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UB Faculty Member To Receive The 2024 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award For Woman Cardiologist Of The Year

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, has been chosen to receive the 2024 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year.

Curtis will be presented with the award at the Heart Health in Women Symposium that will be hosted in Richmond by the Virginia Commonwealth University Health Pauley Heart Center on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Funded by a grant from the McCue family, the McCue Award honors the late Carolyn Moore McCue, MD (1916-1999), one of the few female cardiologists of her time, who served as the first woman elected president of the Richmond Academy of Medicine. During her 42 years of medical practice at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV, now VCU Health), she also created and chaired MCV's Pediatric Cardiology Division and played a vital role in establishing pediatric cardiology clinics in medically underserved communities throughout Virginia.

"I am incredibly honored to receive the 2024 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year," Curtis says. "Dr. McCue was a highly accomplished pediatric cardiologist and a pioneering role model for women in the field. This award reminds us not only of her accomplishments, but also of the importance of continuing to encourage women to pursue careers in cardiovascular medicine."

Women and cardiac arrhythmias

Curtis will give the keynote speech at the conference on "Sex differences and disparities in the management of cardiac arrhythmias." She will discuss sex differences in the epidemiology, presentation and course of cardiac arrhythmias, as well as disparities in the use of and response to implantable devices in treating them and how disparities in treating arrhythmias can be addressed.

"Clinical trials for years predominantly included men," says Curtis. "As we began to recognize differences in the clinical course and management of cardiac arrhythmias in women, it became important for us to focus on these differences to improve outcomes in women with similar cardiovascular conditions."

Curtis will cite studies noting that, while pharmacological vs. Non-pharmacological outcomes are similar between men and women, advanced cardiac therapies are either offered to women later in the course of their disease than men or not offered at all.

"Not offering guideline-indicated treatments for women with cardiovascular disease can negatively impact quality of life, progression of the underlying condition, and even survival," she says.

A Jacobs School faculty member since 2010, Curtis is both a clinician, caring for patients at UBMD Internal medicine, and a Jacobs School researcher, specializing in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, the field of cardiology that studies, diagnoses and treats disorders of the electrical activity of the heart muscle. She was the Charles & Mary Bauer Chair of the Department of Medicine in the Jacobs School from 2010 to 2022.

Her research interests include clinical trials in implantable device therapy, including defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy; sex and racial disparities in the management of patients with arrhythmias; and clinical research in atrial fibrillation.

Curtis received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Rutgers University and her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She did her residency in internal medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

She currently serves as president of the Association of Professors of Medicine, an organization that represents the leadership of departments of internal medicine across the United States and Canada.

Curtis is past president of the Heart Rhythm Society and a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award and President's Award. She is also past president of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society and the Association of University Cardiologists. She is on the editorial boards of many of the key academic journals in the fields of cardiology and electrophysiology, and also serves as an associate editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In addition to holding leadership positions on steering committees, executive committees, and data and safety monitoring boards for multicenter clinical trials, Curtis was the national principal investigator on a study of heart failure patients with atrioventricular block (entitled Block HF). She has been on the writing committees for national and international guidelines and consensus statements on atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death, ablation for atrial fibrillation, sex differences in cardiac arrhythmias, and cardiac physiological pacing. She has over 350 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reviews.

VCU Student With PTSD Searches For Closure: 'I Just Hope They Turn Themselves In'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Where Richmond's West Main Street leads to Monroe Park, the heart of Virginia Commonwealth University's campus, is path one student avoids at all costs.

"I haven't walked that way since it happened," said a senior who requested to go by "Anna," and not to share her last name.

Anna walked that path from her apartment to her classes, or to Monroe Park to meet friends every day, until Oct. 22, 2022.

It was a Saturday, around 10 a.M.

Provided to WTVR

VCU Police say around that time, Anna was walking on West Main Street, attempting to cross North Belvidere Street. As she crossed, she was struck in the face by the passenger-side mirror of a dark-gray Toyota Tundra pickup truck, which was reported to have a 4-door cab and an open-end trailer.

"The mirror hit my head and I just, like, screamed," Anna recounted.

The driver slowed down, but then continued northbound on Belvidere Street, according to police. The incident was classified as a hit-and-run."

"They just kept going," Anna said.

Provided to WTVR

Anna filed a report with VCU Police, who say they scoured the area looking for the vehicle responsible. Investigators reviewed security camera photos and videos extensively, according to police, trying to match license plates with the vehicle involved.

Still, over a year later, the driver responsible has not been found, and VCU Police say they've exhausted all their resources to find the person responsible.

"I didn't want to be on camera because the person that hit me is still out there, and I don't know who that person is, and I don't know what was going through their mind," Anna shared in an interview.

WTVR

On Jan. 27, just a few months later, another student, Mahrokh Khan, was hit by a driver while trying to cross the intersection of North Laurel and West Main Street.

Khan was killed.

Local News

Driver charged with killing VCU student Mahrokh Khan

Cameron Thompson

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"My physical therapist, she said I have PTSD from what happened," Anna said. "And a couple months after my accident another student got hit in the same area, but she died."

VCU ramped up its traffic safety efforts, issuing more than 1,000 traffic citations in 2023 and creating community engagement opportunities to educate pedestrians and drivers on crosswalk safety.

WTVR

Anna, now a senior, had to briefly stop school to treat her head injury, still scared of what could happen to her if she walked that same way again.

"I know what happened to me and the person knows what they did so I just hope that they turn themselves in," she said.

VCU Police is continuing to seek any tips the community may have to identify the driver. Community members can call VCU Police and 804-828-1196, use the free LiveSafe mobile safety app to submit tips, including anonymous tips, or submit tips to Metro Richmond Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000 or on the P3 Tips mobile app.

Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.Com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.Com to send a tip.

VCU Medical Center Taps New COO

Richmond, Va.-based VCU Medical Center, part of Richmond-based VCU Health, has tapped Jim Willis as its COO.

Mr. Willis has served as the medical center's interim COO since March. During that time, he helped carry out new VCU Health safety measures and led the hospital's violence prevention and safety task force, according to a Jan. 8 news release from the health system.

In his role, Mr. Willis will continue to oversee hospital operations and aid the health system with service lines and support services growth.

An academic medical center, VCU Health has more than 12,500 employees, with more than 800 physicians across 200 specialties.

Peripheral Arterial Insufficiency