EP 114: The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley with Shelley Wood, Bestselling Author & Editor-in-Chief of TCTMD
In this week’s Parallax, Dr Ankur Kalra welcomes back Shelley Wood, best known for her work in the cardiology community as the editor-in-chief of TCTMD and Editorial Director of CRF. They discuss her work as a creative author and her second novel, The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley, set to be published by Harper Collins in Canada and Union Square Press in the US in August 2024.
Blending the intrigue of a medical thriller with a sweeping overview of the twentieth century, The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley tells the story of Kit McKinley, whose rare genetic condition causes her to age one year for every four. In this rich discussion, Ms Wood shares how her extensive experience as a medical writer and editor shaped her approach to crafting the novel. Dr Kalra and Ms Wood also explore one of the book’s central themes: eugenics, tracing its historical roots and examining its long shadow on medicine. Ms Wood, who balances a demanding full-time job with her creative writing, shares candid insights into her routine and the challenges of writing and publishing fiction.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about creativity, the human condition and balancing responsibilities.
To pre-order Shelley Wood new novel search for The Leap Year Gene/ The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley in your favourite independent bookshop or here.
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In this compelling episode of the Parallax Podcast, host Dr Ankur Kalra sits down with Dr Janarthanan Sathananthan, an interventional and structural cardiologist and the Chief Medical Officer of Interventional Cardiology at Boston Scientific. Dr Sathananthan recounts his life's journey, from being born in Sri Lanka during the civil war, and moving to Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Canada, and finally North America. He shares how his diverse upbringing profoundly shaped his career in cardiology.
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This week’s guest on Parallax is Dr Jonathan Fisher Cardiologist and Organizational Well-Being and Resiliency Leader at Novant Health.
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In this engaging episode, Ankur asks Shelley about her journey to medical journalism from theheart.org to TCTMD. Shelley recalls the early days of online news and shares her thoughts on what makes a content stand out in 2022. We learn more about the editorial decisions that go into leading one of the most trusted cardiology news services. Shelley, author of a bestselling novel, talks about how she balances her journalistic work with her creative writing.
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In this engaging and in-depth episode, Dr Kalra and Dr Bhatt talk about the state of digital transformation today: They discuss the challenges and opportunities of telemedicine, artificial ‘collaborative’ intelligence and novel technologies that could enhance medical training. Dr Kalra asks Dr Bhatt about how she balances her responsibilities and her tips for approaching complex problems. Dr Bhatt also shares insights on the practicalities of her role as Chief Innovation Officer of ACC.
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In this unique episode Dr Kalra and Dr Cherwek discuss highly innovative solutions in ophthalmology that could be implemented in cardiovascular medicine.
They talk about AI assisted consultation, learning pathways incorporating simulators for early career practitioners and the Flying Eye Hospital. Dr Cherwek shares his experiences about working with local teams globally and the work that goes into setting up trials across the world.
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They talk about AI assisted consultation, learning pathways incorporating simulators for early career practitioners and the Flying Eye Hospital. Dr Cherwek shares his experiences about working with local teams globally and the work that goes into setting up trials across the world.
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 those who are hesitant or against getting vaccines. His plight goes out to his 405.3K followers on TikTok every day.
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Why are we talking about inclusion, diversity, and equity? Recent years have seen many studies on the inequalities in representation of women in cardiology and yet the needle has not been moved as much as we hoped for. What does the data on the authorship of the guidelines tell us and what can be done to balance the scale?
Dr Ankur Kalra’s guests this week are Dr Martha Gulati, internationally recognized cardiologist specializing in Women and Heart Disease, Heart Disease Prevention and Dr Devesh Rai, first year cardiology fellow at Rochester General Hospital.
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Dr Ankur Kalra’s guests this week are Dr Martha Gulati, internationally recognized cardiologist specializing in Women and Heart Disease, Heart Disease Prevention and Dr Devesh Rai, first year cardiology fellow at Rochester General Hospital.
In this engaging and constructive episode, Nadia recalls her journey to medicine and reflects on the life decisions she had to make along the way: What is the career path that will get us closer to our mission? When is the right time to start family planning? How can we develop resilience in face of rejection? Nadia recalls the conversations with her colleagues and mentors as she progressed in her career. She talks about the practical aspects of tenure track and grant application. Ankur and Nadia discuss the importance of goal setting and exercising a positive mindset.
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In this rich and candid episode, Dr Chakrabarti recalls the early stages of his career and the non-linear route that led to his transition from an interventional cardiologist to working on devices that focus on improving the treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This journey was paved by self-reflection, hunger for tangible results, and connections with mentors who dared to dream big and wished the same for their mentees.
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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 mission and practical considerations involving CHD care both from a patient and a healthcare provider perspective. In this informative and practical episode, Joe shares details about the process of getting certified as a BCPA and about the work that goes into setting up a non-profit organization. We learn more about how he and his team can support patients with CHD and what he considers to be the pillar of good patient-doctor communication.
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In this week’s Parallax podcast, Dr Ankur Kalra welcomes Dr Rohan Dharmakumar, Executive Director of the Krannert Cardiovascular Research Center at IU School of Medicine, to talk about his research on hemorrhagic myocardial infarction (MI).
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Martha Gulati, Professor of Medicine and the Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona joins Ankur Kalra to continue the important conversation on how the cardiovascular community can stand up against sexism.
After the #MedBikini campaign provoked by a misogynistic study that scrutinized female doctors’ social media posts, this episode is about creating a safer environment for female healthcare professionals.
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After the #MedBikini campaign provoked by a misogynistic study that scrutinized female doctors’ social media posts, this episode is about creating a safer environment for female healthcare professionals.
This week’s guest, Prof Roxana Mehran, Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Founding Director of Women as One, is a phenomenon in interventional cardiology. Her pioneering work as clinician, trialist and advocate is well known within the community. In this episode, we learn what makes Roxana tick and what were the odds she had to defy as an immigrant from Iran to fulfil her ‘impossible dream’.
The charity organisation, Women as One is an agent for women and men to be part of medicine that is built on talent, rather than a privilege. Roxana and Ankur discuss the role of mentorship and family-friendly work environment in mending the broken house of cardiology. Roxana talks about the practical tools that are available for women to take the next steps in their career and achieve their goals.
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The charity organisation, Women as One is an agent for women and men to be part of medicine that is built on talent, rather than a privilege. Roxana and Ankur discuss the role of mentorship and family-friendly work environment in mending the broken house of cardiology. Roxana talks about the practical tools that are available for women to take the next steps in their career and achieve their goals.
This week’s guest is Dr Laura Mauri who became Vice President of Global Clinical Research and Analytics at Medtronic in 2018 after an illustrious career in academic medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Dr Kalra asks Dr Mauri about early influences and her traineeship with legendary interventionalists, the late Donald Baim and Richard Kuntz. Dr Mauri talks openly about her decision-making process and the importance of selecting your priorities and committing to them. Ankur asks Laura about her decision to go into industry. Laura shares her thoughts on medical innovations and meeting urgent needs with unique perspectives.
What is Dr Mauri’s advice for a young cardiologist? How did she balance research and patient care? What are the questions that helped her decision making? How does Dr Mauri think about innovations in medicine?
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Dr Kalra asks Dr Mauri about early influences and her traineeship with legendary interventionalists, the late Donald Baim and Richard Kuntz. Dr Mauri talks openly about her decision-making process and the importance of selecting your priorities and committing to them. Ankur asks Laura about her decision to go into industry. Laura shares her thoughts on medical innovations and meeting urgent needs with unique perspectives.
What is Dr Mauri’s advice for a young cardiologist? How did she balance research and patient care? What are the questions that helped her decision making? How does Dr Mauri think about innovations in medicine?
In the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement, a group of internal medicine residents posed a question: What can we do about racial disparity within our institution?
Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Health Equity Committee decided to confront the status quo by asking: How is racism on a structural level present within our walls?
Ankur Kalra’s guests Michelle Morse (Founding Co-Director of EqualHealth and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School) and Lauren Eberly (Cardiology Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania) are co-authors of a retrospective study that demonstrated what had previously only been observed: That black or brown heart failure patients ended up in general medicine rather than specialised cardiology services. Following the publication of the study in November 2019, the Health Equity Committee started to roll out anti-racism trainings and to work on objective admission guidelines to mitigate biased behaviours.
Aarti Bhatt (Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota), member of the Minnesota chapter of Campaign Against Racism, talks about their initiative to support projects that have a positive impact on local communities on a global scale.
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Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Health Equity Committee decided to confront the status quo by asking: How is racism on a structural level present within our walls?
Ankur Kalra’s guests Michelle Morse (Founding Co-Director of EqualHealth and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School) and Lauren Eberly (Cardiology Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania) are co-authors of a retrospective study that demonstrated what had previously only been observed: That black or brown heart failure patients ended up in general medicine rather than specialised cardiology services. Following the publication of the study in November 2019, the Health Equity Committee started to roll out anti-racism trainings and to work on objective admission guidelines to mitigate biased behaviours.
Aarti Bhatt (Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota), member of the Minnesota chapter of Campaign Against Racism, talks about their initiative to support projects that have a positive impact on local communities on a global scale.
Heart surgery is not the best option for every patient suffering from structural heart disease. This was recognized by interventional cardiologist Anmar Kanaa’N and cardiac surgeon Joseph Lahorra who decided to unify their skillsets and bring the Structural Heart Program to life. Their vision was to offer patients with heart valve diseases all available options at Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General.
In this week’s Parallax, Dr Kanaa’N, the director of the program, and Dr Lahorra, chairman of the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Department of Akron General introduce the listeners to the foundations of their program and the paradigm shift brought by TAVR.
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In this week’s Parallax, Dr Kanaa’N, the director of the program, and Dr Lahorra, chairman of the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Department of Akron General introduce the listeners to the foundations of their program and the paradigm shift brought by TAVR.