Good morning, and welcome to EP101. I'm Mark Estes, one of the co-directors of the course. My colleague, who you can see on the screen, Dr. Josh Cooper, joins me in welcoming you. This is a legacy program that now has gone on for over 15 years, originally designed to fill an educational gap for cardiology fellows about to start their EP fellowship. This year, we've had to shift to a virtual format. And with that, I'm really pleased because we're able to accommodate many, many more people. In fact, the demand, I think, is quite clear because we have over 235 registrants, including many, many international attendees, cardiology fellows. And we have 120 cardiology fellows starting their EP fellowship registry. That's about the number that start each year. So it's a terrific turnout. There are many disadvantages to the virtual format. We don't get the chance to meet with you and interact and network individually. But on the other hand, what we have found, particularly with a 3T program, a program that was very capably run by some of our junior colleagues, run yesterday, but teaching tomorrow's teacher, the format works very well. Josh, you may want to say a few words about that. And it's also part of the EP 101. I'd be remiss if I didn't, once again, note that Boston Scientific has been really a phenomenal partner in all of this. They've been completely hands-off, allowing Josh and I to really structure the content, the format, and been extremely supportive of the entire operation. The format is different. This year, we're actually going to be using the lectures from last year, which were recorded. Now, don't get too concerned about that because we're talking about things like introduction to EP, basic simulation protocols, fundamentals. You'll hear from Sam Asher about them. Josh has put a lot of effort into a new entrainment talk, which he will give live this year. And then techniques of differentiating SVT, really timeless talks today that Josh and I have selected out of a larger number of talks last year, but really focused on the fundamentals. Because of the large number of participants, over 200, we expect, we are going to have to structure this and be very, very mindful of the time. In that respect, too, we've got a very tight timeline, and we are going to show videos, which we have time. And then after each video, either Josh or I will moderate the section. You're encouraged to ask questions, but you will be on mute, and you also will have your videos off. That's controlled centrally. The questions can come in at any time during the lectures. For the sessions I'm moderating, I'll be looking at them during the questions. And we're fortunate, too, because all of the faculty, with the exception of Greg Michaud and Suneet Mittal, will be able to join us. Josh and I will distill the questions, give them to the faculty members who will answer them. So with that, I'm really pleased to introduce Josh at the other end of the state of Pennsylvania, at Temple. I'm at UPMC in Pittsburgh, as you know. To make any additional comments, welcome you. And then, Josh, start right up with your lectures, if you would. That sounds perfect. And welcome, everyone. It looks like, as you said, there are pros and cons for this content that we created this year. And when we were coming up with this concept, we didn't know what was going to be the status of the coronavirus infection in different parts of the country at different institutions. And so we were not sure that there would be availability to do all live lectures. So we predicated this conference on the concept of having pre-recorded lectures from last year that we would rebroadcast, but then invite lecturers to come and do a live Q&A afterward for each, so you still have the opportunity to interact live with all of the faculty. There are a couple who weren't going to be able to make it, but we're thrilled about everybody else being on board. And then, of course, Dr. Estes and I will be moderating each of the sessions. So welcome. One of the advantages, as Dr. Estes said, is that we do have, for the first time ever, an international attendance. There were actually over 100 people abroad internationally who are joining us. It's not obviously typically possible when we do a real-time, live, in-person meeting. So welcome, all of you who are coming from different time zones, and kudos to you if it's in the middle of the night in particular. So we are going to, after each session, ask for your feedback. As Dr. Estes mentioned, there are going to be three questions about the relevance and effectiveness of each talk. Even though they're pre-recorded, the Q&A will sort of be incorporated into that assessment. So please take a moment. It's very, very helpful for us. Every year, we take your feedback to heart and incorporate changes as per your recommendations, because this is really for you. This is for people who are going into EP or starting out in EP, and we want this curriculum to really build a strong foundation so that you can move forward and self-teach and learn from others, having that strong foundation at the outset. As Mark said, there's going to be one lecture that I'm going to give live. The rest are going to be pre-recorded. And throughout, please do ask your questions. So we're going to be monitoring them, and we're going to feed them to the presenters after each presentation. So let me go to the slides, and I'm going to just give us a quick disclosure slide that is necessary. And with regard to one last shout out to the 3T program that was conducted yesterday, just a remarkable effort in trying to help people learn how to teach. It's a little breakout session that we do every year, and I'm thrilled to have participated in that session as well. So thank you for including me. And again, Mark, thank you so much for including me in this program. It's really the showcase program for me for the year, hopefully for the fellows as well. And I'm thrilled that we're able to continue it this year. And next year, we're just going to come back in full force with a renewed effort in person, hopefully, so that we can continue this strong tradition that you've initiated and perpetuate. So the first talk that we're going to have is the introduction to EP. Forgive the fact that in the recording, I was last year not in the best of shape. So I'm sorry. That was the year it was recorded. But hopefully, it comes across okay. And so we're going to get started in just one moment. I want to try to stay on time just for people who are going to be joining in. And again, this is going to be a prerecorded session, and then I'm going to join back with you for a couple minutes after this lecture. They're actually, because the first two talks are both my prerecorded talks from last year, I'm going to do a very quick check-in between the two. And then after both of those, we're going to do a Q&A on the content for both. They sort of flow one into the next as it is. So give your questions. We are storing them up, and we'll share and talk about them after the second session.

EP101

virtual course

cardiology fellows

EP fellowship

pandemic