Houston Methodist Heart Experts Lead Key Sessions at AHA 2025

On Nov. 7-10, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center physicians will join experts from around the globe to present the latest cutting-edge research in heart, kidney and metabolic health at the American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Sessions 2025, the largest cardiovascular conference in the country.

For the first time in its 101-year history, AHA 2025 is expanding to a full four-day conference schedule as it welcomes an expected 14,000 attendees to New Orleans for more than 300 lectures and 5,000 presentations across 21 specialties.

Houston Methodist faculty members will share their expertise on a variety of topics ranging from environmental causes of heart disease to the prevention and management of heart failure to the long-term management of valvular disease.

Dr. John Cooke, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at Houston Methodist, will discuss novel strategies to turn the heart into a regenerative organ as a presenter at the cardiovascular seminar, “Making the Heart Regenerative Again.”

“Lack of endogenous repair and regeneration leads to heart failure,” said Dr. Cooke. “This session will discuss novel strategies to turn the heart into a regenerative organ and lessons learned from research and development.”

Five years after the landmark Evolut low risk clinical trial brought TAVR into the mainstream, pioneering heart surgeon and national principal investigator Dr. Michael Reardon will present the latest findings on long-term durability and performance of the transcatheter device.

“For younger, healthier patients at lower surgical risk, long-term durability of valve replacement devices is key, so these five-year results remain highly relevant to the physicians and patients making decisions today about the lifetime management of valve disease,” Dr. Reardon explained.

Dr. William Zoghbi, chair of the Department of Cardiology at Houston Methodist, will present a comprehensive exploration of functional and mitral regurgitation (MR) with a special focus on atrial functional MR (AFMR) and secondary MR.

Dr. Zoghbi and other experts will present case studies to illustrate real-world challenges and clinical decision-making in the session “NEWCOMER: Atrial Functional MR: From Diagnosis to Management.”

“Our discussion will highlight the heterogeneity of functional MR, exploring phenotype clusters and their impact on treatment strategies,” Dr. Zoghbi said.

Dr. Martha Gulati, the recently tapped leader of the new Davis Women’s Heart Center at Houston Methodist, will lead two presentations: Battle of the Sexes?: Differences in Exercise and Cardiac Risk and Reframing Heart Failure Care: Amplifying Patient Voices in the Evolving Treatment Landscape. Additionally, she will moderate sessions on Optimizing CKM Health in Primary Care and Prevention Potpourri: Trends, Risks and Therapies in CVD Prevention.

Additional presentations will feature Houston Methodist faculty members Dr. Arvind Bhimaraj discussing predictors of early death in heart failure patients, Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, nationally recognized expert on environmental causes of heart disease, Dr. Kershaw Patel, preventive heart disease clinician and researcher, and Dr. Eamonn Quigley, chief of Gastroenterology at Houston Methodist, discussing heart complications stemming from digestive disease.

Click here to access the full AHA 2025 conference schedule.