In this episode, Dr. Gurleen Kaur (Cardiology FIT at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and APD of the CardioNerds Academy) and Dr. Chelsea Amo-Tweneboah (Medicine Resident at Stonybrook and CardioNerds Academy Intern) discuss with Dr. Heval Kelli (Cardiologist at Northside Hospital Cardiovascular Institute) about his personal and professional journey in Cardiology. They discuss Dr. Kelli’s lifelong advocacy for serving those in need including refugee and immigrant communities, his character in the documentary Refuge, and fostering inclusivity within Cardiology. Audio editing and show notes were drafted by Dr. Chelsea Amo-Tweneboah.  

Enjoy this Circulation 2022 Paths to Discovery article to learn about the CardioNerds story, mission, and values.

The PA-ACC & CardioNerds Narratives in Cardiology is a multimedia educational series jointly developed by the Pennsylvania Chapter ACC, the ACC Fellows in Training Section, and the CardioNerds Platform with the goal to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in cardiology. In this series, we host inspiring faculty and fellows from various ACC chapters to discuss their areas of expertise and their individual narratives. Join us for these captivating conversations as we celebrate our differences and share our joy for practicing cardiovascular medicine. We thank our project mentors Dr. Katie Berlacher and Dr. Nosheen Reza.

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Video version – Advocacy for Refugee Health and Empowering First-Generation Cardiologists

https://youtu.be/hP8bLt9q2sY

Quoatables – Advocacy for Refugee Health and Empowering First-Generation Cardiologists

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• “I have always believed that if someone opened the door for you, you have to hold the door for the next generation. Because if you just walk through the door and close it, you just close the door for many people behind you.” 
  

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• “Instead of making luck a matter of luck, just make an opportunity for everyone else.” 
  

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• “Hate makes us realize that no matter how privileged you are, you are not protected.”  
  

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• “It is very hard to hate something you know.”  
  

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• “Compassion starts with the neighbor next to you, and then you go out to the world and show it.” 
  

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• “Your best intern wasn’t the smartest intern. Your best intern was the person ready to go for rounds, took care of everything, sharp early in the morning, stays late, and gets the work done.” 
  

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• “Intelligence is relative. Hard work and dedication [are] the most important thing.”  
  

Notes – Advocacy for Refugee Health and Empowering First-Generation Cardiologists

Advocacy for refugee health and empowering first-generation cardiologists 

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• Focusing on creating professionals from a given community can help increase their chances of returning to that community and helping to address health disparities. 
  

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• Refugees and immigrants come from countries and communities where, by and large, prevention is lacking. Seeing a healthcare provider is more appropriate in dire situations. 
  

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• When approaching immigrants, it is important to present medical information in ways in which they can understand and absorb properly.  
  

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• For many refugee families, there exists a language barrier and the children are most often the advocates for the family because they are most likely to understand the language of the community they live in.  
  

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• The vast number of students in the US medical school system come from privileged backgrounds; however, this same statistic is not true for the populations they end up serving. 
  

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• It is important to have health professionals reflect the populations they serve, and one of the methods to achieve this is through introducing as many individuals as possible to the field of medicine; one of the ways to overcome a leaky pipeline is to pack the pipeline. Strategies include encouraging medical students to serve as mentors for those junior to them.  
  

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• It is important to build more sustainable relationships with communities because it leads to more trust and success.  
  

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• Advocating for mental health in these communities is very important because they face these issues at an increased level. However, it is unfortunately under-addressed. 
  

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• Resource avenues such as the CDC provide substantial information regarding different refugee and immigrant profiles and the issues most pertinent to these communities. 
  

Inclusivity in Cardiology 

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• It is important to normalize people feeling comfortable in having a discourse about differences and recognizing the challenges individuals face when pursuing a career in medicine or cardiology in order to promote inclusivity in this field. This is a major goal for the CardioNerds Narratives in Cardiology program.  
  

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• Within Cardiology, structural racism and hate are present.  
  

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• It is important to place yourself in a challenging environment or one different from what you are used to and attempt to find common ground with other individuals. 
  

The Bridge Between Social Issues and Cardiology  

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• As a physician, it is important to create boundaries and choose what social issues you wish to engage in. 
  

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• If groups of people do not see eye to eye, steps should be taken to reach out to one another and establish and try to understand what these differences are. 
  

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• Physicians are the best advocates in the world because, for the most part, they are trusted by their patients. Recognizing the importance of the influence that physicians have and realizing this influence can extend beyond the medical space.  
  

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• Humor can be another means by which to make it easier to bring up important conversations that may otherwise be difficult. 
  

Technology to Help Bridge the Gap  

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• Technology can serve as a means of being able to communicate with refugee families because they are likely to have access to a smartphone. 
  

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• Refugee families most often don’t understand the information given to them in paper or pamphlet form, and often important medical advice can be lost that way.  
  

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• Technology provides increased access to medicine and allows patients more individuality and control in keeping on top of their health. 
  

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• Artificial intelligence technology is the direction that health and medicine are heading in; thus, health professionals and patients must learn how to use this technology to their advantage.