About Us - Cardiometabolic Center Alliance

About the CKM Center Alliance

Advancing Integrated Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Care

The Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Center Alliance, part of the American Heart Association, is a national collaborative of health care organizations working to improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic conditions through coordinated, team-based care.

The Alliance brings together health systems committed to building advanced cardiometabolic care programs supported through collaboration, shared clinical protocols, operational workflows, data-driven quality initiatives and patient and care team education.

Our History

The CKM Center Alliance grew from the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance, which was founded by Saint Luke’s Michael & Marlys Haverty Cardiometabolic Center of Kansas City. The alliance’s innovative care model brought together cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology and primary care to provide comprehensive, patient-centered treatment for people living with Type 2 diabetes and related cardiovascular and kidney conditions.

The Alliance was developed through the leadership of Mikhail Kosiborod, MD and Melissa Magwire, RN, MSN, CDCES, whose work helped establish the original clinical model, patient registry and national collaborative network. Their vision was to create a coalition of health care organizations committed to delivering coordinated, team-based cardiometabolic care and improving outcomes for patients with complex cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic disease, no matter where they live and receive care.

In 2020, this work expanded into a national collaborative to help health systems implement this model of care through shared protocols, a longitudinal patient registry and ongoing collaboration across member sites.

Part of the American Heart Association

In 2025, the American Heart Association acquired the program assets of the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance to expand this work nationally as part of broader work to further Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) health and research.

Today, the CKM Center Alliance supports health systems working to build, refine and lead advanced cardiometabolic care programs, while contributing to research, real-world evidence and shared learning across a growing national network.

What the CKM Center Alliance Provides

Members of the CKM Center Alliance participate in a collaborative focused on advancing integrated cardiometabolic care through:

Shared clinical protocols and implementation resources Participation in a longitudinal patient registry Education and peer-to-peer learning Research and real-world evidence generation Collaboration across leading health systems

Shared clinical protocols and implementation resources
Participation in a longitudinal patient registry
Education and peer-to-peer learning
Research and real-world evidence generation
Collaboration across leading health systems

Andrew J. Sauer, MD

Executive Director

Andrew J. Sauer, MD, is a cardiologist, physician-scientist, and internationally recognized educator with more than a decade of leadership experience in cardiovascular medicine. He has dedicated his career to advancing cardiovascular science and ensuring equitable access to best-in-class therapies. After earning his medical degree from the University of Rochester, Dr. Sauer trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of Harvard/MIT, followed by fellowships in cardiology and heart failure at Northwestern.

He established a leading heart failure and transplant program at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City before joining Saint Luke’s in 2021. At Saint Luke’s, under the mentorship of CMCA founder Mikhail Kosiborod, MD, Dr. Sauer has contributed to the leadership of global clinical trials and directs the regional cardiometabolic program.

A prolific author with hundreds of publications and thousands of citations, Dr. Sauer serves as associate editor of the Journal of Cardiac Failure and frequently speaks at international scientific sessions. His clinical practice focuses on patients with obesity, diabetes, heart failure, and complications of cardiometabolic disease.

Connect with Dr. Sauer on Linkedin

Melissa Magwire, RN, MSN, CDCES

Program Director

Melissa Magwire is a Registered Nurse and Certified Diabetes Education and Care Specialist (CDCES) who has earned a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. She has more than 30 years of experience in the cardiovascular and diabetes care space. She provides direct patient care to those living with diabetes, focusing on cardiovascular risk reduction and is the Program Director for the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance, a national consortium of Cardiometabolic Centers of Excellence. She is a contributing author on the 2018 and 2020 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for CV Reduction in Patients with T2DM and ASCVD. She has authored over 20 peer reviewed publications, served on the Editorial Board of Clinical Diabetes, and is currently serving as a member of the ADCES Clinical Practice Committee, the AHA Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic health Diabetes Science Committee, as well as several national key opinion leader advisory boards.

Connect with Melissa on Linkedin

Daniel Aistrope, PharmD, BCACP

Program Consultant

Kyle Hamersley, RN, BSN

Program Consultant

Angie Skinner

Program Consultant

Andrea Stafos, DNP, ANP-BC, BC-ADM

Program Consultant

Looking Ahead

The CKM Center Alliance continues to build on the work of its founding members by supporting health systems at every stage of developing coordinated cardiometabolic care — from early implementation to advanced, mature programs that serve as models for the field.

Together, we are shaping the future of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic care.

JOIN THE ALLIANCE