Parallax by Ankur Kalra

In this week’s Parallax Dr Kalra welcomes back Dr Nijjer for their annual review of the most impactful and controversial cardiovascular trials of 2022. Dr Sukh Nijjer is a Consultant Cardiologist in the UK, he is President of the Royal Society of Medicine and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College of London. The coronary physiology trial FLAVOUR was presented at ACC.22 by Dr Bon Kwo...

Parallax features a guest episode from the new podcast Neurophilia by Nupur Goel. Do you think and act with your mind or heart? How about both? Neurocardiology refers to the intersection between the fields of neurology and cardiology. The mind and heart are deeply interconnected in terms of anatomy, physiology, and various pathologic states. This episode features a vascular neurologist and an inte...

“Medical school cannot, and should not, feel easy—but it should feel worthwhile” – these are the opening words of Dr Kittleson’s book, Mastering the Art of Patient Care. Dr Kittleson’s book is not only a great resource for patient care, but a heartful companion to early career faculty as well. Dr Kalra’s guest on Parallax this week is Dr Michelle Kittleson, Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, D...

“The hospitals like things just the way they are. It gives them almost complete immunity for any peer reviews, good faith, or bad faith, that they conduct against a physician.” The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 considers accused physicians to be guilty of the charges unless and until they can prove their innocence. Over the years many hospitals abused the peer review system to extort...

“Sham peer review or malicious peer review is defined as the abuse of a medical peer review process to attack a doctor for personal or other non-medical reasons.” “Most doctors — warns Dr Kaki — do not understand that ultimately your privileges are not dictated by your colleagues through a fair process, but hospital administration controls our destiny”. In 2018, Dr Kaki was subject to a campaign o...

In 2017, Rohin Francis AKA Medlife Crisis uploaded a YouTube video titled “Leonardo da Vinci's theory about the heart was right”. This first video about how the heart valves close was watched by 412K people, garnering more than 700 comments from a diverse audience who connected to the subject with fascination, curiosity and humour. This week’s guest on Parallax is Dr Rohin Francis, Consultant Inte...

This week’s episode is dedicated to one of the biggest cardiovascular meetings, AHA’s Scientific Sessions. Dr Ankur Kalra’s guest is Dr Manesh Patel, chair of the AHA Committee on Scientific Sessions and Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Co-Director of the Heart Center at Duke University. Year on year, the organisers of the Scientific Sessions aim to give platform to cardiovascular science a...

This week's Parallax is hosting a guest episode recorded for Internal Medicine & Beyond. Tune in to this new podcast from Dr Varun Aitharaju. Exploring Art & Advancement Within Medicine - A Conversation with an Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Ankur Kalra MD is an interventional cardiologist, entrepreneur, poet, and podcaster. In this episode, he discusses his journey in cardiology. He shares his n...

This week’s Parallax episode is focusing on the latest science and questions surrounding one of the conundrums of cardiovascular science: Lipoprotein(a). Dr. Ankur Kalra invites Dr Salim S Virani to help simplify the concept of Lp(a) with answering key questions about its measurement and its place in practice and prevention. Dr Virani is a Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Director of the C...

Back by popular demand, Dr Ankur Kalra's guest is Dr Purvi Parwani, Director of Women’s Cardiovascular Disease Clinic and Assistant Professor at Loma Linda University Medical Center, US. In this ESC 2022 edition of Parallax, Ankur asks Purvi to review her highlights of the congress. Purvi details the study design and key findings of each trial and provides her insights after attending the event in...

Dr Sohail Khan was working as an interventional cardiologist in Salt Lake City, but he was growing more and more skeptical of the corporate aspects of his job. He had a dream about moving back to Pakistan and building a hospital there. Following the death of a colleague, he decided to take a leap. In this inspiring episode, Dr Ankur Kalra’s guest is Dr Sohail Khan, Chief Operating Officer at the N...

Dr Dipti Itchhaporia, 70th President of American College of Cardiology (ACC), always met her fears with actions. One of her motivations to become a cardiologist was to be able to act in the face of acute situations. When Dr Itchhaporia, the fifth woman and the first of South Asian descent to fill in this position, was asked to summarise her presidential year, she answered: flourishing in oppositio...

“Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. The one who is motivated only by the desire for the fruits of their action, and anxious about the results, is miserable indeed.” Bhagavad Gita In medical school, Dr Chinnaiyan was fascinated with embryology. The question that used to hunt her was how does once cell know to differentiate into so many di...

At the beginning of her career, Prof Lam thought that being able to multi-task is one of her strengths. After many accomplishments as a cardiologist and a researcher, she believes that there is more power in focus and being fully present. This week’s guest on Parallax is Professor Carolyn Lam, Senior Consultant and Director of Women's Heart Health at the National Heart Centre Singapore, Professor...

Even though Dr Fisher was excelling in his chosen vocation, cardiovascular medicine, over time he lost his sense of purpose. Despite his success, he felt wounded and disconnected. His training predisposed him to suppress his emotions when faced with suffering and tragedy in order to be a better doctor. Today, Dr Fisher is at the forefront of the campaign to end clinician burnout. This week’s guest...

In 1999, when Shelley Wood started her career in medical journalism, there were only a few online resources. The main function of reporting on medical news was to make information accessible. Two decades later there is an abundant number of sources covering cardiology news, but TCTMD, home of Ms Wood, stands out with its “lively, thought-provoking, and rigorously objective journalism”.1 This week’...

Years ago, Dr Bhatt, an early adopter of telemedicine, had difficult news for her patient that she wanted share with him in person. Her patient was resistant and they scheduled a video meeting. The patient asked Dr Bhatt to let him hear the news surrounded by his family in the safety of his home. Dr Bhatt learnt that she needed to listen to patients about how they want to be told things and how th...

The projects that Dr Cherwek, the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Humanitarian Award, values the most unite the following attributes: Simple, globally available, and impactful: In a recent study done in tea pickers in Assam, India, Dr Cherwek and his team first measured the impact of near eyesight correction on productivity and income. PROSPER showed that simple interventions can significantly i...

In a 1-minute video, wearing scrubs, Dr Siyab, Md voices his concerns over the decision to end mask mandate on certain US airlines. “The people that are so intensely against these mask mandates, they are not the ones who are taking buses or trains to get to work and get back home every day because they are part of the privileged class.” Dr Siyab’s mission is to be a voice of reason and appeal to t...

“There is a significant disparity in the inclusion of women on all national guideline committees, in addition to serving as a chair of cardiology guidelines. Further advocacy is required to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in our cardiology guidelines globally.” Rai D, et al. JAHA. 22 Why are we talking about inclusion, diversity, and equity? Recent years have seen many studies on the ineq...

How can you navigate challenges whilst keeping an eye on your goals and your mission? This week’s guest on Parallax is Dr Nadia Sutton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Section of Interventional Cardiology at University of Michigan. In this engaging and constructive episode, Nadia recalls her journey to medicine and reflects on the li...

Chemical engineering seemed like a sensible choice for Shon who is coming from a family of engineers. At the age of 18 the trajectory of his path took a turn when he blindly sent out 30 resumes and received one offer from a cardiologist to work in his lab. Looking back, he realizes that this was the first time “who” luck shaped his career in medicine. This week’s guest on Parallax is Dr Shon Chakr...

Joe’s journey as a patient with congenital heart disease set him on a route of becoming a professional patient advocate. Since 2016, his non-profit organisation, Team Uncle Joe is helping patients and families to better understand and help navigate CHD. Parallax host Dr Ankur Kalra invites Joe Valente, a Board-Certified Patient Advocate (BCPA) and Co-Founder of Team Uncle Joe, to talk about his mi...

In 2005, the concept of hemorrhagic MI was a preformed idea. In 2022, after years of collaboration, technical advances and research, the findings on large MI size have the potential to fundamentally improve the care of patients suffering from heart attacks. In this week’s Parallax podcast, Dr Ankur Kalra welcomes Dr Rohan Dharmakumar, Executive Director of the Krannert Cardiovascular Research Cent...

"There is a high global prevalence of hostile work environment in cardiology, including discrimination, emotional harassment, and sexual harassment.” Sharma G. et al. JACC 2021. Dr Naidu was at the beginning of his career when, having experienced micro-aggression, his chairman shared an insight that still shapes the way he thinks about addressing professional jealousy and bullying: “Don’t let peop...