ESC 2020 Takeaways

As much as the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2020 Congress had to offer in its cardiovascular and cardiometabolic agendas, there was plenty to also takeaway from the organization of the meeting itself.

In the final segment of an interview with HCPLive during the ESC 2020 virtual sessions, ESC President Barbara Casadei, MD, DPhil, discussed her highlighted moments, including a “hotline sessions” which added to its typical agenda of new drugs and devices with topics that challenged normative cardiology practice.

Casadei also highlighted sessions that gauged the successes and failures of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) research as it pertains to cardiovascular disease understanding.

“Nobody wishes there was a COVID crisis, but now that we’re having it, what is it that we can learn from it, and what can we take further?” she said.

And in looking ahead to the next congress, Casadei discussed the idea of a hybrid event—a physical, in-person meeting if possible, but not excluding to those 100,000-plus who joined online this year.

“For me, I’d like to retain this global view. But at the same time, I’d like to have a local event,” she said. “Just being here makes a huge difference, every single day.”

Casadei lamented the inability to host greater networking and expanded discussion on the future of cardiovascular care in the ESC 2020 agenda—with so much innovation highlighting the meeting, an opportunity to connect face-to-face would progress aspirations to reality.

“If we had been a physical congress, we would have had a whole area dedicated to that—including investors and people who would meet with those with ideas to see if they would fund their innovation,” she said. “That’s something that we have to learn to do different if we’re not going to have a physical event next year.”