Contact: Nicole Napoli, nnapoli@acc.org, 202-375-6523

WASHINGTON (Jan 18, 2016) -

The American College of Cardiology has launched a cardiovascular disease education and awareness program in China to prepare physicians and hospital systems for a nationwide health care shift that supports heart disease prevention and optimal patient care.

“Heart disease education and awareness can help our fellow cardiologists and cardiac care team members in China better understand the latest heart disease diagnosis, management and treatment tools available to them,” said ACC President Kim Allan Williams, M.D., FACC. “Through this program we’ll be able to work together to better implement international treatment guidelines for at-risk patients and improve patient outcomes throughout China.”

The American College of Cardiology is partnering with the Chinese Society of Cardiology as it implements this groundbreaking initiative.

“We are excited for the opportunity to collaborate with the American College of Cardiology on this important cardiovascular disease prevention program,” said Huo Yong, M.D., FACC, former President of the Chinese Society of Cardiology. “I am confident that this program will contribute to our national call to action to address the increase in cardiovascular disease in China, work with multiple stakeholders to spread awareness of prevention strategies, and continue our efforts to ‘bend the curve’ in cardiovascular disease rates.”

China has made significant strides in recent years diagnosing and treating patients with cardiovascular disease, though challenges remain in providing preventative care to patients at high risk of developing chronic cardiovascular conditions. Government agencies responsible for health care implementation in China have established over 5,000 community health centers to remove some of the burden from hospitals and fill patients’ needs for more preventative care.

Several of the large hospitals in the country are now affiliating with these community health centers in the hopes of encouraging their patients to take advantage of their services, especially for heart disease prevention. But with this shift in health care thinking comes an urgent need to educate Chinese physicians and hospital systems in the latest heart disease prevention methods.

The ACC is addressing this need by establishing a comprehensive cardiovascular curriculum to provide education and awareness to physicians throughout the country. The program will include:

• A webinar series broadcast from prominent hospitals in China to be shown to a network of cardiologists and other cardiac caregivers in nearly 200 hospitals throughout the country.
• Topic-based interactive online education of cardiologists and cardiac care team members delivered through WeChat, one of the most widely used social media platforms in China.
• Educational and risk assessment tools delivered to physicians through WeChat.

The program is supported by Pfizer.

“Pfizer has a strong commitment to helping to decrease the burden of cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of death globally,” said Salomon Azoulay, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Global Established Pharma, Pfizer Inc. “We are proud to partner with the American College of Cardiology and the Chinese Society of Cardiology to ensure that high-quality medical education is available to clinicians to support cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment, address patient health needs and ultimately improve patient outcomes.”

The American College of Cardiology is a 49,000-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. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more information, visit acc.org.

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