All Things Cardio-Oncology

Dr. Khattab completed his cardio-oncology and advanced cardiac imaging fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He currently practices at St Francis Heart and Vascular Institute in Tulsa, OK, USA, and as an assistant professor for Oklahoma State University Cardiovascular Disease fellowship and serves as director of cardio-oncology there. In this episode he discusses radiation induced heart disease, diagnosis and management.

Kerry Skurka’s professional career was as a nurse in cardiology, and after her own cancer experience she moved to oncology. While caring for cancer patients she saw cardiac symptoms routinely and therefore welcomed the opportunity to be the first Cardio-Oncology Nurse Navigator at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis. Together with her cardio-oncologist Vijay Rao the program grew to 3 nurse navigators and 6 satellite clinics. During this time Kerry was given the opportunity to start the Nursing Workgroup within the International Cardio-oncology Society to grow the field of cardio-oncology nursing.

Losing both her husband and father to cancer, Kerry’s passion for this work continues. Currently, she works independently in the healthcare field sharing her knowledge and experience providing consultation for nurses and programs .

Yvonne Callahan Assistant Clinical Instructor, Missouri State University School of Nursing and an oncology nursing specialist.

Cezar Iliescu, MD is Professor, Department of Cardiology, and an Interventional Cardiologist, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Dr. Iliescu has published extensively on the issue of managing pericardial disease in patients with cancer. Today he discusses pericardial effusions, pericardial tumors, pericarditis, and other related complications facing patients with cancer.

Dra Teresa López-Fernández is a clinical investigator and consultant cardiologist at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, Spain. She is specializes in cardiac imaging and cardio-oncology (she is board certified by the International Cardio-Oncology Society), and currently coordinates the cardio-oncology team at La Paz University Hospital. Here we discuss risk stratification in cardio-oncology care.

In this episode recorded at the ACC Cardio-Oncology meeting in 2025 Dr. Addison discusses safeguarding the heart during stem cell transplantation: from pre-transplant CV evaluation to survivorship

Dr. Eric Chow is an expert in cancer survivorship. He focuses on survivors of childhood cancers and survivors of blood stem cell transplantation of all ages. In this discussion he addresses the various cardiovascular challenges survivors of childhood cancer face.

Kathryn J. Ruddy, M.D., studies long-term and late effects of cancer treatments, and how to best care for cancer survivors to enhance their quality of life and reduce symptoms. In this episode Dr. Ruddy discusses her session at the ACC meeting on cardioprotective strategies.

Darryl Leong is a leading researcher in genitourinary malignancies including prostate, bladder and renal cancers. The cardiovascular risks and complications for each are varied depending on the treatments involved. Dr. Leong discusses the risk profiles and management strategies for this population.

In this new series we will be highlighting the patient experience by speaking with patients and the physicians who treat them. We know you will be inspired by these stories in your own experience either as a patient or a health care provider.

Today we speak withLalitha C. Medepalli, MD, FACC, FASE, RPVINorthside Hospital, Atlanta, GA USA and her patient Karen Rowland.

Dr Alessandra Ferrajoli (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, US) provides an in-depth cumulative review of hypertension management in patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and other hematologic malignancies treated with Acalabrutinib. This podcast explores the mechanisms, incidence and clinical implications of treatment-related hypertension, offering evidence-based strategies to optimise cardiovascular care for this patient population.

Jeff Sharman M.D. is the medical director of hematology research for the US Oncology / Sarah Cannon Research Institute network. This consortium manages approximately one out of every five cancer patients treated in the United States and is the largest private research network in the country. 

Dr Sharman developed the original idea of using BTK inhibitors to treat lymphoid malignancies and conducted the first in human studies of ibrutinib within his private practice at the Willamette Valley Cancer and Research Center in Eugene, Oregon, US. 

Here Dr. Sharman addresses hypertension and arrhythmias related to BTK inhibitors.

Dr. Alexis Vasbinder, University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle, USA

Read her article here:

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jaccao.2023.07.007

Atrial Fibrillation and Anticoagulation are complex matters in cancer care. Dr. Abdel-Qadir provides a masterful summary of the key issues in this episode.

Prof Husam Abdel-Qadir, MD, Phd is a Cardiologist at Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, CA. Prof Abdel-Qadir's primary clinical and research focus is on the cardiovascular health of people with cancer, particularly breast cancer and he leads a research programme on the management and outcomes of people with atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Gagan Sahni Director of Cardio- Oncology and Inpatient Cardiology Consult services at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, and Fellow of ICOS presents her Center of Excellence quality improvement project.

Anecita Fadol who is Associate Professor, Education Director- Nursing Cardiology Program · The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and chair of the ICOS nurses Working Group

Jessica Coviello, DNP, APRN(Ct), ANP-BC, FAAN, Associate Dean of Faculty Development, Professor, Graduate Studies, Univ of TX School of Nursing in Houston

Dr. Carrie Lennemam, University of Alabama Birmingham explains how they are using AI to expedite referrals to their cardio-oncology clinic, saving time and saving lives.

Dr. Eric Yang, Director of Cardio-Oncology discusses how they have integrated cardio-oncology training into all aspects of their program for residents and fellows.

Dr Zsofia Drobni is a Cardiology Fellow at Semmelweis University, Budapest, HU. Her research focuses on the utility of cardiac CT and MRI in patients receiving cardiotoxic therapies, with a specific focus on immune checkpoint inhibitors. Dr Drobni graduated in 2017 from Semmelweis University, in Hungary, and continued her PhD studies at Semmelweis. Her PhD thesis was on “new perspectives of CT-based cardiovascular risk assessment”. From 2019, Dr Drobni was a research fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University. Dr Drobni is currently the president of and founded the Hungarian Chapter of IC-OS.

Dr. Eiman Jahangir

Associate Professor of Medicine

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Director, Cardio-Oncology

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

In this episode Dr. Janhangir describes how he was selected to fly with Blue Origin to sub-orbital space fulfilling a lifelong dream. We also discuss the intersection of his work as a physician with his background in space science and the humanities.

Among other things Dr. Lang and Dr. Dan Lenihan discuss blood pressure treatments for patients with cancer.

For more information on the work Dr. Lang and his team are engaged in see: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cardiovascularmetabolic/research/cardiac-diseases/oncology/#publications

Karlis Trusinskis, MD President of IC-OS Latvia chapter speaks about the challenges and opportunities of cardio-oncology care in his country.

Diego Sadler, MD

Section Head Cardio Oncology, Cleveland Clinic Florida

In this episode Dr. Sadler speaks about his pioneering work with the Global Cardio-Oncology Registry. This is the first in kind registry that aims to enroll cardio-oncology patients from around the world. GCOR is a multinational, multicenter prospective observational cohort registry and will collect clinical, laboratory, imaging, demographic and socioeconomic data to identify risk factors associated with increased incidence of cancer therapy related cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Anju Nohria is the Director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). In addition, she is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

On this episode she discusses the challenges and opportunities of starting a new clinic focused on cardio-oncology care.

Renato Lopes, MD, PhD, FACC

Renato Delascio Lopes

Professor of Medicine

Duke University, School of Medicine

Professor of Medicine Divisions of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Dr. Lopes discusses his ongoing efforts to develop, produce, and distribute cardio-oncology education in Brazil and the United States.  

Dr Michelle Kittleson is Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and Director of Education in Heart Failure and Transplantation at the Smidt Heart Institute. She graduated from Harvard College and received her medical degree from Yale University. She completed residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital and cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins, where she also received a PhD in Clinical Investigation.

Watch the complete webinar here: https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/webinars/latest-clinical-trial-updates-attr-cm-and-al-cm

Dr. Paul Cottu, oncologist at Institut Curie, Paris, FR provides an overview of breast cancer therapies with associated cardiovascular toxicities. The original webinar can be viewed at the link below:

https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/webinars/cardiotoxicity-breast-cancer-challenges-multimodal-therapies

Ihab Rafic Hamzeh, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Cardiology, The MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

This is a highlight from our weekly webinar January 11, 2023. You can view the entire broadcast at the link below.

https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/webinars/cardiovascular-toxicities-novel-cancer-drugs

Dr Kathryn Ruddy is a Professor of Oncology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, US. She co-leads the Prevention, Survivorship and Care Delivery Programme at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dan Lenihan and Steve Casselli had a chance to sit down with Dr. Prince Otchere at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Summit 2023 and discuss developments in Ghana, Africa which Prince is helping to pioneer.

We had the chance to sit down with Dr. Icro Meattini from Florence, Italy to hear about his experience as a Radiation Oncologist from Italy along with his insights about the SABCS meeting.

Dr. Susan Dent, Dr. Teresa Lopez-Fernandez speak with IC-OS Executive Director Steve Casselli about community highlights from the past year.

This is a brief discussion recorded at the American Heart Association in Philadelphia, USA.

Teresa López-Fernández is a clinical investigator and consultant cardiologist at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, Spain. She is specializes in cardiac imaging and cardio-oncology (she is board certified by the International Cardio-Oncology Society), and currently coordinates the cardio-oncology team at La Paz University Hospital.

Dr. Joseph Carver is the Bernard Fishman Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the Chief Operating Officer of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chief of Staff of the Abramson Cancer Center.

He is also an editor of the Cardio-Oncology Journal. For submission information and to read the latest science go to: https://cardiooncologyjournal.biomedcentral.com/

Dr. Michael Fradley speaks about the role of electrophysiology in cardio-oncology from the American Heart Association meeting in Philadelphia, USA.

Dr. Abdelrahman Ali, Cardio-Oncology Fellow speaks with Dr. Daniel Addison and Dr. Daniel Lenihan at the AHA meeting in Philadephia about Dr. Addison's presentation on health equity.

Juan Lopez-Mattei is Medical Director and Director of Cardiac Imaging, Lee Health Heart & Vascular Institute,

Cardiac computed tomographic imaging in cardio-oncology: An expert consensus document of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT). Endorsed by the International Cardio-Oncology Society (ICOS)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36216699/

Delegates from around the world share their reflections from the 2022 GCOS meeting in Toronto, Canada October 5-7 including: Kerry Skurka, RN (USA), Trent Williams, RN (Australia), Christine Brezden-Masley, MD (Canada), Stefanie Mundnich, MD (Chile), Ana Barac, MD (USA), Dan Gilon, MD (Israel), Zaza Iakobishvili, MD (Israel), Edith Pituskin, PhD (Canada), Anecita Fadol, PhD (USA), Giselle Melendez, MD (USA), Juliana Salas Segura, MD (Costa Rica), Alex Lyon, MD (United Kingdom), Karlis Trusinskis, MD (Latvia), Trishun Singh, MD (South Africa),  Susan Dent, MD (USA), Teresa Lopez-Fernandez (Spain)

We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Eric Yang and Dr. Daniel Addison at the annual American Heart Association meeting in Philadelphia, USA about using biomarkers for risk stratification.

Thanks to Dr. Abdelrahman Ali, Cardio-Oncology Fellow at MD Anderson for assisting us in this episode.