Andrew J Sauer MD Profile picture
Cardiologist @MidAmericaHeart, proven program builder; to address unmet needs; focus on team-oriented innovations in heart failure therapies. Also: #wellness
M.Rizwan Afzal “Riz” Profile picture 1 subscribed
Jun 20, 2022 9 tweets 13 min read
@AHajduczok @DrMarthaGulati @DrJenniferCo_Vu @ShelleyZieroth @DrJMieres @mirvatalasnag A couple rules for myself:

1.

Don’t bring credit cards when shopping.

Use: Debit card or cash (even better).

Proven strategy to reduce spending impulse because you immediately feel the pain of reducing bank account. Credit spends don’t have same impact as deterrent. @AHajduczok @DrMarthaGulati @DrJenniferCo_Vu @ShelleyZieroth @DrJMieres @mirvatalasnag 2.

If I haven’t worn it in the past year it automatically gets donated or sold at consignment.
Jun 27, 2021 12 tweets 2 min read
My top ten tips for graduating fellows and faculty entering and continuing “early career” as I am transitioning into “mid-career”. A thread: 1. Decide what you will be known for and why. Believe in extreme ownership. Don’t expect all to agree. The goal is not to be liked but to be respected for being authentically you. They will know then your name. And that matters.
Sep 29, 2020 10 tweets 4 min read
1 / Well, this is it, my final week as medical director of our heart transplant program. Please welcome Dr Andrija Vidic who accepts the new role, and as @UNOSNews #OPTN Primary Transplant Physician, October 1st. (a brief explanatory thread). 2/ More than five years ago @TravisAbicht and I left @NorthwesternMed @NMCardioVasc to begin a journey of developing a new comprehensive HF and heart transplant program @KUHospital making history reported by @KCStar in early 2017.
Aug 4, 2020 11 tweets 2 min read
The votes are in, what did we learn? Keeping this simple. My ten brief points below: 1. Look for blue cells but also look for necrosis. More blue cells and more necrosis means more severe rejection by histopathology. While ISHLT grading is important, remember this is a spectrum so don’t rely on your pathologist to give you the answer to a clinical question.
Aug 4, 2020 11 tweets 1 min read
The votes are in, and what did we learn? Ten quick points below: 1. This is NOT normal.
Jun 21, 2020 11 tweets 4 min read
Here’s my tips for freshly minted cardiology attendings. Fair warning, I’ve only got six years on you. Buyer beware. 1. Don’t immediately get into big debt. Don’t lease or buy a new car. Don’t buy a house on 100% financing. Don’t pay the minimum on credit cards. It’s foolish, and ultimately cliche. And unbecoming. And did I say foolish?
Jun 20, 2020 11 tweets 3 min read
For the new cardiovascular fellows about to begin, congrats on the new adventure! My ten tips to follow: 1. Get comfortable with echo scanning and interpretation quickly, even if you are not on echo rotation. Read your go to echo text book front to back in the first month. To be trusted as a CVD consultant you must speak echo.
Jun 17, 2020 11 tweets 2 min read
Two years ago I started intermittent fasting during men’s health month. Here are my observations: It was hard to really be disciplined. I would say it was only after 18 months of trying that I got to really consistently doing it.
Jun 4, 2020 8 tweets 1 min read
Check out our new paper on LVAD in the patients over 65yrs of age. @aniket_rali : Comparison of Trends, Mortality, and Readmissions After Insertion of L... sciencedirect.com/science/articl… Take home points from our study 1/
May 16, 2020 6 tweets 5 min read
Post transplant patient today, provided spontaneous encouraging words for the pandemic to our team 1/ 2/ “First, you all have to take care of really complex patients every day. That by itself is amazing.”
Jan 26, 2020 6 tweets 6 min read
1/ This past week, I announced to our teams that 2020 will be my final year serving as heart transplant program medical director. Five years has been a great run since our launch. Our program outcomes couldn’t be better for my successor (SRTR 2020) soon to be named. Image 2/ people have asked me why. The short and honest answer is that I am ready to focus my efforts at KU elsewhere and stating my intentions to retire in this role allow real opportunity for the next director to shine. Succession of leaders is always part of program growth.
Jan 25, 2020 12 tweets 9 min read
1/ This paper has much food for thought. Patients are no more sick than they have always been, yet increase in acute MCS and drop in durable VAD at time of transplant reflects allocation stratification by therapy (IABP, ECMO for example) not by acuity. 2/ of additional concern is the observation that larger programs have clearly pivoted more toward acute MCS than smaller programs that have maintained similar durable MCS ratios. This clearly reflects program risk appetite.
Dec 22, 2019 4 tweets 4 min read
According to @propublica my profile of prescription behavior (CMS data 2016) reflects my number one Rx is spironolactone. I ❤️ spiro. #GDMTWorks. @gcfmd @IAmDrIbrahim @ShashankSinhaMD @yaleHFdoc @SJGreene_md @MKIttlesonMD @JonathanDavisHF @MichaelNassifMD @ajaysmd @JJheart_doc projects.propublica.org/checkup/ if you want to check out your prescribing behavior.