San Diego, California — As the healthcare environment changes, interventional cardiologists and cath lab professionals have many reasons to be optimistic about the future of the specialty and their ability to help patients live longer and feel better, according to James C. Blankenship, MD, MHCM, FSCAI, MACC. Dr. Blankenship was inducted today as the 39th president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) during its 2015 Scientific Sessions.

“As an interventional cardiologist for 28 years and a member of SCAI for two decades, I have witnessed extraordinary changes in U.S. health care, in our specialty and in our Society.” said Dr. Blankenship. “In recent years, cardiac care has been transformed by developments in structural heart disease innovations such as transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacement, rapidly evolving stent technology, and a growing focus on the Heart Team approach and shared decision making with patients and families. Now more than ever we have huge opportunities to impact our patients’ lives and their quality of life.”

In his inaugural address, Dr. Blankenship discussed key areas that he will focus on as SCAI president, particularly the creation and implementation of SCAI’s new strategic plan.

“This is an exciting time for SCAI,” said Dr. Blankenship. “With our new executive director, Dr. Lisa Olson, SCAI is developing a new strategic plan that will guide us for the next three to five years. Based on SCAI’s recent accomplishments, I have every confidence we are ready to take on and achieve new challenges.”

Dr. Blankenship is immediate past chair of SCAI’s Advocacy and Government Relations Committee. In this role, he led the Society’s successful efforts to earn a seat in the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates and to achieve specialty status for Interventional Cardiology with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). For the past 12 years, Dr. Blankenship has represented the field of cardiovascular medicine on the American Medical Association Relative Value Update Committee (RUC). He also is an active member of the Society’s Public Relations Committee and is a founding editor of  SecondsCount.org, SCAI’s public education website.

Dr.Blankenship has coauthored more than 200 scientific abstracts and publications, including several multi--‐society documents that continue to guide interventional cardiovascular practice. These include the SCAI/ACC/AHA 2014 Update on Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Without Onsite Surgical Backup; the 2012 ACCF/AHA/ACP/AATS/PCNA/SCAI/STS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Stable Ischemic Heart Disease; and SCAI’s expert consensus statements on ad hoc PCI, on optimal use of left ventriculography, on PCI — related improvement in quality of life, and on staging of multivessel PCI.

Dr. Blankenship is a practicing interventional cardiologist at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., and director of the Geisinger Cardiology Department and catheterization laboratories. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Temple University Medical College in Philadelphia.

Dr. Blankenship earned his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in New York. He completed his internship, residency and cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan. In 2014, he received his master’s degree in healthcare management from the Harvard School of Public Health. He cites raising his three children with his wife of  30 years as his greatest accomplishment, and takes yearly trips to provide medical care in the Dominican Republic with the Christian organization Solid Rock Missions.