Editor's Corner: Missed Opportunities

Happy New Year to All! On behalf of co-editor Dr. Kaye-Eileen Willard and myself, I wish to thank those of you who have contributed to the outstanding issues of LipidSpin during the last year and look forward to the education and clinical insights provided by NLA members in 2023. I’m excited about the articles of this issue, centered on the theme Pushing Boundaries. I also thank the Presidents and Board members of the Southwest and Pacific Lipid Associations for their leadership. 

I was reminded of the Pushing Boundaries theme and the urgent need for activism by the NLA and like-minded organizations when I heard about the heart attack and sudden death of 37-year-old Dax Tejera, the executive producer of the ABC News Sunday public affairs show, This Week. He is survived by his wife and 2 young daughters. As Dr. Thomas Dayspring tweeted upon hearing the news, lipid professionals think about hereditary conditions such as familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and elevated lipoprotein(a) when hearing about premature death by heart attack.

Unfortunately, there are missed opportunities in the media to educate the American public about these conditions and to potentially prevent another premature heart attack. Instead, if you search Dax Tejera’s name, you will learn that his wife was charged with child abandonment the next day for the poor decision to leave her children unattended in a hotel room while she and her husband went out to dinner. Additionally, social media posts are trying to relate his heart attack to COVID-19 vaccination status. I could find nothing about the most common causes of premature heart attacks: FH that occurs in 1 out of 250 individuals, and elevated Lp(a) in 1 in 5 individuals. 

This issue of LipidSpin includes articles on hereditary conditions and the urgent need to identify FH and institute early treatment. The Clinical Feature addresses multidisciplinary collaborative care for comprehensive lipid management in various settings by physicians, advanced practice nurses, PharmDs, and RDNs. But, as NLA members, we need to push boundaries beyond what we currently do to identify and treat lipid-related conditions. We must educate and engage clinicians across all specialties and disciplines, including primary care, cardiology, endocrinology, women’s health; private, academic, community practices; physicians, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, RDNs. NLA members must engage in advocacy efforts to educate the public by writing for lay publications and writing op-eds that share current scientific knowledge about the common causes of premature heart attacks, how the public can learn if they are at risk, and where to go for care. We must also leverage electronic health records to identify FH patients, those who are undertreated, and the need to implement cascade screening. We must widely disseminate patient educational materials created by the NLA and partner organizations.  

We can only hope that Dax Tejera’s daughters have had a lipid panel checked.