UCSF Update on Heart Failure Therapies 2025

Heart failure affects approximately seven million Americans and is the most common diagnosis for acute hospitalization in patients over sixty-five years of age, with numbers increasing dramatically over the coming decades. UCSF Update on Heart Failure Therapies will feature up-to-date presentations on the evaluation and treatment of heart failure from initial diagnosis to advanced therapies. This conference will cover the success of guideline directed care, remote monitoring in the treatment and management of chronic heart failure, new approaches and innovations in the areas of cardiogenic shock, acute and long term mechanical circulatory support devices, heart transplantation, novel valvular heart disease therapeutics, genetic cardiomyopathies, cardiac amyloidosis and management of right heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. A comprehensive, advanced heart failure program can integrate treatment advances into a comprehensive patient-centered heart failure management program.
Target Audience
This course is designed for practicing internists, cardiologists, family practitioners, advanced practice providers, nurses, pharmacists, and all other healthcare professionals taking care of heart failure patients.
Objectives

Describe the latest guideline updates in the treatment and management of heart failure (HF), including optimization of drug therapy, remote monitoring, and novel clinical interventions and clinical trials;
Describe current approaches for the management of cardiogenic shock and the use of acute mechanical circulatory support devices in these patients.  Highlight the importance of partnership with a quaternary care center cardiogenic shock team to facilitate rapid transfer of the patient in refractory cardiogenic shock.
Describe the use of long-term durable LVADs in patients with advanced heart failure, our minimally invasive surgical implant techniques, and the UCSF shared care programs with community cardiologists and co-management of patients;
Describe the latest innovations in heart transplant care, including novel approaches for organ acquisition, preservation, and procurement, dual organ transplantation, and expanded donor criteria leading to increased donor pool and decreased waiting times;
Review management of pulmonary hypertension in advanced heart failure: challenges and successes;
Discuss therapies and review new era drugs and strategies for the management of cardiac amyloidosis;
Discuss the comprehensive multidisciplinary care and services available to manage complex cardiac patients through the evolution of their disease pre- and post advanced cardiac intervention, and UCSF’s commitment to linking with community physicians.

 
+ Topics:
*Note: these are continuous video recordings during the conference, they include individual lectures mentioned in the Detail section below

Friday, September 12, 2025

Time
Title
Speaker(s)

7:00 – 8:00am
Registration/Continental Breakfast
Kenwood Foyer/Sonoma Valley Room
Product Theater (Kenwood Room-Full Breakfast) – 
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals
Arcalyst:  EVIDENCE-BASED TREATMENT OF RECURRENT PERICARDITIS
John Ryan, MD

8:05 – 8:30
New Pillars of HFpEF Management
Pooja Prasad, MD

8:35 – 9:00
Improving Heart Failure Care by Treating its Comorbidities
Shweta Motiwala, MD

9:05 – 9:30
New Heart Failure Devices
Liviu Klein, MD

9:35 – 10:15
Heart Failure Clinic: the Cornerstone of Patient Care
Shweta Motiwala, MD
Brandon Martinez, PharmD
Robin Fischer, DNP
Jamie Lee, RN
Yuri Nam, NP

10:15 – 10:30
Break

10:35 – 11:00
Multimodal Imaging in Cardiomyopathies
Michael Salerno, MD

11:05 – 11:30
Amyloid Cardiomyopathy: a Cinderella no More!
Mandar Aras, MD, PhD

11:35 – 12:00
What’s New in Pulmonary Hypertension?
Marc Simon, MD

12:00 – 12:45
Hosted Lunch

12:50 – 1:30
Risk-Based Prevention of Heart Failure: A New Paradigm
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM

1:40 – 2:05
Early Recognition of Advanced Heart Failure
Leila Beach, MD

2:10 – 2:35
The Rise of the Machines: LVADs for Long-Term Heart Failure Therapy
Mandar Aras, MD

2:35 – 2:50
Break

2:50 – 3:15
Heart Transplantation in 2025: Back to the Future
Amy Fiedler, MD

3:15 – 3:50
Multidisciplinary Care: the Key to the Success of Transplant and LVAD Care
Jose Lazo, PharmD
Julia Galeota, MSW
Marvin Mailom, RN
Simran Grewal, NP
Ashley Jannesen, NP

4:00 – 4:30
GUARDIAN Angel: Organ Transport Updates
Amy Fiedler, MD
Liviu Klein, MD

5:30 – 7:30 pm
Garden Reception

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Time
Title
Speaker(s)

7:00 – 8:05 am
Continental Breakfast
Sonoma Valley Room
Product Theater (Kenwood Room-Full Breakfast) –
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Introduction to AMVUTTRA (Vutrisiran) for the treatment of ATTR-CM and hATTR-PN in Adults
Mandar Aras, MD, PhD

8:05 – 8:25
A Primer for Non-Transplant Providers in Caring for Heart Transplant Patients
Jaqueline DesJardin, MD

8:30 – 8:55
Cardiogenic Shock after DanGer
Connor O’Brien, MD

9:00 – 10:00
What if a Heart Transplant or LVAD Patient Show up in my ER (case studies)
Connor O’Brien, MD
Jaqueline DesJardin, MD
Faculty Panel

10:00 – 10:15
Break

10:15 – 11:55
Collaboration for Complex Cases: Bring your Challenging cases to Discuss
Amy Fiedler, MD
Connor O’Brien
Liviu Klein, MD
Community cardiologists
Faculty Panel