The 29th Salzburg Weill Cornell Seminar in Cardiology took place from July 3 to 9, 2022 at Schloss Arenberg in Salzburg, Austria.
The course has been led by Dr. Robert J. Kim since 2018. He is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and was a faculty member in previous years, having donated his time and knowledge to OMI fellows for the 13th time. Dr. Gerald Maurer, Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, served as co-course director, marking his nineth participation in an OMI seminar. Dr. Maurer has also hosted more than 100 cardiology observers at the Medical University of Vienna. This year, 30 fellows from 19 various countries, such as Georgia, Ethiopia, and Uzbekistan took part in the seminar. It offered not only state-of-the-art lectures by faculty, but also three hands-on training sessions in cooperation with Medtronic.
The faculty consisted of Austrian faculty members Dr. Thomas Binder, Professor of Medicine, Department of Digital Learning, and Dr. Irene Marthe Lang, Deputy Chair in the Department of Cardiology and Internal Medicine II, both from the Medical University of Vienna. US faculty included Dr. Jennifer K. Jantz, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dr. Luke Kim, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Dr. Nupoor Narula, Assistant Professor of Medicine, all from Weill Cornell Medicine.
During the three hands-on training sessions, fellows had the unique opportunity to practice different cardiologic procedures. The first station allowed fellows to practice a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), the second station focused on abdominal endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), while the third station revolved around cardiac rhythm management (CRM). These hands-on training sessions required an intense planning process, and we would like to express our gratitude to Medtronic and their international team for their help in preparing the trainings each year. Thank you to Yanis Dumpis from the Russian Federation, Darya Varabyova from Poland, Isaak Alvo from Czech Republic, Nabil Saleh from Lebanon, and Ausra Stancikiene from Lithuania for their constant support throughout the planning process and execution of the workshops.
Another three sessions during the week were reserved for fellows’ case presentations, providing fellows with the opportunity to share clinical cases from their own medical experiences. Six cases were chosen to be published in the OMI Case Library.
On Thursday evening, a chamber music concert took place at Schloss Arenberg, treating faculty and fellows to an unforgettable experience in a unique setting.
On Friday, the seminar concluded with the farewell reception and the graduation dinner, inviting fellows and faculty to enjoy the last evening of a successful seminar week together.
