The 2019 Emerging Leaders Seminar took place in Missenden Abbey, UK and brought together a team of Emerging Leaders from 16 countries across five continents.
Between 13 and 18 October 2019, 25 participants from 16 countries attended the sixth World Heart Federation (WHF) Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Seminar at Missenden Abbey, UK. So far, the programme has trained 150 participants from over 47 countries, over half of whom are from low-middle income countries, and over half women. Each year, the seminar takes place in a different location and focuses on a topic related to implementation science in cardiovascular disease prevention. This year, Dr Amitava Banerjee from the Institute of Health Informatics chaired the programme and the focus was on “Heart failure and digital health”.
During the week, the Emerging Leaders received a tailored training programme and had to produce a seed-funded group project. The seminar was very successful and attended by two WHF Past Presidents, Professor Salim Yusuf (McMaster University), and Professor David Wood (National University of Ireland, Galway), the current WHF President, Professor Karen Sliwa (University of Cape Town), and the WHF President-Elect, Professor Fausto Pinto (University of Lisbon).
The seminar culminated in an international symposium on “Health policy and heart failure research” at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) headquarters in London. Distinguished and keynote speakers at the symposium included: Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director of BHF, Professor David Wood, Professor Karen Sliwa, Professor Harry Hemingway, Director of the UCL IHI, Professor Fausto Pinto and Dr Amitava Banerjee. A rich debate regarding the role of electronic health records and digital health in advancing heart failure care, particularly in low-income settings ensued.
Organized in three groups, the teams worked consistently throughout the week, taking on board key concepts presented by the faculty and using time outside of the programme to informally discuss research questions.
The research proposals:
- A community-based multicomponent heart failure program in low- and middle-income countries: A feasibility study (COMM-HF initiative)
- Screening for PREGnancy-related Heart Failure: a multicentre study in Sub-Saharan Africa (PREG-HF Study)
- UNderstanding roadbLOCKs to improve Heart Failure care (UNLOCK-HF)
The plans for the 2020 Emerging Leaders Programme focusing on prevention of cardiovascular disease among people living with diabetes are under way and the applications for the next cohort will soon be open on our website.
2019 Emerging Leaders cohort and faculty
