Hypercortisolism: Recognizing a Hidden Driver of Cardiovascular Risk

Despite optimal management of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, some patients continue to experience persistent hypertension, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and accelerated cardiovascular disease. Hypercortisolism is an underrecognized yet treatable condition that can contribute to these cardiometabolic abnormalities and significantly increase cardiovascular risk. This CardioCore lecture will provide attendees with a practical introduction to hypercortisolism, including its pathophysiology, common clinical features, cardiovascular consequences, and when to suspect the diagnosis in everyday practice. Participants will gain a better understanding of appropriate screening considerations, referral pathways, and the importance of timely recognition to improve long-term cardiovascular outcomes.

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Lecturer

Jorge Plutzky, MD, is Director, Preventive Cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and a widely recognized authority on preventive cardiology.

Clinically, Dr. Plutzky directs the BWH Lipid/Prevention Clinic, a high-volume referral center for complex lipid disorders, premature cardiovascular (CV) disease, obesity, and other cardio-metabolic issues. Dr. Plutzky helped lead Mass General Brigham’s remote CV health program - a novel algorithm-based management strategy for implementing guideline-directed care at scale. A prior American Heart Association Diabetes Committee Chair, Dr. Plutzky has served on steering committees for international clinical trials regarding diabetes, obesity and cholesterol, including SELECT and CLEAR-Outcomes, and in NIH studies investigating CV risk in obesity, rheumatologic disorders and HIV. Dr. Plutzky directs a basic science laboratory studying transcriptional programs underlying cardiometabolic disorders, including mechanisms involving PPARs, retinoid receptors and epigenetic reader proteins. Dr. Plutzky is involved in the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation as a prior Scientific Committee Chair and current board member.

Dr. Plutzky received his B.A., with Highest Distinction (Echol’s Scholar) from the University of Virginia and his M.D. from the University of North Carolina, with Distinction for Research Excellence through an NIH research fellowship (Dr. Gerald Crabtree). Internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship were completed at BWH/HMS and included a Massachusetts Institute of Technology postdoctoral research fellowship (Dr. Robert Rosenberg). Dr. Plutzky’s contributions have been recognized through the University of Cologne’s Klenck Award, Harvard’s Tucker Collins Lecture in Vascular Biology and Horton Lecture in Diabetes, the University of Michigan’s Hurst Visiting Professorship, the BWH Eugene Braunwald Teaching Award and election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Moderator

Charles German, MD, MS, FASPC, is an Assistant Professor and Director of Preventive Cardiology at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He completed a T32 and masters degree in clinical and population translational sciences during his cardiology fellowship, along with a dedicated year of preventive cardiology training. 
Dr. German has been involved with the ASPC since his fellowship, and previously helped develop and lead the Fellows in Training and Early Career Working Group, while continuing to serve as a mentor to trainees interested in preventive cardiology.

Dr. German’s research focuses on physical activity, cardiometabolic disease, and subclinical atherosclerosis using large epidemiologic cohort studies and has published in several prestigious journals including JAMA, JACC, and Hypertension.

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Support for this program provided by: