Ankur Kalra MD

12/25/2023

As we draw the curtain on 2023, it is time to reminisce on our landmark year.

September 16, 2023 marked the 5th year of our existence. We celebrated our 5th birthday by broadcasting the centennial episode of our award-winning, top-ranked cardiology podcast show, Parallax with Prof. Valentin Fuster. If you haven’t already, we request you to spend some time browsing through our 5-year “milestones,” spanning from 2018 through 2023. Through your invaluable support, we are proud of all that we have accomplished over the past 5 years, from top science to top content expertise featured on our global marquee podcast.

In addition, makeadent.org made silent donations worth U.S. $15,000 to help build less privileged communities in the developing world.

2024 is already promising to be a stunning year, with Health Disparity/Equity Science accepted to be featured in Cardiovascular Research Technologies 2024 in Washington, D.C. in March.

Stay tuned for exciting updates.

Thank you, again for your invaluable support for our purpose.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2024!

12/14/2022

Season’s Greetings from Make A Dent. Based on Gandhism. Inspired by Love. For Love. “It is easy to fall in love, but it takes every fiber of your existence to rise in love. However, when that happens, my friend, there is magic!”

Grateful and thankful for a momentous 2022, with works published in JACC Journals - Journals of the American College of Cardiology, JAMA Network Open, and the European Society of Cardiology Journals (European Heart Journal) among others, funded by the Ram and Sanjita Kalra Aavishqaar Fund. Also, , co-hosted in association with Radcliffe Cardiology grew its listenership by 31% this fiscal year, making us #2 in the global Feedspot Blog Reader cardiology podcast rankings. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the invitation to showcase our success story at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions in April 2022. Finally, makeadent.org contributed over $10K in donations.

10/10/2022

Parallax Ep 78; everything you wanted to ever know about Lp(a); and no one better than Dr. Salim Virani to teach us on this enigmatic potential therapeutic target in populations at heightened risk for premature vascular events. Have a listen. Dr. Virani—you are the 🐐. 🙏 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parallax-by-ankur-kalra/id1458338104?i=1000582136769

09/06/2021

In this week’s episode 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.
In this special ESC 2021 edition of Parallax, Ankur asks Purvi to review the highlights of the congress. Purvi summarises the design and findings of the trials and their importance in the treatment of patients. Ankur and Purvi discuss how the novel data presented at ESC will inform their practice.

Trials covered in detail include
• SSaSS: Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death,
• STEP: Intensive vs. standard blood pressure control among older hypertensive patients
• EMPEROR-Preserved and Pooled: Effect of empagliflozin on cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalisations in patients with heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction, with and without diabetes,
• LOOP: Screening for AF with an implantable loop recorder to prevent stroke compared with results of the STROKESTOP trial,
• IAMI: Influenza Vaccination after Myocardial Infarction randomised trial.

What are the take-home messages of ESC 21? How can we utilise the findings in our practice? What are the questions that need further investigation?

Questions and comments can be sent to “podcast@radcliffe-group.com” and may be answered by Ankur in the next episode. Guest , hosted by . Produced by .

Brought to you by Edwards: www.edwardstavr.com

04/27/2021

Thank you, Dr. David Perlmutter, M.D..

11/10/2020

Racial and Geographic Disparities in Internet Use in the U.S. Among Patients With Hypertension or Diabetes: Implications for Telehealth in the Era of Coronavirus Disease 2019 ( ); out now in American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Care. The prevalence of internet use was 84% in the overall population and 72% among those with self-reported hypertension or diabetes, which translates to ~ 213 million and 63 million U.S. adults, respectively. The prevalence of internet use was 74% among those with hypertension compared with 89% among those without hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.99 [95% CI 0.94–1.04]) and 65% among those with diabetes compared with 86% among those without diabetes (AOR 0.89 [0.85–0.93]). When considering differences by race, we found that the prevalence of internet use among those with hypertension or diabetes was 77% in Whites, 62% in Blacks, and 56% in Hispanics. The AOR for the association between internet use and race was 0.49 (95% CI 0.44–0.53) for Blacks and 0.58 (0.51–0.66) for Hispanics compared with Whites. In general, across all U.S. states, Blacks and Hispanics with hypertension or diabetes had a lower prevalence of internet use compared with Whites. https://care.diabetesjournals.org/.../2020/10/29/dc20-2016

11/10/2020

Read this from the The New England Journal of Medicine in preparation for the .

Special Report from The New England Journal of Medicine — Implications of the 2020 Election for U.S. Health Policy

11/10/2020

Great work by our team leaders, Drs. David P. Hedrick (Section Head, Invasive and Interventional Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Akron General) and Joseph A. Lahorra (Department Chairman, Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Department, Cleveland Clinic Akron General).

John Frank, 57, achieved a major life goal this summer when he completed the John Muir Trail in California and reached the highest peak in the lower 48 states, 14,500-foot Mount Whitney. The Akron resident had tried to reach the summit 2 years earlier but his stamina got in the way, which he learned was due to a completely blocked coronary artery. After open heart bypass at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, he worked hard to get back in action and reaching this milestone was the payoff. He calls this photo, hugging his son Caleb at the top, his favorite of all time. Read more: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/patient-stories/418-climbing-mountain-is-peak-of-heart-patients-recovery

11/10/2020

One of the first things painted by the young Mike Gibson, today Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, researcher and interventional cardiologist, was a cloud. Years later while painting angiograms, Dr C Michael Gibson came up with the idea of myocardial blush; the blush was that cloud of dye in the heart muscle. In this episode, Dr. Gibson opens up about his childhood in Stilwell, Oklahoma. We discuss how the inductive quality of art can complement the deductive principles of science. Dr. Gibson recalls earlier stages of his career and warns about the blinding effect of the ego-driven, competitive culture of cardiology. We discuss fatherhood and about his role as an educator. What does it mean to be fearless as a medical professional? How can you protect yourself from the emotional toil of the profession? What is Dr. Gibson’s advice to early career cardiologists? Tune in to Parallax Episode #35, and be part of this in-depth and fascinating conversation on art, medicine and fatherhood with one of the leading figures of interventional cardiology. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and Spotify. http://ow.ly/mQIz30rgYze

11/10/2020

38. Today. In part, sorted out. In part, still searching. Immensely blessed and grateful for it all. Thank you all for your wishes; they mean a lot to me, quite frankly.

11/10/2020

First study from the Ram and Sanjita Kalra Aavishqaar Fund at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, out now in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association; we report demographic, regional, and state-level trends of mortality in patients with aortic stenosis in the U.S. from 2008-2018; great work by a terrific clinician data scientist (and soon to be a cardiovascular disease fellow), Dr. Safi Khan. ow.ly/bNeF30rfGGN

11/10/2020

; Figure 1. (In focus) Rare mug collection decorating a ☕️ table, depicting select few The New England Journal of Medicine original research contributions by a swashbuckling colleague, friend, and mentor, Dr. Sripal Bangalore. (Ganpati’s blessings [physically & metaphorically] form the background).