year Terms (Terms Expire June 2022)
Danita Sanborn, MD, FASE
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Dr. Danita Sanborn is a clinical cardiologist and a specialist in Echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. She holds the administrative and teaching role in MGH’s Cardiology Fellowship as the Associate Fellowship Program Director and Medical Director of the Paul Dudley White Associates Fellows’ Clinic. She also serves as the Director of Urgent Care for the MGH Cardiology Division.
Dr. Sanborn was a poster presenter at her first ASE meeting in 1996 as an intern in Internal Medicine. After completing her training in Cardiology and Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship at MGH, she pursued her NBE certification and became FASE. She has been involved as faculty in the last six Scientific Sessions. She has served as an abstract grader as well as a member, Co-Chair, and Chair of the CME Committee. She has also served as a member of the Scientific Sessions Program Task Force and is currently a member of the Education Committee. Recently, she was appointed as CME Co-Editor for the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.
Dr. Sanborn received her MD degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Cardiovascular Disease with an advanced fellowship in Echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital. During her fellowship, she also completed Harvard Medical School’s Scholars in Clinical Science Program and earned a Masters of Medical Science Degree from HMS. She holds board certifications in cardiovascular disease from the ABIM as well as comprehensive certification in echocardiography from the NBE. She is also a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. She completed the Mass General Physician’s Organization Physician Leadership Development Certificate Program. Her clinical interests include general clinical cardiology, valve disease, cardiomyopathy, structural heart disease and echocardiography. Her research interests include refining the role of echocardiography as a tool to better understand uncommon cardiomyopathies including Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
Vincent L. Sorrell, MD, FASE
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Dr. Sorrell is a cardiologist specializing in advanced cardiovascular imaging. He is the Anthony N. DeMaria Professor of Medicine, Assistant Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director, Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging for the UK Enterprise, and the CV Fellowship Program Director at the University of Kentucky Hospital and the Gill Heart and Vascular Institute.
Dr. Sorrell has been an active member within the ASE since 1995. He received the Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching award in 2010 for his teaching and mentorship skills. He has served as an abstract grader as well as been invited faculty for several ASE live courses including Echo Florida and the annual Scientific Sessions. Dr. Sorrell participated in ASE’s Global outreach to India 2012 and the West Virginia ASEF community project in 2018. He has served on the Awards, Finance, Digital IT, and Foundation Annual Appeal Committees. He has served as the Co-Chair for the Guidelines & Standards Committee as well as the Training & Certification Committee. He is currently a member of the Critical Care Echo Workgroup and represented ASE in the creation of the inaugural Critical Care Echocardiography Boards Review Course co-sponsored with the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) in 2018. He was an ASE peer-reviewer for major Consensus documents including the recent New Training Statement on Level III echocardiography training. He is an Associate Editor for JASE.
Vincent L. Sorrell received his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies. He completed an internal medicine residency and an adult cardiology fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He also completed a fellowship in noninvasive cardiology and heart failure at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. He has been named a Best Doctor and a Top 100 Physician. He is an active member of the exclusive Association of University Cardiologists. He is also an echo, nuclear, cardiac CT and MRI specialist. He is ABIM board certified in cardiovascular disease, and also holds board certification in nuclear cardiology. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, American College of Physicians, American College of Cardiology, Society of Cardiovascular CT, Society of Cardiovascular MRI.
He has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications on CV imaging, authored the first 3D Echo Atlas, and has published an Echo Boards Review book (Questions, Tips and Tricks for the Echocardiography Boards) which is now in its second edition. He is an active clinical researcher with a specific interest in ischemia detection, echo contrast, 3D echo, myocardial deformation, and POCUS. He has participated in major recent CV imaging trials such as PROMISE, ISCHEMIA, and PRECISE. His current research is dedicated to improving healthcare delivery through the use of imaging as a gate-keeper with a goal of linking imaging to clinical outcomes.
Ritu Thamman, MD, FASE
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Thamman is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE).
Her research focuses on cardiovascular disease in women, mitral valve prolapse, mitral annular disjunction and innovative implementation tools for cardiovascular disease. She is the chair of the Echocardiography Twitter Journal club, a formal journal club on Twitter for which she has developed CME, writing all the questions for the American Society of Echocardiography. She is also a member of the ASE Foundation and Membership Committees. She is the ASE’s Social media Strategist.
Dr. Thamman is participating in multiple national and international society guidelines and position statements. She is a member of the writing committee for the 2021 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Disparities of Care Guidelines and is currently a committee member for the upcoming 2020 ASE Burnout Prevention Guidelines. She is member of the ACC Women in Cardiology Leadership Council and started the PA chapter of Women in Cardiology.
Dr. Thamman is the Social Media Editor for Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes and the Journal of American Society of Echocardiography. Her writing and interpretation of scientific articles has led to her being a top influencer for the ACC, AHA, ASE and European Congress of Cardiology. She is a national and international figure for social media for advocacy and education for cardiologists.
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June 2020- June 2021 Board of Directors
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President (term expires June 2021)
Judy W. Hung, MD, FASE
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
President-Elect (term expires June 2021)
Raymond Stainback, MD, FASE
Texas Heart Institute, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
Houston, TX
Vice President (term expires June 2021)
Nomination Above
Treasurer (term expires June 2021)
Carol K. C. Mitchell, PhD, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RT(R), ACS, FASE
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
Secretary (term expires June 2021)
Matt M. Umland, ACS, RDCS, FASE
Aurora Health Care
Milwaukee, WI
Council Representative (term expires June 2021)
Nomination Above
Immediate Past President (term expires June 2021)
Madhav Swaminathan, MD, FASE
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC
Chief Executive Officer
Robin Wiegerink, MNPL
American Society of Echocardiography
Durham, NC
DIRECTORS (terms expire June 2021)
Council on Pediatric & Congenital Heart Disease Chair
Piers Barker, MD, FASE
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC
Council on Perioperative Echocardiography Chair
Alina Nicoara, MD, FASE
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC
Past President Member
Alan S. Pearlman, MD, FASE
University of Washington Medical Center (retired)
Seattle, WA
Member at Large
Peter Rahko, MD, FASE
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
Member at Large
Geoffrey A. Rose, MD, FASE
Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute
Charlotte, NC
Member at Large
Jennifer Schaaf, BS, ACS, RDCS, FASE
The Christ Hospital Health Network
Cincinnati, OH
Member at Large
Vandana Sachdev, MD, FASE
National Institute of Health
Bethesda, MD
International Member
Cathy West, MSc, DMU (Cardiac), AMS, EACVI, CHD, FASE
Royal Brompton Hospital
London, UK
DIRECTORS (terms expire June 2022)
Member at Large
Nomination Above
Member at Large
Nomination Above
Member at Large
Nomination Above
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