WASHINGTON – The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) is pleased to announce the selection of 12 new early-career interventional cardiologists to participate in the 2022-2024 Emerging Leader Mentorship (ELM) Program. The ELM Fellows will receive two years of intensive training and individualized mentoring to improve their skills and facilitate their transition into the next generation of great thinkers, ambassadors, and national leaders in medicine. The program is offered in partnership with the American College of Cardiology and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.  

The 12 inducted members were selected by the ELM Selection Committee based on their leadership potential and motivation to excel both regionally and nationally in the areas of clinical care, scholarship, education and/or advocacy. They were chosen from a diverse group of adult and pediatric interventional cardiologists from across the United States and the wider international cardiology community. “We are very excited for this new class of rising interventional cardiologists to experience the lifelong benefits of the ELM program and what it will mean to their careers and to SCAI,” said Srihari S. Naidu, MD, FSCAI, SCAI trustee, and ELM founder. “I’d like to thank Dr. Dmitriy Feldman and Dr. Matthew Daniels for their service to the 2019-22 class and welcome Dr. Molly Szerlip and Dr. Andrew Klein as the chairs for the incoming cohort,” he continued. 

Through ELM training, early career physicians receive mentorship in every aspect of their profession and opportunities to expand their leadership skills, enhance presentation skills, foster relationships, keep up to date on emerging trends and develop their professional niche. Mentors are selected to match participants' interests and aspirations and will assist them with the overriding goal of ongoing, perpetual contributions to the field even long after the program is completed. 

The 2022-2024 ELM class includes: 

Andrew Goldsweig, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center 

Abdulla Damluji, MD – Inova Fairfax Hospital/IHVI 

Nathaniel Smilowitz, MD – NYU Langone Medical Center 

Bimmer Claessen, MD – Mayo Clinic 

Mir Basir, MD – Henry Ford Health System  

Amit Vora, MD – UPMC Pinnacle  

Yader Sandoval, MD – Mayo Clinic  

S. Elissa Altin, MD – Yale University  

Jay Widmer, MD – Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple 

Luiz Ybarra, MD – Western University  

Holly Bauser-Heaton, MD – Children's Healthcare of Atlanta 

Georges Ephrem, MD – Indiana University School of Medicine 

The new 2022-2024 ELM program will commence on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at the SCAI 2022 Scientific Sessions in Atlanta.