Four leaders from cardiology hospitals that were ranked among the best by U.S. News & World Report shared with Becker's what they believe is the industry's biggest opportunity for growth.
Question: What is the cardiology industry's biggest opportunity for growth?
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD. President of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and Physician-in-Chief of the Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City): In terms of pharmacology, the emerging technology of genetics and gene editing is going to be very fascinating. There are two types of industries that will move very fast. One is subcutaneous injection of medications that block the synthesis of genes having to do with disease. The other is the polypill. Why? Because a single pill improves adherence and is much cheaper. There are also many other aspects that may develop in terms of genetic manipulation.
Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD. Executive Director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles) and the Mark S. Siegel Family Foundation Distinguished Professor: Biologics and RNA drugs will fundamentally change our approach to disease by targeting root causes.
Lars Svensson, MD, PhD. Chief of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic: There are opportunities when it comes to undertreated diseases such as heart failure, valve disease, atrial fibrillation and enlarged aortic aneurysms. [Those diseases] will be detected by AI and natural language processing, and then [patients can be] referred to appropriate cardiovascular disease specialists.
Jonathan Weinsaft, MD. Chief of Cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medicine (New York City): Major opportunities for growth stem from translating therapeutic advances to at risk communities. This is a key need, given that cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure, valvular heart disease and atherosclerosis are increasingly modifiable but continue to be under-recognized. We need to continue to get better at identifying people with cardiovascular conditions, as well as to develop treatment strategies that are sustainable.
Read about the challenges these leaders are facing here, the changes they want to see here, the best leadership advice they have ever received here and where they think the industry has made the most progress in the last five years here.