Asian Cardiovascular & Thoracic Annals
As the founder of APEX and a budding entrepreneur, I saw the need for a distinct Asian voice in cardiovascular & thoracic surgery and medicine. In 1984, after four years of calling on heart surgeons across the Asia-Pacific region while representing Shiley, then a leading cardiac device company, I launched a publishing company from my home in Hawaii. APEX, incorporated in 1986, was headquartered in Singapore in the heart of Orchard Road. Its first publication, A Cardiac Newsletter for Asia (Figure 1), released in January 1985, served as a prelude for the Asian Annals. APEX was published until 1992 and by 1993, when the Asian Annals included a Regional News Section, it was no longer needed.
The Birth of
The Asian Annals
The idea to launch an Asian scientific journal emerged in 1991. Several years of intense fieldwork followed, usually in the late evenings and on the weekends at my apartment on Leonie Hill in Singapore, sometimes joined by the co-author, Dr. Carlos-A. Mestres. Together, we designed and developed the type of journal fitting the needs of the cardiac surgical community across Asia. A solid business model and financing plan were also established at that time.
Asian Annals Interviews
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Dr. Nemish Shah
Asian Annals Vol. 1 No. 4
As publisher of the Asian Annals, I placed great value on this personal interview with Dr. Shah in 1993, Vol. 1, No. 4 issue. The highly respected Dr. Shah started a private program of open-heart surgery at Bombay Hospital decades earlier. He was a strong proponent of the use of bioprosthetic heart valves during his illustrious career in India. I considered him a friend and mentor in learning about the advantages of using tissue valves versus mechanical alternatives.
Dr. Shah is pictured with me and Brij Gupta at an Indian Cardiovascular Society Meeting in the early 1980s.
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Dr. Denton Cooley
Asian Annals Vol. 4 No. 3
It was a distinct honor to conduct this interview with the world-renowned heart surgeon, head of Houston’s Texas Heart Institute. Having first met in 1977 at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons meeting, I got to know him quite well over the next 25 years. We sat together for the interview in Hiroshima, Japan, during the 6th World Congress of the International Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons in July 1996.
We are pictured above in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, thanks to Dr. Coley’s invitation to attend the annual Cooley Society meeting in 1999.
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Dr. Joseph Sheares
APEX Newsletter Vol. 4 No. 3 - 1992
I interviewed Dr. Joseph Sheares, son of the former President of Singapore, Dr. Benjamin Sheares, for our Asia-wide newsletter. He assembled a solid team of surgeons, recognizing the growing need for cardiac surgery in Singapore and the region. He and the team were invited to join the private Mt. Elizabeth Hospital shortly after it opened in 1981.
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Dr. Carlos Gómez-Duran
Asian Annals Vol. 6 No. 1 — 1998
I was pleased to conduct this interview with Dr. Duran during the 1997 AATS meeting in Washington, D.C. It covers Dr. Duran’s pioneering work in valve replacement and repair surgeries. The personable, skilled surgeon studied and practiced in Spain, France, the U.K., Saudi Arabia, and the USA. His yearly Rocky Mountain Valve Symposium held in Missoula, Montana was viewed as a must-attend event for young and older heart surgeons from the USA, Asia and around the world.
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A Tribute to Dr. Thomas B. Ferguson
Asian Annals Vol. 21 No. 4 —2013
The passing of Dr. Ferguson in 2013 compelled me to pay tribute to the man who was instrumental in helping the Asian Annals achieve its goal of academic indexing. This led to increased respect and credibility in the cardiovascular community throughout Asia and international acceptance. As an accomplished surgeon, editor, and devoted family man, Tom was considered by those who knew him to be both a “good and great” man, a trait not typically found in the same individual, according to a famous Winston Churchill quote. But, Mr. Churchill never met Tom.
Asian Annals Editorials
Evolving Healthcare for Congenital Heart Disease in China
ACTA VOL. 6, NO. 3
ACTA VOL. 6, NO. 2
Dr. Richard A. Jonas, former Chief at Children's Hospital, Boston, and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School at the time wrote this informative editorial in 1998. The tireless efforts of Dr. Jonas and his Boston team in training personnel from Xin Hua Hospital and the Shanghai Second Medical University for 13 years were instrumental in raising the level of competence of their Chinese counterparts. In fact, it took the experience and dedication of someone of Dr. Jonas' stature and ability to ensure hospital personnel were properly trained, thereby bringing an essential element of the project to fruition. Dr. Jonas is pictured with Drs. Wu Qing-Yu of China and Akira Furuse of Japan.
Memories, Milestones, and the Millennium Ahead
The first attempt to chronicle the evolution & expansion of cardiac surgery in Asia was in 1985 by the APEX (Asia Pacific EXchange) newsletter. It served well as a communication vehicle for clinicians and industry with a vested interest in the region and was followed by the Asian Cardiovascular & Thoracic Annals (ACTA) journal in 1993. Pictured is Prof. CHO Bum-Koo, Editor-in-Chief at the time, who asked me as Publisher to contribute the following editorial on ACTA’s past, present and future.
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