2023 CLIMB Clinical Skills Training

Dr Shrilla Banerjee is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, UK. She has a particular interest in coronary artery disease (prevention and complex intervention) in Women, and also in Aviation Cardiology.

Dr Banerjee has been associated with WomenAsOne as a CLIMB attendee herself in 2020 and then an Escalator Award Mentor-Match Award Winner in 2021, and with Dr Aaysha Cader produced a Mentorship package potentially for delivery worldwide. Dr Banerjee is a passionate advocate for women in her specialty, and has developed strategies aimed at balancing the gender-based disparity in Cardiology, especially procedure-based Cardiology. This builds on her work as British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS) Chair of the Focus Group for Women in Interventional Cardiology, which has resulted in change-drivers and campaigns to shape a more equitable future in Interventional Cardiology.

Dr. Evan Shlofmitz is an Interventional Cardiologist and the Director of Intravascular Imaging at St. Francis Hospital – The Heart Center in Roslyn, NY and an Executive Director of Optimizing PCI (OPCI). He completed a fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Georgetown University/MedStar Washington Hospital Center. He previously completed an Intravascular Imaging and Physiology fellowship at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), a Cardiovascular Disease fellowship at Northwell Health and served as Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Queens. He serves on the steering committee for the pivotal IVUS trial, IMPROVE and SCAI’s Ischemic Heart Disease Council. Dr. Shlofmitz’s research interests have centered on intravascular imaging and physiology, calcified coronary artery disease and PCI optimization, with more than 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He participates in numerous education initiatives globally, in an effort to increase the adoption of intravascular imaging.

Martha Gulati, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, FASPC, FESC is the President of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. She recently joined the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute as a professor of cardiology and is the director of cardiovascular disease prevention, the associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and holds the Anita Dann Friedman Endowed Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research. She was a Professor of Medicine and the inaugural Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona. She is the author of the best-seller, “Saving Women’s Hearts”. She served as the chair of the national chest pain guidelines that were released in late 2021.

Her exceptional commitment to the study of women and cardiac diseases has won her numerous awards and distinctions, including the first CREDO (Coalition to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardiovascular Outcomes) Award from the American College of Cardiology, the National Red Dress Award, the 2019 American College of Cardiology’s Bernadine Healy Award amongst others. She was chosen as the most influential woman in Phoenix in 2019.

Dr. Gulati is Canadian and completed medical school at the University of Toronto, Canada. She went on to complete her internship, residency and cardiology fellowship at the University of Chicago. She received a Masters’ in Science at the University of Chicago and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Preventive Cardiology & the European Society of
Cardiology.

Interventional cardiologist Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Former head of the catherization laboratory location VUmc. Initiator and first chair of: Working group on Gender of the Dutch Society of Cardiology (NVVC) (2008-2013) and Thinktank of Gender&Health VUmc (2016- ).

Main area of interest is researching the subject of angina with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (ANOCA), including the use of invasive coronary function testing techniques and participating in a large-scale National Registry on ANOCA (IMPRESS study; MICORDIS study; NL-CFT Registry). She is member of the Lancet Commission on Gender & CV disease and co-author of the publication in Lancet 2020. Also co-author of the INOCA consensus document EHJ/EuroInterv 2020/2021; In the Netherlands, she is one of the ambassadors on gender and CVD and a well-known public figure contributing as a professional advisor to the media. In 2019, nominated by a Dutch magazine as one of the most important influential women of 2018 on Women & Health in the Netherlands. In 2020 she took part in the Dutch documentary ‘The Female heart’. She is the recipient of a number of research grants funding her studies on gender and CVD and she supervises several medical PhD students on this topic. Former member of the steering committee of EAPCI-Women and former chair of Education and Training. Currently member of EAPCI Advocacy Committee and ESC EORP NSTEMI Registry. Co-applicant to many trials investigating the role of gender on CVD. Member of numerous advisory boards: Associate editor of Frontiers in CV Medicine special section on Gender in CV Medicine; Editorial Board Euro Intervention; Editorial Board Netherlands Heart Journal; Ambassador and member of the Working group Heart for Women Netherlands Heart Foundation; Organizer of events during national Dress Red Day on September 29th; Organizer and participator in yearly cycle event from The Netherlands to ESC for fundraising Women and CVD. Published a large number of articles and peer-reviewed publications; H-factor 30. Also co-author of the recently published book on “The female heart: ‘ from ischemia to prevention” that was published in Dutch.

Yolande Appelman’s ambition is to move this field forward and to enrich the knowledge gap in non- obstructive CAD especially in women.

Dr. Shelley Zieroth joined the Section of Cardiology at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg in July 2006. She is currently a Professor in the College of Medicine, Max Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, as well as Director of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Clinics. She is also Head of the Medical Heart Failure Program for Cardiac Sciences Manitoba.

Dr. Zieroth attended medical school at the University of Manitoba and went on to train in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the same centre. She completed her Postdoctoral Clinical Fellowship, specializing in Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant, at Toronto General Hospital.

She is involved in several heart failure clinical trials as a PI, National Lead or Executive Committee member. She is the Past President of the Canadian Heart Failure Society and co-Chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society for Heart Failure Guidelines. She serves as Co-Chair of Canada’s largest annual heart failure meeting, HF Update. She is also Associate Editor at the Journal of Cardiac Failure and the European Heart Journal.

Dr. Zieroth is actively engaged in Social Media and promotes #cardiotwitter for its rapid access to clinical trial data, publications, and free online access to medical education. It is through this engagement Dr. Zieroth has become recognized as a global supporter and sponsor of women in medicine and cardiology. She is currently President of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Soophia Naydenov, MD, FCCP, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, is a practicing pulmonary and critical care physician at SSM Saint Louis University Hospital (SSM-SLUH) with more than 15 years of experience. Dr. Naydenov has spent much of her career collaborating in research, diagnosis, risk stratification and management of pulmonary embolism (PE). Dr. Naydenov successfully implemented the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) at SSM Saint Louis University Hospital, which was the first one of its kind in the region. Through her efforts, SSM- SLUH became one of the founding members of the National PERT Consortium. Dr. Naydenov pioneered the Pulmonary Embolism Clinic in the Saint Louis area to fill the gap in the transitions of care for these patients. She currently serves as the Director of Pulmonary Embolism Response Team and Pulmonary Embolism Follow up Clinic at SSM Saint Louis University Hospital. She continues to partner with the PERT consortium and is actively involved in nationwide effort to improve care of PE patients. Dr. Naydenov has participated in industry funded research in pulmonary embolism. To further these efforts, under her leadership, SSM-SLUH PERT hosts an Annual Midwest Interdisciplinary PE Symposium starting in 2018. It is a highly sought educational activity in the region. Many renowned national speakers and PE experts have participated in this event.