Munson Medical Center’s Karen Zimmerman named Editor-in-Chief of medical journal
A Munson Medical Center sonographer recently added the title “Editor-in-Chief” of a national medical journal to her name.
She is a partner in that role with a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist.
Karen Zimmerman, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE, spends a lot of her nights, weekends and days off helping launch the new American Society of Echocardiography online journal CASE. She is co-editor with L. Leonardo Rodriguez, M.D., FASE, FACC of the Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
Echocardiography uses sound waves to take images of the heart’s movements. Physicians order the test to evaluate how well a heart pumps blood, to help them find the cause of abnormal heart sounds, determine any problems with a heart’s structure, and much more. The test is used extensively in cardiology.
“This is very exciting, it’s a real-world journal, the first of its kind,” she said. “This is also the first time there has ever been a sonographer as Editor-in-Chief.”
For the past few months Zimmerman and Dr. Rodriguez have been working with Elsevier, the company providing the platform used to publish CASE, to learn the mechanics of online editing and its software.
The peer-reviewed journal will feature worldwide submissions and focus on interesting cardiovascular imaging case reports to help cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, nurses, scientists, sonographers and others pursue best-practice medical care for their patients. Its first issue will launch in January 2017. The society is currently soliciting potential articles. As an open access journal, CASE will be free for anyone interested in echocardiography to read and download. Zimmerman said a team of international experts make up its editorial board. She and Dr. Rodriguez recently started reviewing cases for inclusion in the first edition, and “we are already witnessing exciting new ways echo is being used to solve clinical problems.”
Zimmerman has been an active member of the American Society of Echocardiography and has used her sonographer skills for 30 years in Traverse City, the past 11 at Munson Medical Center. As an advanced imaging specialist for the hospital, her work at the Webber Heart Center includes providing images of the heart for complex valve disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, image guided mitral and tricuspid repair, and more.
“Karen’s role as co-editor of CASE brings the Webber Heart Center and the cardiac diagnostic unit to the forefront with the Cleveland Clinic in the world of imaging,” said Anne Hepner, M.D., FACC, medical director of the Daniel and Debra Edson Cardiac Diagnostic Suite. “The American Society of Echocardiography is an organization committed to excellence in cardiac imaging with a global presence, and this gives us worldwide visibility.”
Munson Medical Center cardiothoracic surgeon and Medical Director of Cardiothoracic Research Daniel H. Drake, M.D., agreed. “She is a dedicated world-class sonographer who facilitates imaging for cardiologists, interventionists, hospitalists, intensivists, anesthesiologists, and cardiovascular surgeons,” he said. “Karen’s American Society of Echocardiography editor-in-chief position and overall accomplishments further establish Munson’s reputation as a great health care system and enhance our academic presence in the global community.”
As a researcher, Zimmerman has played a role in the development of axial echocardiography and co-authored an article “Echo-guided mitral repair” for the prestigious heart journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging – as well as two invited letters in the New England Journal of Medicine documenting the concepts and results of axial echocardiography. She also recently co-authored and published a DVD on percutaneous structural heart intervention and transcatheter aortic valve replacement through the American Society of Echocardiography.
Most exciting for Zimmerman is the new journal’s impact on patient care and advancing heart medicine.
“The times are changing. Collaboration and teamwork are key. Sonographers are the masters of the universal communication tool, which is imaging. These case reports are the real world,” she said. “It’s what we see in our daily life, what we see using echocardiography. The internet and global forums to exchange information, and share real life experience is perhaps the greatest teacher of all.”
More information on Munson Medical Center’s Webber Heart Center team can be found at munsonhealthcare.org/heartservices.