“It’s a tsunami not just a wave. The worst tsunami you can imagine”


Prof Michele Senni is Director of Cardiology at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Bergamo Italy. He contracted COVID-19 himself and in this latest podcast he meets with Ankur Kalra, MD to discuss his personal experience in dealing with patients and COVID-19 in Europe’s outbreak epicentre.


Hear them discuss the burden on healthcare, patient selection, the importance of testing and PPE and how COVID has resulted in a reduction of acute myocardial infarction and heart failure in patients.

“We are at war with a pandemic and the enemy is not each other, it’s the virus.”


In this latest episode, Ankur Kalra, MD meets with Andrew Sauer, MD, co-author of an upcoming paper in US Cardiology Review on COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease that provides a concise and current summary of cardiovascular complications from COVID-19.


Hear them discuss the latest issues surrounding the pandemic, the known cardiac implications and the rapidly emerging data.

In these unprecedented times, we provide an early release episode to gain insight on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic from Deputy Editor in Chief of US Cardiology Review, a BDG interventional cardiologist, Bill Gogas, MD, PhD practising in East Asia.



Hear Bill’s take on how East Asia responded to and successfully managed the pandemic and how they are now seeing a significant reduction in cases outside the epicentre. Hear how the strategy resulted in only 93 patients in Bill’s city of Nanjing, testing positive for coronavirus with a city population of 8 million.



Learn about effective responses, the importance of early control and how as a cardiovascular physician, your life and practice may be impacted by the virus.

Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com.


Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

We can count on our fingertips how many interventional intensivists exist in the US.



In this episode Ankur Kalra, MD meets with Dr Ann Gage, Cleveland Clinic’s first ‘interventional intensivist’. She discusses her unique skill set, what it means to be an interventionalist in the cath lab but also an expert in cardiovascular intensive care and advocates why such a unique skill set and critical care training are required in today’s modern medicine.



Listen to this engaging discussion between them on the challenges of being a woman in cardiovascular medicine today.



Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com. Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

Dr Cavalcante meets with Ankur Kalra, MD to discuss his recent review published in US Cardiology Review 13.2; on a new aortic stenosis staging system that has important implications for clinical outcomes following aortic valve replacements to aid the treatment of aortic stenosis.



Listen to this, as well as an overview on his interesting childhood and his views on the future of cardiac imaging to treat TAVR.



Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com. Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

The first female cardiac surgeon qualified in the 1960’s. Today there are only 4.5% women in cardiology and only 4% in thoracic surgery. Ankur Kalra meets with Dr Kendra Grubb, the first women to be trained at the University of Virginia, US, on cardiothoracic surgery and the 250th board certified women in thoracic surgery.



Her recent post on social media went viral. It was a photo of an all-women surgical team carrying out a complex structural heart procedure. It had over 100,000 views and was seen by people in over 75 different countries. It’s clear from this online reaction, that now is the time for women to be recognised for the work they are doing in medicine.



Listen to this engaging discussion between them on the challenges of being a woman in cardiovascular medicine today.



Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com. Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

In our final episode of the year, Ankur has an long conversation with Sukh Nijjer from Imperial College London about the most impactful, exciting and controversial clinical trials of 2019. Sukh and Ankur also discuss how these trials might change practice in the future, and how practice patterns and decisions differ between the US and the UK. In light of an emerging trend of shared decision making between physicians of different specialities and patients with a vast amount of information at their fingertips, Sukh and Ankur examine what tools they use to reconcile the growing data from clinical trials.



Trials discussed in detail include those presented at the ACC in New Orleans: PARTNER 3 & Evolut Low Risk on TAVR/TAVI, and SAFARI & COAPT on radial vs femoral access; presented at the ESC in Paris: THEMIS and ISAR-REACT 5 on DAPT post-PCI, DAPA-HF on SGLT2i’s for heart failure, and COMPLETE on PCI of non-culprit lesions in STEMI; presented at TCT in San Francisco: TWILIGHT on DAPT post-PCI, and EXCEL at 5 years on PCI vs CABG in left main CAD; and finally, presented at AHA in Philadelphia: ISCHEMIA on medical vs invasive approaches in ischemic events. Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com.



Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

Recorded before the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2019, Ankur is joined by Rasha K Al-Lamee, Interventional Cardiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London and Study Director of the Objective Randomised Blinded Investigation with Optimal Medical Therapy of Angioplasty in Stable Angina (ORBITA) trial. Rasha talks about how she got into academia, the significance of her end-of-training PhD, and what led to the genesis of ORBITA.



Ankur and Rasha also discuss the findings and unanswered questions of ORBITA, and how recent research in coronary revascularisation and stable ischemic heart disease has (or has not) changed their clinical practice. Finally, in anticipation of its presentation at AHA 2019, Rasha gives an overview of the International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA). Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com.



Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

In Episode 16, Ankur spoke with Ajay J Kirtane on why he became a cardiologist, how he fell into academic research, and why the cardiology specialty is heavy with people of Indian origin.



Ajay also talks about how he has negotiated between competing priorities in clinical and academic work, and how he manages fatherhood with a busy career. Ahead of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2019, Ajay also shared what he thinks we can expect from the highly anticipate ISCHEMIA trial. Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com.



Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.

How did Gregg from Cleveland, Ohio become Gregg W Stone MD, world-leading interventional cardiologist and clinical trialist? This week, Ankur had the pleasure of speaking to Gregg about his personal and professional journey through the ‘golden years’ of interventional cardiology.



Gregg also shares his tips on how to progress from clinical practice to academic research, and what it takes to be a successful clinical investigator. Finally, Gregg shares with Ankur what personality traits he looks for in mentees and why presenting a final project is not enough. Submit your question to Ankur via: podcast@radciffe-group.com.



Hosted by @AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.