What is CLIMB?

  • A virtual multi-format program designed to increase technical skills, promote collaborative clinical environments and build relationships between participants and industry partners.
  • Open to global interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, structural interventionalists, interventional imagers & cardiothoracic surgeons 2+ years out of training.
  • Accepted applicants assigned to 1 primary learning track and 1 possible observational track. Up to 15 primary applicants accepted per track.
  • Session agendas & recordings are available to all Talent Directory registrants. Recordings will be posted beginning in June.
  • 6-MONTH online training
    From June-November 2021
  • 3 learning topics
    Coronary, EP & Structural
  • OPEN TO WORLDWIDE
    applicants
  • FREE
    of charge

CLIMB 2021 timeline

April 14TH
Applications period starts
May 14th
Applications period closes
May 26th
Acceptance notifications sent
June - Nov
Program period

Meet the Program Directors

CORONARY

  • Binita Shah, MD, MS
    Binita Shah, MD, MS
  • Rasha Al-Lamee, MD, PhD
    Rasha Al-Lamee, MD, PhD

EP

  • Andrea Russo, MD
    Andrea Russo, MD
  • Ulrika Birgersdotter-Green, MD
    Ulrika Birgersdotter-Green, MD

STRUCTURAL

  • Rebecca Hahn, MD
    Rebecca Hahn, MD
  • Neus Salvatella, MD
    Neus Salvatella, MD

Discover the tracks

View Full Program Snapshot

 

CORONARY

WHO MAY APPLY: All 4 Coronary tracks open to interventional cardiologists.

HEMODYNAMICALLY COMPLEX PCI: HIGH-RISK PROCEDURE PLANNING, AMI, SHOCK

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Kate Kearney, MD

Peter O'Kane, MBBS, MD

CHRONIC TOTAL OCCLUSION

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Arasi Maran, MD

James Spratt, MB ChB, MD

ATHERECTOMY AND IMAGING

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Daniel Chamié MD, PhD

Nieves Gonzalo MD, PhD

LEFT MAIN AND BIFURCATIONS

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Allison Dupont, MD

Tom Johnson, MBBS, MD

LEARN MORE ABOUT FACULTY CORONARY TRACK SPONSORS

EP

CLIMB 2021 EP is endorsed by the Heart Rhythm Society. All accepted CLIMB EP primary participants are eligible to receive 1 complimentary year of HRS membership.

WHO MAY APPLY: All 4 EP tracks open to electrophysiologists. LAAO track is also open to interventional cardiologists.

AF ABLATION

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Sabine Ernst, MD, PhD

Bradley Knight, MD

VT ABLATION

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Greg Feld, MD

Kyoko Soejima, MD

INNOVATION IN PACING

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Cecilia Linde, MD, PhD

Jonathan Piccini, MD, MHS

LAAO DEVICES AND THROMBOEMBOLIC PROPHYLAXIS *

TRACK DIRECTORS:

DJ Lakkireddy, MBBS, MD

Jacqueline Saw, MD

* Open to: interventional cardiologists

LEARN MORE ABOUT FACULTY EP TRACK SPONSORS

STRUCTURAL

WHO MAY APPLY: All 4 Structural tracks open to structural interventionalists, interventional imagers & cardiothoracic surgeons.

TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Darren Mylotte, MB BCh, MD, PhD

Molly Szerlip, MD

TRANSCATHETER MITRAL VALVE DEVICES

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Anita Asgar, MD, MSc

Paul Sorajja, MD

TRANSCATHETER TREATMENT OF PROSTHETIC VALVE DYSFUNCTION
(including BASILICA and LAMPOON)

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Adam Greenbaum, MD

Kendra Grubb, MD, MHA

IMAGING FOR STRUCTURAL INTERVENTIONS

TRACK DIRECTORS:

Rebecca Hahn, MD

Marta Sitges, MD, PhD

LEARN MORE ABOUT FACULTY STRUCTURAL TRACK SPONSORS
ACCESS SESSION RECORDINGS

What past participants say about CLIMB

"Thank you very much for this opportunity. I very much enjoyed the interaction with the faculty and peers. This was a high-quality learning experience."

Jolanta Siller-Matula, MD, PhD

"I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn with all of you over the past months. My confidence has grown substantially and I am using more imaging because of it."

Katy Shufelt, MD

"Sad that it’s over but finding it extremely helpful to use everything learned during the course in daily practice!"

Poonam Velagapudi, MD

ACCESS SESSION RECORDINGS

Our CLIMB sponsors

Click on the logos below to learn more about what opportunities for continued learning and engagement our industry sponsors have for you.

 

CLIMB/Coronary Sponsors

CLIMB/EP Sponsors

CLIMB/Structural Sponsors

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Binita Shah, MD, MS

Dr. Binita Shah was awarded her MD and a Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation from NYU School of Medicine. After her Interventional Cardiology fellowship, she completed two years of a post-doctoral research fellowship with funding from the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the NIH T32 Program.

Dr. Shah joined the Interventional Cardiology faculty at NYU and its affiliate, the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Hospital, in 2012. Dr. Shah is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of Research in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at NYU. She is also Associate Director Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Director of the Transcatheter Valve Program at the Manhattan VA Hospital. Dr. Shah conducts clinical translational research and utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome with a focus on optimization of the underlying inflammatory and glucometabolic milieu. She was a recipient of a grant from the American Heart Association Clinical Research Program and is principal investigator of the recently completed randomized COLCHICINE-PCI trial (funded through a VA Career Development Award) and the ongoing CLEAR SYNERGY Biospecimen Substudy and ColCorona-US Trial (funded through NIH/NHLBI R01).

Dr. Shah serves on multiple national committees including the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Emerging Leadership Mentorship program, American Heart Association Scientific Sessions Planning program, and American College of Cardiology NCDR STS/TVT Registry Research and Publications committees. Dr. Shah is also Associate Editor for Circulation Cardiovascular Intervention and serves on the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Board of Trustees.

Rasha Al-Lamee, MD, PhD

Dr Rasha Al-Lamee is an Interventional Cardiology Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute within Imperial College London. She is a clinical trialist with expertise in stable coronary artery disease, coronary intervention, invasive physiology and invasive intravascular imaging.

She leads a research group with a focus on clinical trials that impact the care of patients with cardiovascular disease. She believes in rigorous testing of clinical practice and the use of evidence-based medicine in all aspects of medical care. 

She designed, conducted and led ORBITA, the first randomised placebo-controlled trial of coronary angioplasty. ORBITA is one of the most widely cited clinical trials in cardiology of the decade. She is lead author of the primary publication in The Lancet and the two secondary analyses both published in Circulation. 

She is the NIHR CRN North West London Cardiovascular speciality lead and is actively involved in the development and recruitment for a number of multi-centre international clinical trials. 

Andrea Russo, MD

Dr. Russo is currently Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Director of Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services and Director of the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Program at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. She previously served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and was Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.  

Dr. Russo is the immediate Past President of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and is a current member of the HRS Board of Trustees. She has also been very active in volunteer activities with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

She has authored multiple manuscripts on a variety of arrhythmia and device topics and has been co-chair or member of various writing groups, including guideline, consensus and appropriate use documents. Areas of special interest include sex differences in arrhythmias, subcutaneous ICDs, atrial fibrillation therapy and the role of digital health on arrhythmia management.  

Ulrika Birgersdotter-Green, MD

Ulrika Birgersdotter-Green, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist who specializes in diagnosing and treating heart rhythm disorders. She directs the Pacemaker and ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) Service at UC San Diego Health and leads one of the largest lead extraction programs in the Western United States. 

Dr. Birgersdotter-Green’s research interests include the mechanisms of arrhythmias, cardiac resynchronization therapy and developing new methods and indications for cardiac device implantation as well as lead extractions. She is actively involved in large clinical trials evaluating biventricular pacing therapy for heart failure management, new cardiac device technology and publishes regularly in electrophysiology journals. She has served as a National PI on device trials and she has also co-authored several major consensus documents involving cardiac device guidelines. Dr Birgersdotter-Green serves on various boards including Associate Editor of The Heart RHythmO2 Journal, as well as, the Editorial Board of Circulation A&E 

Dr Birgersdotter-Green is an active member on the national level within The Heart Rhythm Society. She currently is serving as Chairman of the Growth and Leadership Opportunity for Women in Electrophysiology (GLOWE) and also, as Chairman of The Heart Rhythm Society Membership Committee.

Dr. Birgersdotter-Green completed fellowships in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She completed a fellowship in clinical pharmacology, as well as her internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. She earned her medical degree from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and is board certified in cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Birgersdotter-Green is a member of the American Heart Association, the American College of Physicians, The European Heart Rhythm Association and a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society.

Rebecca Hahn, MD

Dr. Hahn is Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation Echo Core Lab. She is the Director of Interventional Echocardiography at the Columbia Structural and Valve Center since 2011. She is an active member of the American Society of Echocardiography (numerous prior committees, past BOD, Scientific Sessions Planning Committee) as well as the American College of Cardiology (member of the Competency Management Committee, past Scientific Sessions Planning Committee/Valvular Heart Disease Topic Coordinator). She has published over 200 articles on Echocardiography and was on the writing committees for multiple American Society of Echocardiography Recommendations/Guidelines and a co-author of the updated Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC-3) and Paravalvular Leak Academic Research Consortium.   She participates and a co-investigator in over 10 trials at Columbia University.    

Neus Salvatella, MD

I was born and raised in Barcelona where I graduated from Medical School at Universitat de Barcelona. I opted for Cardiology and undertook my internship at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona. At the end of my internship, I spent my first year of fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona. I was awarded a grant from the Sociedad Española de Cardiología to pursue further training abroad. I spent 1.5 years at the Institut Cardiovasculaire Paris Sud, Massy, France, mentored by Marie Claude Morice. 

Back to Barcelona in 2009, I have been working in different university public hospitals in the Barcelona area (Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol- Badalona, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge- l’Hospitalet de Llobregat). For the last 10 years I have been holding a permanent position as senior staff in the Interventional Cardiology Unit at Hospital del Mar, Barcelona. I am also responsible for the curriculum and supervision of the young physicians undertaking the Cardiology internship in my institution.

For the last decade I have been deeply involved in clinical research. 

I am very grateful to my mentors and therefore I feel deeply involved in the transmission of knowledge to the younger generation of Interventional Cardiologists. I have participated in several programs of training for young Cardiologists.

I am a member of the editorial board of Eurointervention. I am a member of the board of EAPCI Women. I am also a member of the European Bifurcation Club. I also belong to Societat Catalana de Cardiologia, Sociedad Española de Cardiología, European Society of Cardiology. 

In 2019 I graduated as a yoga teacher, and I teach yoga in a yoga studio in Barcelona.