Matthew Konerman

Wonderful @umichCVC Grand Rounds by @JRGolbus on mobile health technologies: lessons learned from clinical trials. Incredible how this data can be harnessed for lifestyle feedback, enrollment, & better generalizability! @umichmedicine @UMichCardiology @bnallamo @MartyTamMD

@CircHF Realistically, it may be difficult for PET to be available in all hospital centers. Therefore, using it to better understand disease pathophysiology and focusing on associations with clinical predictors, biomarkers, etc. seems prudent #CircHFJC

@CircHF Outside of transplant medicine, cardiac PET has tremendous potential in improving our understanding of HFpEF, sarcoidosis, and even RV function which I know is something @venkmurthy is investigating as well. #CircHFJC

@CircHF As mentioned earlier, we need to keep in mind the cost of PET and further evaluate the predictors of abnormal PET findings as well. #CircHFJC

@CircHF I believe the next studies in post-transplant PET will focus on using PET prospectively to supplement or intermittently replace angiography. Ideally, prospective studies need to determine if treatment changes based on PET results lead to better outcomes. #CircHFJC

@CircHF Much is to be learned about the timing of imaging post-transplant, what value should be considered abnormal, and what treatments can slow the progression of CAV in those with abnormal PET studies? #CircHFJC

@CircHF While prognostic information is important post-transplant, we need to identify how this imaging technique can improve prognosis by facilitating the identification and treatment of CAV. This is a complicated issue. #CircHFJC

@CircHF in regards to the direction of cardiac PET...In regards to heart transplant medicine, based on this study and other recent studies, cardiac PET appears to have an ability to predict cardiovascular events. #CircHFJC

@CircHF @MartyTamMD Agree! #CircHFJC

@CircHF I hope to be able to perform all of my own statistical analyses in the near future. I would strongly encourage residents, fellows, and junior faculty to explore ways to obtain such training. #CircHFJC

@CircHF As a result of my prior experiences with research, I am receiving formal training in clinical research and biostatistics through master’s program at the University of Michigan. This has been incredibly helpful so far.#CircHFJC

@CircHF The most significant barrier to my progress with this study was relying on others for assistance with statistical analysis. Fortunately, Dr. Murthy assisted me greatly with this. #CircHFJC

@CircHF In regards to barriers with research....Like many of my fellow colleagues, it can be difficult to obtain training in clinical research and statistics during a busy residency and fellowship. #CircHFJC

@CircHF Think about having a mentorship team and don’t be afraid to include several specialists from different groups in the division. It may even be worthwhile to have a non-cardiologist to give career advice from an outsider’s perspective. #CircHFJC

@CircHF Especially in HF, there are opportunities to collaborate with imaging specialists, cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, etc. I have found it incredibly worthwhile to have a mentor such as Venk Murthy in nuclear imaging. #CircHFJC.

@CircHF one more point on mentorship that can help avoid barriers to succeeding with a project.....I think it is important to have mentors from different disciplines. If you are going to be a HF specialist, it does not mean all of your mentors have to be HF specialists #CircHFJC

@CircHF This is a case of finding a terrific mentor @venkmurthy with similar interests and having project ideas come from productive conversations. In other words, I have tried to focus on identifying who I want to work with just as much as what I want to work on. #CircHFJC

@CircHF I have clearly benefited from working with extremely talented, intelligent people. I think sometimes as a young investigator I have tried to fit the project to a particular mentor...#CircHFJC

@CircHF it was actually an easy transition to evaluating transplant pts with PET. When one acknowledges CAV is both a macrovascular and microvascular disease process, the ability of cardiac PET to measure global myocardial flow seemed to be an ideal assessment of CAV. #CircHFJC

@CircHF how did I get involved? My other primary research interest is in HFpEF. As I mentioned, I collaborated on a PET project in that area with @venkmurthy #CircHFJC Given our common interest in microvascular assessment....