2021 SCAI SHOCK

Dr. Retesh Bajaj, MBBS BSc PhD

Biographical Sketch: Interventional cardiology fellow at Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada by way of Barts Heart Centre, London. Sub-specialist interest in academic and clinical multimodality intravascular imaging for coronary plaque analysis, and complex/high-rise PCI. I studied medicine at Imperial College, University of London and graduated with dual honours and distinction in 2010, then trained in internal medicine across London before being awarded a national Academic Clinical Fellowship for academic training in Cardiology in 2016. I began my interventional cardiology training in 2017 and trained at the Royal Free Hospital & Barts Heart Centre (both central London) and the Ottawa Heart Institute (Canada). In 2019, I undertook a 4-year break to pursue a PhD focused on multi-modality intravascular imaging with NIRS-IVUS and OCT for the identification of vulnerable coronary plaque phenotypes in patients with stable angina, and comparing them with CT and PET coronary atheroma phenotypes. In the process of this PhD, I assisted my supervisors, Professor Christos Bourantas and Professor Andreas Baumbach to set up the first and only intravascular imaging core-lab in the UK, gained skills in multi-modality coronary image analysis, and developed a keen academic interest in the niche of plaque component quantification and biomechanical analysis with these tools (whilst intermittently being redeployed to the frontline to deal with the COVID pandemic in London). Very keen to collaborate on research and clinical studies. During my academic training, I undertook a conversion course to learn programming languages, gaining proficiency in Ruby and AngularJS based website design. I leveraged these skills into a Digital Education Fellowship with the British Cardiovascular Society alongside my PhD and project managed the delivery of a web-portal for educational materials and videos for British cardiologists and allied health professionals, on time and under-budget. I am a very keen clinical educator and run two national-level revision courses in the UK; I also undertook a formal post-graduate certification in medical education and curriculum development alongside my PhD. Current keen squash player, former semi-professional ballroom dancer.

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