Hearts and Minds

Ahead of the 77th Irish Cardiac Society (ICS) Annual Scientific Meeting and AGM, ICS President Prof Brendan McAdam spoke with Pat Kelly about the upcoming meeting and his aspirations for the future of cardiac care

This year’s Irish Cardiac Society (ICS) Annual Scientific Meeting and AGM once again features a stellar line-up of local and international speakers and contributors, as well as an extremely high standard of case and poster presentations. Topics covered in this year’s meeting include cardio-obstetrics, atherosclerosis, heart failure, and artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. The meeting will also feature a new session on the perspectives of patients.

The conference, which takes place on 15–17 October, will be held in Killashee Hotel, Naas, Co Kildare. As always, the event hosts the coveted Brian Maurer Young Investigator Award 2026, which again will see an exceptionally high standard of entries. The prestigious Stokes Lecture will be delivered this year by Prof Rose Anne Kenny, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, who will speak on ‘Syncope in adults’. There will be a special ‘Focus on Europe’ session, which will include a number of speakers from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Prof Brendan McAdam, ICS President, spoke with the Medical Independent (MI) ahead of the event and also discussed his tenure as President of the ICS, which draws to a close at the conference.

International collaboration

On his presidency, he said: “It has been a very busy time both locally and internationally and we have been very active in many different spheres, trying to promote health and cardiovascular (CV) care, and strengthening the collaboration with our CV team members, including cardiac physiologists and nursing colleagues. We are an all-Ireland body with around 450 members on both sides of the border and have close links with the British Cardiac Society, the ESC, and the American College of Cardiology (ACC). And we are an independent international chapter of the ACC and we were awarded a grant to assess cross-border care in heart failure last year.”

The ICS has been active at European level and beyond. It has collaborated with the ESC in its work with the European Union (EU) to launch the Safe Hearts Plan in 2025. It is the first ever EU-wide initiative to tackle cardiovascular disease based on the pillars of prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment. The ICS is advocating for the implementation of a national plan for Ireland to align with the Safe Hearts Plan. According to the Society, key principles should include the elimination of gender and socio-economic disparities in the access to care and the reduction of waiting times for testing and treatment.

Advocacy

Prof McAdam strongly emphasised the Society’s advocacy efforts.

“We have been very active meeting with the relevant health authorities, and we are very keen to work with the Minister for Health,” he told MI.

“We are hoping that is going to disseminate throughout all EU countries,” Prof McAdam said.

“We are excited and hopeful that our Government will commit to funding a comprehensive CV strategy, along the lines of the Nolan review of CV services, so we can tackle the burden of CV disease, which remains the number one cause of death and morbidity. We also want to improve cardiovascular and stroke care as we take up the European Presidency.”

The concept would be akin to the National Cancer Control Programme, which has revolutionised cancer care in Ireland, he added.

“We also know that there are several areas that need attention with regard to primary care and rehabilitation,” said Prof McAdam.

“We are not getting people to their proper cholesterol targets. Addressing the obesity and diabetic epidemic is essential as we are going to have an explosion of health problems related to these conditions over the coming years, so we need to get health promotion across the line, and get people to know their numbers, adopt a healthier lifestyle, and stop vaping, which is a scourge that has in some ways replaced smoking in younger adults.”

The Society has also joined forces with ASH Ireland to tackle the problem of tobacco use and vaping, particularly among young people. Gender inequalities in care, social disparities, and regional variations in healthcare are among the issues the Society also hopes to address in collaboration with the Government, he explained.

EU Screening Week, which is taking place between 28 September and 2 October, will focus on individual action and population health. During the week, the inaugural meeting of the new Irish Alliance for Cardiovascular Health, led by the ICS, will bring together organisations across patient advocacy, clinical care, prevention, nursing, healthcare technology, and community health to promote a more coordinated approach to cardiovascular health in Ireland.

Annual meeting

Prof McAdam said he is keenly looking forward to this year’s ICS conference and is “delighted” that the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will be opening the meeting.

He said the conference provides an excellent opportunity to hear from an illustrious line-up of speakers while also offering valuable networking opportunities. The Society is also delighted to support the meeting of the Irish Nurses Cardiovascular Association (INCA), which takes place on 15 October. Prof McAdam congratulated the INCA on reaching its 30th anniversary this year.