Mandeep R. Mehra, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.C.P., a nationally known cardiologist who specializes in heart failure and cardiac transplantation, became head of cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center on March 15, 2005. Dr. Mehra is also a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Mehra comes to Baltimore from Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, LA, where he served as vice-chairman, clinical and academic affairs for the department of cardiovascular medicine. In addition, he also served as chief of the cardiomyopathy and heart transplantation center at the Ochsner Multi-Organ Transplant Center.
In the following interview, Dr Mehra talks about his plans for University of Maryland Heart Center and his vision for the future of cardiovascular care.
What are your goals and plans for the Maryland Heart Center?
Simply stated, we want to be the best, the most innovative, the most open minded as an academic medical center and we wish to be broad in our scope of involvement. In particular, we want to remain closely linked to the Maryland community by providing excellence in cardiovascular care and research.
Specifically, we plan to bring state-of-art innovation to clinical cardiovascular care. We'll work on developing new interventional techniques for treating heart failure. We’ll be looking at treating mitral valvular regurgitation percutaneously in the new interventional laboratory. We’re going to bring in new percutaneous ventricular assist devices that can be placed in the catheterization lab.
We plan to develop a state-of-the-art vascular and endovascular therapeutics program in liaison with vascular surgery and interventional radiology. That’s a very important component of my vision for the future.
In the electrophysiology (heart rhythm) arena, we plan to refine our techniques in cardiac resynchronization therapies (for heart failure) by coalescing new imaging techniques and being able to better identify those that benefit from this therapy. Currently, only a third of people who receive resynchronization therapy actually get better.
We will also focus on newer techniques of ablation and newer ways of mapping and focusing on the sites for ablation. In particular, we shall focus on treating atrial fibrillation, a common and difficult to treat problem responsible for many strokes.
Over time, we plan to develop the preventive cardiology program to an even greater scope than exists right now. For example, we can use the new University of Maryland effort at studying complementary and alternative medicine and mesh that into a preventative cardiovascular program over time.
Obviously, one of our major thrusts will be in tackling advanced heart failure and challenges in cardiac transplantation. In collaboration with doctors Bart Griffith (chief of cardiac surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center) and Richard Pierson (clinical director of heart and lung transplantation at the University of Maryland Medical Center), and the current medical team including Drs. Steve Gottlieb, Fran Johnson, Erika Feller and Shawn Robinson, my arrival here completes the development of the best heart failure and transplant program in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Dr. Griffith and I are both very well recognized leaders in our individual fields and in particular in cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory devices.
We’ll be bringing bedside genomics to the study of heart transplant outcomes and will also focus on minority populations that require heart transplantation, particularly in African-Americans. That’s a very important message we wish to send to the community.
We are developing a collaborative program with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) looking at the feasibility and safety of cardiac transplantation in HIV patients, drawing on the strengths of the Institute of Human Virology here and the leadership of doctors Robert Gallo and Robert Redfield. We intend to capitalize upon every strength of the University of Maryland Medical System.
We shall also embark upon an ambitious research portfolio by concentrating on developing “blue-chip” basic science investigators housed within the Maryland Heart Center. These research opportunities will allow us to translate bench work to the patient’s bedside.
Of course, we realize that none of this will happen overnight. It’s a vision of innovation, great visibility and branding within the community.
Tell us little a bit about your background. How did you get to where you are today, and what skills have you developed throughout the years?
Since I was a child, I have never really thought of doing anything other than medicine. I’m an only child and my father is an extraordinarily successful businessman who lives on an island off the east coast of Africa called Mauritius. His biggest regret is that I went into medicine since he wished that I could have taken over the reigns of his business from him. But I never once struggled with this decision.
I came to the United States about 15 years ago to explore this land of opportunity in medicine, and it has certainly turned out to be that way for me. I’m very enthused, passionate and love what I do. I’ve developed a talent not only for good, innovative clinical research but also for administration, and that has stood me in great stead through the years. I have been very lucky to develop teams of talented people around me who are similarly aligned in their love for innovation and excellence.
I have served as vice chairman of the department of cardiology at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans for about five years, and it was time to break away from that and explore other avenues that provided me with the ability to run my own division.
What attracted you to the University of Maryland?
First, for the University itself, this is an interesting time with the hiring of Edmond F. Notebaert (President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System) in September of 2003, the upcoming bicentennial celebration in 2007 which immediately focuses attention on the University for the state, and the renewed relationship between Dean Donald E. Wilson, M.D., M.A.C.P.,( Dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine) and President Notebaert.
Second, I thought I could add something to the University of Maryland Heart Center just by bringing people together and showing them that we could expand and grow as a group, galvanized by the singular vision of innovation and excellence in cardiovascular care delivery.
William Henrich, M.D., professor of medicine and chair of the department of medicine, was a big part in my recruitment. He’s an extraordinarily accomplished, articulate and persuasive individual. He single handedly sold me to this job. I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve under his capable immediate leadership.
Finally, the University has such focused research talent in the fields of physiology, biochemistry, medicine and genomics. The commitments from the University of Maryland Medical Center to growing the infrastructure, investing in information technology and focusing on quality of care are other attractive opportunities. Simply said, The University of Maryland Heart Center is a wonderful place with wonderful opportunities for being the very best in the field.
Are there some great strides being made to improve quality of life for people with heart disease and even reverse heart disease in some cases?
Indeed, and our intent here is to focus on all of those issues. Ultimately, heart disease is nothing more than a continuum of illness along a very long timeline. It starts with a constellation of risk factors and then you have isolated crisis-type events like acute heart attacks and angina. Next you have a silent phase, where there is remodeling of the heart that occurs unbeknownst to the person and ultimately it’s reflected either in death, which is sudden, or in the development of heart failure. And then from heart failure it’s either pump failure deaths or sudden death.
So that is the cardiovascular continuum and I think we have to stop looking at cardiovascular disease as disease silos. You have to understand that you’re simply catching people at certain times in their illnesses along this cardiovascular continuum. It’s my hope that we can galvanize the University of Maryland Heart and Vascular Center around that concept and make a difference along this continuum of heart disease.
Interview by Michelle W. Murray
|
Email this Page
Print this Page © 2008 University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). All rights reserved.
UMMC is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System, 22 S. Greene
Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. 1.800.492.5538 TDD: 1.800.735.2258
Physician Referral: 1.800.373.4111
