Connect

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) announced the winners of its Young Investigator Awards competition, which encourages and recognizes young scientific investigators of promise, upon whom progress in the field of cardiology is dependent. The awards were presented at the Convocation Ceremony on April 4 during the ACC’s 65th Annual Scientific Session in Chicago.

Congratulations to our own Dr. Travis Moss for receiving honorable mention in the category “Young Investigator Award in Cardiovascular Health Outcomes and Population Genetics” for his work on incident atrial fibrillation (AF) in the intensive care unit (ICU). In a big-data analysis of 74 patient-years of continuous electrocardiography (ECG) from over 8,000 admissions to the adult medical and surgical ICUs, he and his colleagues found that nearly half of all detected AF was new-onset and that 4 of 5 cases remained unrecognized or subclinical. Compared to admissions without any AF, those with new subclinical AF had median ICU lengths of stay that were nearly twice as long, and those with new clinical AF had nearly double the risk of hospital mortality. Surprisingly, there was no association of new AF with survival after hospital discharge.

“There is debate about whether silent or subclinical atrial fibrillation is simply a marker of illness severity or whether it independently contributes to morbidity and mortality,” commented Dr. Moss. He further added, “We think this study suggests that new atrial fibrillation in the critically ill exists as a spectrum such that once the burden is sufficient to attain clinical recognition, the arrhythmia has even stronger association with poor hospital outcomes. It also reinforces the notion that new atrial fibrillation detected in the ICU should be evaluated differently from when it is discovered outside the ICU as we found no evidence for poorer survival after hospital discharge.”

Dr. Moss’s faculty mentor is Dr. Randall Moorman (Cardiology). Other UVA collaborators include: James Forrest Calland (Surgery), Kyle B. Enfield (Pulmonary and Critical Care), Diana C. Gomez-Manjarres (Pulmonary and Critical Care), Caroline Ruminski (School of Medicine), John B. DiMarco (Cardiology), and Douglas E. Lake (Cardiology).  

To be considered for a Young Investigator Award, candidates submitted an abstract summarizing any problem relating to cardiovascular disease, whether in etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis or therapy. Five finalists were selected in each of four award categories and invited to attend the Scientific Session to present their work during the Young Investigator Awards Competition.

The ACC’s Annual Scientific Session brings together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention. The American College of Cardiology is a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health.

For more information on these awards, visit www.acc.org/researchawards.