“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 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.
In this insightful and action-oriented episode Dr Gulati, chair of the recent 2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Chest Pain, talks about the guideline development process and the factors that can dictate the questions of representations and the integration of the latest findings. Next, Dr Rai shares insights from a recent study that compared gender differences in the authorship of the US, Canadian, and European Cardiology Guidelines From 2006 to 2020. Dr Kalra invites Dr Gulati and Dr Rai to share their take on how progress can be achieved through advocacy and what are the facts we can build on.
Read the full paper here: www.ahajournals.org/doi/epub/10.116…JAHA.121.024249
Questions and comments can be sent to “podcast@radciffe-group.com” and may be answered by Ankur in the next episode. Guests, @DrMarthaGulati & @DeveshRaiMD hosted by@AnkurKalraMD. Produced by @RadcliffeCARDIO.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Ankur Kalra asks Grant W Reed, Director of the Cleveland Clinic’s STEMI program, to reflect on the actions they took and the challenges of delaying cardiovascular procedures in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr Reed offers insight on the factors that influenced the Cleveland Clinic’s STEMI policy for COVID-19. Ankur and Grant discuss the triage considerations for patients with structural heart disease and the steps the clinic took to protect its healthcare workers.