Cardiometabolic Risk Summit Educates More Than 650 Clinicians in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO — The Cardiometabolic Risk Summit (CRS), an official meeting of Consultant360 designed by expert leaders in primary care and cardiometabolic risk management, took place September 14-16 at the Marriott San Antonio Rivercenter. The more than 650 primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and others in attendance (many of whom traveled here while Hurricane Florence battered the Carolinas and the rest of the Southeast coast) learned about the latest approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention cardiometabolic syndrome—the constellation of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity—which has been acknowledged as a national epidemic, affecting 1 in 3 US adults.
Since 2012, the 3-day CRS scientific program has focused on practical prevention and treatment strategies from clinical experts, including education about the latest expert guidelines, evolving therapies, and emerging evidence-based and clinical trials data. The event offered 20 continuing medical education credits/continuing nursing education hours.
The educational program at this year’s summit was organized into content blocks, with day 1 devoted to 10 session on diabetes; day 2 featuring 9 sessions on cardiovascular disease, lipids, and nutrition; and day 3 offering 9 sessions on hypertension and 5 on obesity. The CRS hallmark of robust audience participation remained a central theme.
Among the more than 3 dozen educational sessions from more than 30 nationally and internationally renowned expert faculty members were “Intensifying Treatment: Is Combination Therapy Ideal for Your Patient With T2DM?” by James Gavin III, MD, PhD, the chief medical officer at Healing Our Village Inc and a clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Georgia and Indiana University School of Medicine in Indiana; “The Present and Future of Medical Devices for Diabetes,” by Timothy S. Bailey, MD, president and CEO of the AMCR (Advanced Metabolic Care and Research) Institute and a clinical associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine; and “Current and Future of Obesity Drug Therapies: Echoes of Today’s Metabolic Treatments,” by Harold Bays, MD, medical director and president of the Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
In keeping with CRS’s focus on practical strategies, the symposium featured a live cooking demonstration by Timothy S. Harlan, MD—TV’s “Dr. Gourmet”—and Chef Leah Sarris, RD, from the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.
During the summit’s kickoff session, “Doctor Heal Thyself: My Personal Battle with Obesity,” Jeffrey P. Levine, MD, MPH, offered a heartfelt and personal perspective as an obese physician and patient about bariatric surgery to assist clinicians in assessing, counseling, and managing their patients who are considering the procedure.
“I’m not an expert, I am an obesity survivor,” Dr Levine told summit attendees. Dr Levine, who is a professor and Director of Women's Health Programs in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, shared his decades-long struggle with obesity and the associated adverse effects that impacted not only the quality of his own life but also that of his family, and influenced interactions with his patients.
Dr Levine also spoke of his time as a contestant on season 2 of the NBC TV show, “The Biggest Loser,” and detailed his personal experiences after having undergone bariatric surgery.
Edward Shahady, MD, who is stepping down as CRS co-chair after this year’s conference, was recognized at a special honorary ceremony on Friday. Borne of his passion for educating clinicians with strategies to improve the care of patients with diabetes, Dr Shahady was the driving force behind the development and launch of CRS more than 7 years ago. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Florida in Jacksonville and president and medical director of the Diabetes Master Clinician Program.
In his remarks at the ceremony, CRS co-chair Daniel Einhorn, MD, clinical professor of medicine and medical director of the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute at the University of California, San Diego, said this of Dr Shahady: “He is the man who made it all happen, the founder, the godfather of CRS … There are certain singers who are so good, they make you believe they are singing directly to you—Frank Sinatra is a great example. And Ed is the Frank Sinatra of lecturers.”
Despite stepping down as co-chair, Dr Shahady will always be a vital contributor to CRS, Dr Einhorn said. “There’s no way Ed could ever completely step away, and we need him,” he said, noting that the steering committee will continue with the unique and practical learning environment Dr Shahady has established at CRS in order to continue providing strategies to clinicians to combat the epidemic of cardiometabolic risk.
Attendees explored the exhibit hall, where industry partners joined Consultant360 in presenting information about the latest cardiometabolic medicine-related products and services for improving patient care.
This year’s CRS was presented in partnership with the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, whose more than 7,800 members make it the state’s largest medical specialty organization; the Central Texas Physician Assistant Society, which represents PAs in the greater San Antonio metropolitan area; and Texas coordinating body of the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
The 2019 CRS will take place at the Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida, October 24-26.
—Michael Gerchufsky