Cardiac Amyloid

Welcome to the Cardiac Amyloid Topic Page! Below, you will find podcast episodesinfographicreferencesMGUS pocket guide, guest contributors and expertsflutter stars, and so much more. Click the Topics Page button to see our other cardiovascular topics covered by the CardioNerds. 

Amyloid Series Podcast Episodes

The importance of recognition and diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis is at an all-time high due to its high prevalence and improved therapeutic strategies. Here we discuss what CardioNerds need to know about the manifestations, diagnosis, and management of transthyretin (ATTR) and light chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis. Join Dr. Dan Ambinder (CardioNerds Cofounder), Dr. Dinu-Valentin Balanescu (Series Cochair, Chief Resident at Beaumont Health, and soon FIT at Mayo Clinic), and Dr. Dan Davies (Episode FIT Lead and FIT at Mayo Clinic) as they discuss cardiac amyloidosis with Dr. Omar Siddiqi, cardiologist at the Boston University Amyloidosis Center and program director for the general cardiovascular fellowship program at Boston University, a CardioNerds Healy Honor Roll Program. Episode notes were drafted by Dr. Dan Davies. Audio editing by CardioNerds Academy Intern, student doctor Chelsea Amo Tweneboah.

Amit and Dr. Ashley Bock learn more about cardiac amyloidosis from Dr. Ron Witteles from Stanford. This episode is the fourth and final part of our immersive journey into the jungle of beta-pleated sheets in the heart. Flutter moment by Lois Adamski.

Dan and Carine chat with Dr. Virginia Hahn about her work profiling HFpEF patients via endomyocardial biopsy only to find a significant proportion of patients with unsuspected cardiac amyloid. This is followed by a high yield discussion with Dr. Joban Vaishnav about ATTR cardiac amyloid treatment and management options. Flutter moment by David Ambinder (MS IV). 

Amit and Dr. Zach Il’Giovine learn about multimodality imaging in amyloid from Dr. Paul Cremer at the Cleveland Clinic. On their way to Dr. Cremer’s office, they run into Dr. Eoin Donnellan and discuss some incredible fellow research related to cardiac amyloid from an electrophysiologic perspective. Flutter moment by Brie Lilly, RN

A new case of congestive heart failure due to amyloid cardiomyopathy is presented by Yuxuan Wang and discussed by Carine, Heather, Dan and Amit. Guest oncology star: Jackie Zimmerman. Flutter moment by Mark Heslin. 

Amyloid Related Episodes

Schematics and Figures

CardioNerds Cardiac Amyloid
CardioNerds Cardiac Amyloid, updated 1.20.21

Recommended Youtube video

Diagnosing a-TTR Amyloid Heart Disease: Integrating clinical and Imaging Findings

Check out Cardiac Imaging Agora for more terrific content on cardiac imaging. 

Wael Jaber, MD

Meet our guest hosts and experts!

Yuxuan Wang, MD, PhD

Yuxuan completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She then received her MD and PhD degrees through the Medicine Scientist Training Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She trained under Bert Vogelstein, focusing on the early detection of cancer. She is currently finishing the last year of residency and fast-tracking into fellowship in Hematology-Oncology.
 

Jackie Zimmerman, MD, PhD

Dr. Jackie Zimmerman completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at University of Alabama School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine training and served as assistant chief resident (ACS) for the Longcope firm at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is currently a medical oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins and investigating tumor-stromal interactions in pancreatic cancer in the lab of Dr Elizabeth Jaffee.

Dr. Paul Cremer

Paul Cremer, MD

Dr. Cremer earned a Bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Following completion of his internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, he worked as a physician for two years at the Navajo IHS Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility in Chinle, Ariz. He then continued his postdoctoral training with a three-year fellowship in cardiovascular medicine and a subsequent two-year fellowship in advanced cardiovascular imaging, both at Cleveland Clinic. He joined the Cleveland Clinic staff in 2017. He is the director of the Cleveland Clinic CCU.  He enjoys swimming and reading fantasy books with his daughters.

Eoin Donnellan, MD

Dr. Eoin Donnellan is a 3rd year Cardiology Fellow at the Cleveland Clinic and all-around nice guy. He received his medical degree from University College Cork in Ireland before heading to the big city to continue his training at the Mater Hospital in Dublin. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Cleveland Clinic and will start EP Fellowship this July. Outside of the hospital he enjoys long nature walks, whispering sweet nothings, searching for the deeper meaning in little things, and watching thought-provoking and highly entertaining television programs such as This is Us and The Bachelor.

Virginia Shalkey Hahn, MD

Dr. Virginia Shalkey Hahn is a fourth-year Cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. She earned her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she stayed for residency. She moved to Johns Hopkins for Cardiology fellowship (after a 1 year hiatus as an ICU hospitalist). During fellowship, she completed 2 years on the NIH T32 Training grant and one year as chief fellow. She feels passionate about translational heart failure research and mothering her 2 young children.

Joban Vaishnav, MD

Dr. Joban Vaishnav completed her undergraduate and medical school training at St. Louis University. She has since been at Johns Hopkins for residency, cardiology fellowship, and advanced heart failure fellowship. Her early research pursuits were in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. From this, and from her advanced heart failure training, she developed a strong clinical interest and research interest in early diagnosis and treatment of cardiac amyloidosis.

Dr. Ronald Witteles

Ronald (Ron) Witteles, MD

Dr. Ronald Witteles is a graduate of Northwestern University where he earned his B.A. in Biology, and of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. with Honors.  He then moved west to Stanford University where he completed IM residency and Cardiology fellowship training, serving as both Chief Resident and Chief Fellow. He subsequently joined the faculty at Stanford, and is currently appointed as Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine). He has served as Program Director for the Stanford University Internal Medicine Residency Training Program for more than 10 years, where he leads a residency program of approximately 140 residents.  He is Co-Director of the Stanford Amyloid Center – one of the nation’s largest centers in the country which specializes in the treatment of patients with amyloidosis, and he leads an active research program in this area. He also serves as Co-Director of the Stanford Multidisciplinary Sarcoidosis Program, and he is a national leader in Cardio-Oncology, serving as Associate Editor for the country’s premier journal dedicated to the field, JACC: CardioOncology. 

Zachary Il’Giovine, MD

Dr. Zachary Il’Giovine is a general cardiology fellow at the Cleveland Clinic. He received his medical degree from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine before completing internal medicine training at Duke University. He has clinical interests in advanced heart failure and cardiac critical care. Outside of the hospital he loves playing soccer and spending time with his wife Clare and son Luca.

Ashley Bock, MD

Dr. Ashley Bock earned her medical degree at the University of Colorado and completed her internal medicine residency training at Duke.  From there she came to the Cleveland Clinic for general cardiology fellowship and advanced heart failure training.

Meet our guest hosts and experts!

Mark Heslin, B.S.

Mark is a current 3rd year medical student at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey. He completed his undergraduate studies at James Madison University with a degree in biology. Mark will be applying to internal medicine residency programs this upcoming fall with the hope of applying for a cardiology fellowship in the future. His clinical interests include clinical reasoning and the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Outside of medical school, Mark enjoys spending time on Long Beach Island with his friends and family.

Brie Lilly, RN

Brie Lilly is a Cleveland native. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Kent State University and then began her career at the Cleveland Clinic shortly after. She worked in the Clinic’s CICU for 3.5 years and is now enjoying expanding her knowledge and love for cardiology as a Cath Lab RN. On her days off, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, Scott, and her puppy, Renley. 

Dr. David Ambinder

David Ambinder

David Ambinder is a 4th year medical student at the University of Maryland and will be starting urology residency this coming July at Westchester Medical Center. He grew up in New York and graduated from Touro College before heading to Baltimore for medical school. He enjoys spending time with his wife Samantha and 3 lovely children.