This was my second time participating in AHA Scientific Sessions. Unlike previous years, I served as an AHA Early Career Blogger to livestream the conference on social media. Together with nearly 20 other bloggers, we created hundreds of tweets to keep the world engaged with AHA events and talks. For me, it was also a great opportunity to network and seek new collaborations. During the conference, I met over 50 clinicians and scientists who shared similar research interests and scientific passions with me. We have already set up plans to further discuss our thoughts to put our ideas into practice.
Supported by my AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship, I presented my abstract on novel stroke imaging to identify high-risk patients before a stroke happens. It is amazing to see the increasing number of early career investigators tackling the challenge of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. A larger number of them have been also funded by AHA grants and fellowships. A lot of shared the positive influence of receiving research support from AHA and how the award propelled their career development. We encouraged all trainees to apply for the numerous grants and fellowships that AHA offers.
Another highlight of this year’s conference was the international components where speakers from Europe and Asia demonstrated their amazing work virtually. For example, a joint event was held in collaboration with the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) on the first day of the conference. Colleagues from Japan demonstrated their wonderful research and clinical practice to improve patient care for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Like all the other sessions, there was so little time for all the conversations. Everybody is looking forward to an in-person event in 2022.
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