We are faced with a number of changes in our lives. The old saying, “life happens” generally means take the changes as they come and keep it moving. The human body is not equipped to distinguish between distress and eustress. Amazing life changes happens such as getting acknowledged for an accomplishment, passing the preliminary exams … Read more
Last November, I attended Career Advancement and Leadership Skills for Women in Healthcare, an illuminating conference that changed my approaches to my personal and professional development. Led by Drs. Julie Silver and Saurabha Bhatnagar, this Harvard Medical School women’s leadership course delivers evidence-based strategies, skills development, and education to help women across health professions assume … Read more
As we recently closed the academic year last month, I attended our graduating fellows’ dinner and I was reminded of the continued challenges of motherhood for many female cardiologists. This reminder came in the form of a conversation I had with one of our Interventional Cardiology fellows who was completing her Interventional fellowship and we … Read more
There has been increasing emphasis on non-invasive assessment of regional perfusion abnormality/ endothelial dysfunction-which have often been linked to poor cardiovascular outcomes. Infrared thermography (IT) is a ‘non-contact’ imaging modality which detects infrared heat from the surface of the body and quantifies skin temperature as a surrogate for blood flow for specific vascular territories.2 It … Read more
During the European Stroke Organization conference, clinical trial results were presented, including investigation of treatments and outcomes of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. One of the most remarkable and surprising results were from the RESTART trial1 presented by Professor Rustam Al-Shahi Salman (Twitter @BleedingStroke) from the University of Edinburgh. This randomized open label trial was … Read more
Frequently on rounds, my colleagues argue that we should not do something to a patient since “there is no evidence that it works.” This phenomenon of avoiding practice that has insufficient clinical trial evidence is often more common among young trainees in academic settings. The practice of evidence-based medicine inherently involves integrating doctor’s experience, patient preferences and … Read more
Last month, I attended a meeting held by HFSA, entitled “Future Leaders in Heart Failure Symposia.” The meeting gathered together a multi-disciplinary team of trainees – cardiology fellows, nurses, pharmacists, post-doctoral researchers – to immerse them in discussions with current leaders in the world of heart failure. Session topics centered on themes such as having … Read more
As I am inching towards, what I hope would be my final year of PhD research, I have been thinking and analyzing a lot of my actions in retrospect. I thought of putting together a list of things I learned and things I wish I had considered in my first year. 1) Finding the … Read more
Approximately 15-20% of all coronary interventions are bifurcations1. Based on the overall Syntax Score, coronary artery bypass grafting is often recommended particularly in the setting of multi-vessel disease, diabetes and impaired left ventricular function. Once a decision to proceed with percutaneous revascularization is made, it is imperative that operators select the most appropriate revascularization strategy … Read more
I’m spending the last month of internal medicine residency on a neurology rotation. I suppose that’s fair; my wife, a neurology resident, had to do a whole year of medicine. To me, the most interesting part of neurology is the parallel between stroke and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Conceptually these are two manifestations of a … Read more