Achieving Ideal Cardiovascular and Brain Health: Opportunity Amid Crisis

Good afternoon, and welcome to Scientific Sessions 2010. I am honored to be here with so many skilled and passionate professionals dedicated to scientific research and the fight against cardiovascular diseases and stroke. I would like to extend a special welcome to those of you who made the journey from any of the >100 nations represented here today. Our community is a global one, so this meeting belongs to all of us.I stand here today as the first neurologist to serve as president of the American Heart Association (AHA). And that is no accident. We are the AHA/American Stroke Association, and we are committed to conquering all cardiovascular diseases and stroke. I am excited to be part of an organization with members from so many backgrounds, disciplines, and interests, and one that merges the passions of so many clinicians, basic scientists, and population investigators. It is a testament to the diverse and talented membership of the AHA—the real power behind our multidisciplinary fight against cardiovascular diseases and stroke. We each bring a unique perspective, and our collective wisdom is an enormous resource.Today, my goal is to convince you that we are facing a global crisis that is attacking both our hearts and our brains. We must work together to improve the health of our patients, the public … even ourselves. I will focus on the AHA's newest weapon in this fight. It is our 10-year goal to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% by the year 2020, while reducing cardiovascular and stroke deaths by 20%.1 To achieve this ambitious goal, we first needed to define “ideal cardiovascular health.” We have done that, and using that definition, we all need …