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Funding flashback: Advancing cardiac imaging from France to Hawke’s Bay

Dr Libby Curtis successfully completed an overseas training and research fellowship, generously funded by the Heart Foundation Benjamin Fellowship in 2023. She has since brought her international experience and advanced skills back home to regional New Zealand.

The thousands of echocardiograms that Dr Libby Curtis interpreted and the hundreds that she performed during her overseas training and research fellowship in France have served her well on her return to New Zealand. Now a consultant cardiologist at Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui, Hawke’s Bay, she has set up echocardiogram clinics where she efficiently provides a one-stop-shop: meeting patients, performing echocardiograms, and discussing results and treatment options all at the same time.

This approach saves patients multiple appointments and trips, as well as reducing the often long wait to see a cardiac sonographer who would usually perform the echocardiogram. An echocardiogram (often called an ‘echo’) is an ultrasound of the heart and is used to investigate potential heart issues or assess existing conditions such as heart failure.

International experience in new technologies

Libby completed an echocardiography fellowship at the University Hospital of Rennes, France thanks to the Heart Foundation Benjamin Fellowship, a year-long overseas training and research grant. Obtaining advanced and in-depth echocardiography experience was her main clinical aim.

The university hospital is a leading European hub for cardiac imaging and gave Libby the opportunity to learn from international experts, as well as exposure to particularly difficult or rare heart conditions and cutting-edge clinical trials. She gained valuable experience in the management of heart valve diseases, heart muscle diseases (cardiomyopathies), and the use of new implantable technologies to improve outcomes for patients.

These implantable devices are not funded in New Zealand but are likely to be introduced in the near future. “Especially in structural heart disease, it’s valuable having this international experience for when these treatments come to New Zealand,” says Dr Gerry Devlin, Heart Foundation Medical Director.

Lifting the game locally

Libby is relishing being back in New Zealand contributing to the cardiology services in Hawke’s Bay and sharing her new knowledge with colleagues. “Bringing this specialist knowledge to regional New Zealand helps the whole team,” she says. She’s now considered one of the ‘echo experts’ in the regional cardiology team.

“None of this would have been possible without funding from the Heart Foundation Benjamin Fellowship and the generous support of the Benjamin family,” shares Libby.

Against the rising tide of demand for cardiology services, she hopes to add value through her imaging expertise and help people get seen sooner. “Cardiology often treats common problems that can make a real and immediate difference to people’s lives,” she explains.

During her overseas fellowship, Libby was also part of a research team evaluating a new procedure for people with damage to the tricuspid valve, one of the heart’s four valves. Early trial results are positive and, with further evidence, may mean a viable alternative to less-than-ideal medical treatment for valvular heart disease, or open heart surgery which is high risk and not suitable for all patients.

Libby presented her research results at two major European cardiology conferences. It was an invaluable opportunity to meet and learn from international cardiologists for a Kiwi originally hailing from provincial New Zealand.

Cardiac imaging has come a long way since her grandfather was a cardiologist in the Hawke’s Bay many years ago. Libby has a picture in her office of him with the first echocardiography equipment in the Hawke’s Bay, a far cry from the equipment she used in France thanks to her overseas training and research fellowship.