2021 CSRS
Guest Speakers
About the faculty speaking during the May 21st, 2021 Conference
Dr. Frank W. Sellke, MD
May 21st, Evening: 4pm - 5pm ET
Karl E. Karlson, MD and Gloria A. Karlson Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Professor of Surgery at Brown Alpert Medical School and the Lifespan Hospitals
Dr. Frank W. Sellke is the Karl Karlson and Gloria Karlson Professor and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Brown Medical School and the Lifespan Hospitals. Dr Sellke is a native of Indiana and graduated from Wabash College and Indiana University School of Medicine. He is a noted clinical cardiothoracic surgeon, researcher, and author. Dr Sellke was the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Johnson and Johnson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School prior to moving to Brown.
His research interests include the regulation of the microcirculation in health and disease, ischemic injury and inflammation during cardiac surgery, collateral vascular formation and the use of growth factors and cell therapy to increase blood flow to ischemic tissue. His clinical research interests include optimizing outcomes after cardiac surgery, the reduction of bleeding and transfusion, and neurocognitive dysfunction and atrial fibrillation after surgery. Dr Sellke has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for 28 years. He serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Circulation Heart Failure and the Circulation Journal. He is on the editorial board of Circulation, Surgery, the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, and the Journal of Cardiac Surgery. He is the Editor of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th editions of Sabiston and Spencers' Surgery of the Chest, the 1st and 2nd editions of the Atlas of Cardiac Surgical Techniques, and he is completing work on a textbook on Acute Aortic Dissection and Acute Aortic Syndromes with international contributors. Dr. Sellke is the author of more than 534 peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as numerous book chapters and abstracts.
Dr. Sellke is the Past Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia of the American Heart Association and the Past Chairman of the Advisory Council on Cardiothoracic Surgery of the American College of Surgeons. Sellke has served on the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons and is was Chairman of its Humanitarian and Volunteerism Awards Committee, past-Chairman of the American Heart Association Committee on Scientific Sessions Program. He is the current Chairman of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee of the National Institutes of Health Cardiac Surgery Network and served on the Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Science study section of the NIH. He is the Past-President of the Massachusetts Society of Thoracic Surgeons, past President of the Northeast Cardiothoracic Surgical Society and is a member of numerous other organizations including the William Halsted Surgical Society, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association. Dr. Sellke is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Chest Physicians, American Heart Assocation, and the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Alexandra Lansky,
MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI, FESC
May 21st, Afternoon: 1:30pm - 2:30pm ET
Professor of Medicine (Cardiology); Director, Cardiology; Director of Yale UCLP Clinical Research Program Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, The Barts Heart Center and Queen Mary University of London, Cardiology
Dr. Alexandra J. Lansky, MD, is Professor of Medicine in the section of Cardiology at the Yale School of Medicine and a practicing cardiologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital, in New Haven, CT. Dr. Lansky joined Yale in 2010 as Director of the Yale Heart and Vascular Clinical Research Program and the Cardiovascular Research Center (YCRC), which specializes in the conduct of national and international cardiovascular clinical trials with specific expertise in the evaluation of interventional devices. She most recently received a dual appointment as Chair of Cardiovascular Research at Queen Mary University in London as part of the Yale and London based Barts Heart Center transatlantic research collaboration. From 2004 to 2010 Dr. Lansky was Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Director of Clinical Services at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy, a practicing cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation Clinical Trials Center.Prior to that she was an interventional cardiologist on faculty at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, and at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY.
She has dedicated her career to leading clinical and angiographic evaluations of more than 500 clinical trials in a broad range of ischemic cardiovascular therapeutic areas, including pharmacologic and interventional device trials, many of which are landmark trials in the field and/or leading to FDA approval in the United States. She has served as the principal investigator on numerous national and international imaging studies, device, DES and neuroprotection trials. Dr. Lansky has authored and coauthored over 500 academic peer-reviewed manuscripts in the fields of interventional cardiology, angiography, and women’s cardiovascular health. She chaired the American Heart Association Statement on Interventions in Women and most recently the Academic Research Consortium defining Neurologic Endpoints in clinical cardiovascular trials.
Dr. Lansky has been recognized for her outstanding clinical research contributions with several prestigious awards including: Masters of Arts Privatim from Yale University in 2017; Thompson Reuter’s 2014 and 2016 “Most influential Scientific Minds for Clinical Medicine”; 2012 Wenger Award of Clinical Excellence in Women’s health, Visiting Professor at Fu Wai Hospital, Bejing, China and Honorary Professor, University College London.
Dr. Lansky is board certified in cardiovascular diseases. A graduate of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, VA, she received her residency training in internal medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology at Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC. Dr. Lansky is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology,the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions.
Dr. Athena Poppas, MD, FACC, FASE
May 21st, 10am - 11am ET
Chief of the Cardiology Division; Director of Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute for Rhode Island, Miriam, and Newport Hospitals; Professor of Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine; Past President of the American College of Cardiology
Dr. Athena Poppas specializes in echocardiography and in treating patients with valvular heart disease and heart disease during pregnancy. She has presented and published internationally on topics such as valvular heart disease, cardiovascular properties in pregnancy and the role of new technologies in echocardiography, among others.
She was named a Top Doctor by Rhode Island Monthly magazine and has received numerous teaching awards at Brown and Rhode Island Hospital.
With the American College of Cardiology (ACC), Dr. Poppas was the Chair of the ACC Scientific Session ’15 and ’16 and Chair of the ACC Sections Steering Committee 2013-2016. She was Chair of the Governance Committee and part of the Health Systems Strategy Task Force.
Previously, she served as governor and chapter president for Rhode Island 2004-2007, chair of the Women in Cardiology Section and member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology 2010-2015.
Dr. Poppas is a fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, where she served on committees, including ethics, nominating and scientific programs. She has also worked with American Heart Association and European Society of Cardiology among others.
She received a Bachelor of Science from Brown University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. Dr. Poppas completed her residencies in internal medicine at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at University of Chicago Hospital.
Sign Up for the Conference
2021 Abstract Submission Deadline is 11:59pm EST, Wednesday, April 21st