Duke Clinical Research Institute cardiovascular faculty member Stephen Greene, MD, joins Brigham and Women’s cardiologist and Harvard Medical School faculty member Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH to discuss the latest research in cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases in the “Don’t Miss a Beat” podcast.
The podcast, hosted by HCP Live, publishes new episodes monthly. During each episode, Greene and Vaduganathan review and dissect the emerging clinical trial and real-world data related to heart failure, kidney disease, and diabetes. A key focus is also on clinical trial methodology and design, as well as guest interviews with thought leaders across fields.
“We really want to make the content high-yield, interesting, and very clinically relevant, while also being fun to listen to,” Greene said. “We have also been very lucky and thankful to have some outstanding guest experts join us on the show so far, including the legendary Dr. Eugene Braunwald as our first ever guest.”
Their latest episode takes a deep dive into the STRONG-HF trial, a randomized clinical trial presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions this past fall that showed substantial clinical benefits with simultaneous and rapid sequence initiation and titration of guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure. The show’s special guest was the lead principal investigator of the trial, Dr. Alexandre Mebazaa, Professor of Medicine at the University of Paris. In March, the duo plan to record their episode live from American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions, where they’ll break down some of the most notable newly presented results.
Greene and Vaduganathan first met and became close friends in medical school at Northwestern University and found common ground with a strong interest in cardiology. They both shared an inspirational mentor at Northwestern in renowned heart failure clinical trialist Dr. Mihai Gheorghiade, who sparked their mutual interest in clinical research and continued to support them until his unfortunate passing in 2017. Both Greene and Vaduganathan credit Dr. Gheorghiade for jump starting their careers at such an early age, and for solidifying their goals to become cardiologists and clinical researchers.
“We dedicated the first episode of ‘Don’t Miss A Beat’ to Mihai, and we hope that this podcast can be just one small way to carry forward his legacy,” Greene said.
After medical school, Greene and Vaduganathan stayed in touch and have since enjoyed working together on multiple research studies. Noticing the ever-expanding amount of news and information sources sharing medical news, they started considering how they themselves could make sense of it all and stay up to date. The idea for the podcast was born.
“I think we’re all striving to keep up with the speed of evidence generation and prevent information overload. We increasingly need to receive information in very digestible formats,” Greene said. “Podcasts have really increased exponentially in their number, and we thought maybe it would be a great idea to do a cardio-renal-metabolic-focused podcast to keep folks up to speed with the latest news and breakthroughs in this area, the latest clinical trial insights, the latest methodology insights.”
The hosts’ shared history, expertise, and interest, paired with the insights from the special guests allows the conversation to flow naturally and add clarity and deeper understanding to new cardiovascular research.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Greene said. “When you’re doing this with a close friend, and you have a good relationship with your co-host, you can keep the conversation more natural. Muthu is incredibly knowledgeable, and I think he and I feed off each other nicely. Recording the podcast continues to be a highlight for me each month, and Muthu and I continue to think of ways to innovate and make it a better and better experience for listeners.”