Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists 2026 Annual Meeting

By Ashley Oliver, MD, MA

 

We are delighted to celebrate the Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology of the UCLA Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine for its spectacular performance at the recent Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) 2026 Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Jonathan Ho, MD, served as Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the 48^th Annual Meeting, presiding over the highest attendance level — over 1,600 registrants — in its history.

 

Two-thirds of the faculty members in our division — Jason Batten, MD, MA, Andrew Disque, MD, Matthew Fischer, MD, MS, Reed Harvey, MD, Marisa Hernandez-Morgan, MD, MA, MPP, Emily Methangkool, MD, MPH, Prince Neelankavil, MD, Ashley Oliver, MD, MA, Sophia Poorsattar, MD, Louis Saddic, MD, PhD, and Tiffany Williams, MD, PhD — held leadership and teaching roles at the meeting. These roles encompassed every aspect of the conference and included invited lectures, committee meetings, panel moderation, scientific program organization, workshops, and problem-based learning discussions (PBLDs).

 

It was an incredible year for our trainees, including not one but two CA-1 resident physicians who were awarded Health Equity and Professional Advancement Committee (HEPAC) Rising Star Scholarships: Justin Chan, MD, and Josue Chirinos, MD. Only ten such awards are awarded annually, and this was an extremely competitive year. Michael LoBasso, MD, Christina Le, MD, and Mohammed Yassin, MD, presented spectacular scientific posters. Our fellows', Paul Pantapalangkoor, MD, MS Stephanie Lam, DO, MS, Arpine Galstyan, MD, Belle Benanzea-Fontem, MD, presentations were polished capstones representing the culmination of a successful year of hard work, development, and accomplishments. 

 

Finally, we are thrilled to report that Dr. Batten was awarded the 2026 Joyce Wahr Starter Grant, which is $37,500 over two years.

 

Acknowledgments: In order to attend this conference, we relied on the support of the faculty members who remained in clinical service at UCLA. We share the meeting achievements with Michael Sopher, MD, Jure Marijic, MD, Lorraine Lubin, MD, Ali Salehi, MD, Christine Trieu, MD, Komal Patel, MD, Maziar Nourian, MD, and Amelie Delaporte, MD.

 

To see photos from the conference, please visit: SCA 2026 Annual Meeting Powerpoint