2020 Virtual Highlights
11th Annual Phoenix Children's Fetal Cardiology Symposium Highlights
11th Annual Phoenix Children's Fetal Cardiology Symposium Highlights
For the first time ever, the 11th Annual Phoenix Fetal Cardiology Symposium was held 100% virtually on November 5-8, 2020. Amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Symposium provided a refreshing opportunity for those in the fetal cardiology field to focus on education with other likeminded physicians, sonographers, nurses and trainees. Nearly 400 people from 23 countries gathered together in this virtual forum. For these four days, there was a sense of near normalcy listening to high caliber presentations and interacting with some familiar faces.
Diane Spicer PA (ASCP) CM and Rashmi Rao MD moderated an engaging day of reviewing pathologic cardiac specimens and the fetal echocardiographic correlation for a wide array of congenital heart defects. Jessica Felts RN, MSN-Ed, CPN hosted our full-day nursing session with presentations on maternal mental health, nursing focused breakout sessions, and the annual face-to-face Fetal Heart Society nursing section meeting. Luis Goncalves chaired the inaugural Advanced Fetal Imaging conference which was a huge success with presentations on imaging fetal neurologic, thoracic, abdominal and genitourinary lesions with ultrasound and MRI.
After this highly successful pre-conference day, the Symposium faculty delivered superb presentations throughout the General Session. The first day ended with Mary Donofrio MD sharing about the challenges of delivery prenatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic followed by an engaging faculty panel discussion making it relevant to our everyday practice. Jack Rychik MD delivered the 5th Honorary Abraham M Rudolph Lectureship keynote address on “The Lifespan of the Single Ventricle Patient” providing valuable insight caring for our single ventricle patients from fetus to adulthood. The Norman H. Silverman “Case That Gave Me Chest Pain” competition concluded on the last day. All of the case presentations were outstanding this year, and Elena Rueda-de-Leon MD received the 2020 Nitroglycerin Award for her presentation on a rare cause of fetal ventricular hypertrophy.
Attendees also were treated with the opportunity to speak with our faculty in small breakout sessions. Everyone also had fun during an interactive online game focused on fetal cardiology hosted by Anita Moon-Grady MD and Chris Lindblade MD. We heard from several attendees that they enjoyed this format because everyone had the best seat in the house to view the slides!
We are already planning for the 12th Annual Phoenix Fetal Cardiology Symposium that will take place VIRTUALLY November 4-7, 2021. There will be some exciting new additions to the Symposium in 2021. Mark your calendars now as you won’t want to miss it. Stay safe and stay healthy.
Warmly,
Chris, Anita, Julia, and Norman
If you would like more information or have any questions, please contact us at
fetalcardio@phoenixchildrens.com
or
602-933-0099.
