Olivia Esposito • April 4, 2024
The Christ Hospital Health Network HCM Program – Cincinnati, OH

The HCMA is going on the road! We are holding our 1st in-person Bighearted Warriors Unite- Featuring The Christ Hospital & Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Where: The Summit Hotel – 5345 Medpace Way, Cincinnati, OH 45227

When:  Saturday, May 4, 2024 

Time:     9 am – 4 pm 

Cost:      Admission for 1 – $25.00

              Admission for 2 – $35.00

              Admission for 3 – $45.00

              Admission for 4 – $50.00

              (Breakfast & Lunch provided)

**NOTE: FREE OR DISCOUNTED SCHOLARSHIP ADMISSIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY FINANCIALLY.  CALL THE HCMA OFFICE FOR DETAILS (973)983-7429 OR EMAIL  SUPPORT@4HCM.ORG **

All proceeds go toward the HCMA Lori Fund!

The HCMA Lori Fund provides micro travel grants to HCM patients traveling to an HCMA Recognized Center of Excellence for care or HCM patients traveling to a facility for heart transplant care.  Awards up to $600.00 are available per calendar year. 

Our scholarship financial thresholds are based on household size and are generally three times the annual Federal Poverty Guidelines listed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

TENTATIVE AGENDA

9:00 am – Register (light breakfast provided)

9:45 am – Welcome address and opening comments from the HCMA

10:00 am- HCM Disease State Overview and Medical Therapeutics

10:30 am- Imaging in HCM

10:50 am – Future of HCM (Clinical Trials)

11:10 am – SCD Stratification/ HCM Arrhythmias

11:35 am – Q&A Panel

12:00 pm – Lunch Break (lunch provided)

1:05 pm – Generations of HCM – A Patient Perspective

1:25 pm – Surgical/ Intervention Therapies for HCM (historical and current)

1:45 pm – Genetic Testing and Future Therapeutics

2:15 pm – Pediatric HCM and Patient Journey to Adulthood (Cincinnati Children’s)

2:45 pm – Q&A Panel

3:00 pm – Closing remarks

The Christ Hospital HCM Clinic is a multidisciplinary cardiovascular program. The HCM Clinic provides patient-specific care and collaborates with subspecialties within the institution to address the complexity often associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  The Christ Hospital provides a team of subspecialized cardiologists, electrophysiologists, CT, and Vascular Surgeons with various advanced diagnostic services and treatments.  In addition, the HCM Clinic offers dedicated support staff, including a devoted physician’s assistant, registered nurse, HCM program coordinator, medical assistant, and HCM scheduler.  The mission of The Christ Hospital’s HCM program is that they are committed to providing the highest quality of care to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients in our community by forming personalized strategies to empower each patient along their clinical pathway. Their vision is to “Create a seamless and accessible pathway for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients.  The Christ Hospital HCM program is excited to be able to offer a nationally respected team of physicians and have at our patient’s disposal today’s most advanced therapies for the treatment and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”

HCM Program Director Dr. Wojciech Mazur and HCM Program Co-Director Dr. Ankit Bhatia say, “Our HCM clinical team recognizes the uniqueness of each individual patient diagnosed with HCM. We truly pride ourselves in the time we spend getting to know more about their challenges and victories. Our working relationship with the HCMA has made us more aware of the needs of HCM patients, and we have modeled our program to address current gaps in HCM management. The Christ Hospital Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic is the second center of excellence in the state of Ohio, which will now open up more opportunities for our community. We are excited to offer our patients the most up-to-date medical management as well as enrollment into ground-breaking research trials.” 

Team Members:

Wojciech Mazur, MD HCM Clinic Director

Ankit Bhatia, MD HCM Clinic Co-Director

J Michael Smith, MD Surgery

Dean Kereiakes, MD Interventional Cardiology

Puvi Seshiah, MD Interventional Cardiology

Edward Schloss, MD Electrophysiology

Daniel Pelchovitz, MD Electrophysiology

Gregory Egnaczyk, MD Advanced Heart Failure

Burns Blaxall, PHd Genetics

Courtney Hannum, LGC Genetics

Abigail Patterson, PA Physician Assistant

Cassady Palmer, Cardiac Research Sonographer

Please visit for more information about The Christ Hospital Health Network HCM Program –  Cincinnati, OH please visit:  https://4hcm.org/christhosp/

To learn more and register about the in-Person Bighearted Warriors Unite event, visit:  https://4hcm.org/inspire_events/in-person-bighearted-warriors-unite-featuring-the-christ-hospital-cincinnati-oh/
For more information on all HCMA Recognized Centers of Excellence, please visit  https://4hcm.org/center-of-excellence/.

HCMA Blog

Lisa's Letter - July Newsletter

By Lisa Salberg • July 3, 2025
Summer, greetings to all our big-hearted friends As July approaches, our focus is already on the fall and preparing for some major events, including our annual meeting coming up in October. July will also find us on the west coast in Seattle conducting a regional patient education meeting as part of our big-hearted warrior tour. We have been following the generic drug quality issue in the United States very closely and encourage you to watch the series starting with our Hill briefing in April and following with the additional webinars with our partners at Medshadow and the People's Pharmacy, and of course the ProPublica series of articles. See them all here . We are happy to have a new team member on board - we welcome Pam as our coordinator of both our All Hearts Collaborative and Hearts and Minds project. Over the next few months, you're going to be learning more about these two amazing initiatives and how we are working to provide better services for big hearts regardless of where you live, so we are meeting all of our big-hearted friends where they are. Please stay tuned for updates from these projects coming soon. We are also creating new volunteer opportunities and engagements that we hope will make it easier for you to participate in spreading the message of the importance of diagnosis, the importance of community readiness related to CPR and AED use and, of course, helping patients get to their ultimate diagnosis and getting them on the proper treatment pathways. This July I would like to recognize all of the special birthdays in my family, including HCMA Center of Excellence coordinator, Stacey Titus-brown and my daughter Rebecca Salberg. It's a milestone birthday for Becca - it’s hard to believe I have a 30-year-old child. Wishing you all a happy and healthy summer. Go build some memories!
An official seal in black & red with white letters that say HCMS Recognized Centers of Excellence

July's Topic is COE Care at the HCMA

By Sabrina Cuddy • July 3, 2025
Getting HCM care at a HCMA Recognized Center of Excellence has a positive impact on patient's outcomes. Find out why in the post by Health Educator Sabrina Cuddy

Pro Publica Releases Results of FDA Investigation

By Erica Friedman • June 26, 2025
Investigative journalists Debbie Cenziper, Megan Rose, Brandon Roberts and Irena Hwang from Pro Publica and NPR have concluded a 14-month long investigation into the quality of generic drugs coming into the United States from overseas. Among the many voices that spoke up for American patients was HCMA Founder and CEO, Lisa Salberg who has felt the effects of low-quality drugs personally. Salberg believes that fixing this problem is something we can do, even in this time, when even health care is highly politicized. Read the key takeaways from ProPublica’s 14-month investigation into the FDA’s oversight of foreign drugmakers in Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA’s Gamble on America’s Drugs .
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