Alumni Association Honors Fellow, Intern

Cardiac amyloid discussion: Daniel Ambinder and Jackie Zimmerman (top left), Carine Hamo (top right), Heather Kagan and Yuxuan Wang (bottom panels), Amit Goyal (middle). (Photo taken prior to March 1, 2020.)

Cardiology Fellow Receives Michener Award for Educational Podcast

Cleveland Clinic cardiology fellow Amit Goyal, MD, has a story to tell. Actually, he has quite a few – as do colleagues and listeners around the world, who share them through his CardioNerds Podcast.

For this innovative medical education podcast, Dr. Goyal was named the 2020 recipient of the Dr. William and Roxanna Michener Award for the Development of Leadership in Medical Humanities and the Arts. The award support helps him develop and expand the podcast, launched in January, with his co-hosts at Johns Hopkins, cardiology fellows Carine E. Hamo, MD, Daniel Ambinder, MD, and resident Heather Kagan, MD. Dr. Goyal was chief resident at Johns Hopkins before coming to Cleveland Clinic for his fellowship.

“I am so fortunate and honored to receive the Michener Award,” Dr. Goyal says. “It opens the doors in many ways.”

The first CardioNerds recording. From left, Daniel Ambinder, Heather Kagan, Amit Goyal. (Photo taken prior to March 1, 2020.)

The podcast helps listeners stay current in cardiovascular medicine. Along with an online medical education platform, it takes beginners to an advanced level and advanced listeners back to basics. Each podcast centers on one topic, followed by adjunct episodes with experts. “We seek to humanize the field of cardiology with easy-to-follow discussions, professional diversity, and a jovial atmosphere,” Dr. Goyal says.

Every episode ends with “What Makes My Heart Flutter,” in which a listener shares a recent success story. “Given the unacceptably high rate of burnout in medicine, we believe that giving voice to each other’s successes—clinical or nonclinical—is important,” he says.

“Flutter moments” have included work-life balance, obtaining free medication for a patient, and the joys of seeing a patient through a successful heart transplant.

“We aim to make this show inclusive and promote diversity by attempting to achieve a gender balance of voices on the show,” he says. “We believe that hearing leading women cardiologists could help inspire a generation of learners into a field that traditionally has been less attractive for women.”

The Michener Award helps offset the cost of production, promotion and archiving the podcasts, Dr. Goyal says.

“We are grateful to Dr. Reza Manesh at Johns Hopkins for his encouragement and support in getting us started. I thank David Nemer, my cardiology co-fellow at Cleveland Clinic, for giving me the idea to apply for the award, and, from the bottom of my heart, I thank the Alumni Association,” Dr. Goyal says. “Their support makes our hearts flutter.”

Resident Kavya Kommaraju, MD, Receives GL-1 Award

The Alumni Association congratulates Kavya Kommaraju, MD (PGY-1, Internal Medicine) on becoming the 33rd annual GL-1 Award Recipient. The award, established in 1987, recognizes excellence.

Dr. Kommaraju was an intern on the inpatient Cardiology service of Cleveland Clinic staff member and alumnus Ann Gage, MD, (CARD’17, CCM’18), who praised her maturity, efficiency, interpersonal skills and knowledge. She also wrote, “She excels at providing clear plans and appropriate levels of information for patients and their families. She demonstrated a sophisticated knowledge of the physiology at hand and was able to communicate this at an appropriate level. To do this requires both excellent socialization and superb intelligence.”

Dr. Gage added that “an intern who researches and continually educates herself on small points of data is unique. Kavya is a shining star whose excellent performance should be acknowledged.”

Alumni Giving

We thank our alumni for contributing annually to both the Lerner Research Institute postdoctoral research fellows and the Education Institute in support of eligible residents and fellows in graduate medical education. Your generous gifts enable Cleveland Clinic to better serve patients and increase the quality of training for students, residents and fellows.

If you have any questions about giving or how to become a Centennial Legacy Society Member, please contact Mindy Stroh, Senior Director, Alumni Relations, at strohm@ccf.org, or visit give.ccf.org/alumni.