Nitheesha Ganta MD, FACC, and Aditi Nayak, MD, MS, FACC, have joined Baylor Scott & White Advanced Heart Failure Clinic – Dallas. Both physicians are fellowship-trained in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology from two of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
Within the field of advanced heart failure, Dr. Ganta has special interests in cardiogenic shock, mechanical circulatory support and cardiac amyloidosis. A key focus of her research is studying long-term outcomes post LVAD implantation and post cardiac transplant.
“The outlook for advanced heart failure patients has significantly improved in recent years due to advancements in different treatment options,” Dr. Ganta says. “Improved medical management with guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), advanced therapies like LVADs and heart transplants, and for patients who are not candidates for advanced therapies, newer devices, such as those that use neuromodulation to improve symptoms, have really helped to improve outcomes and quality of life.
“My primary goal in treating patients with advanced heart failure is to improve quality of life, decrease hospitalizations and prolong survival,” Dr. Ganta continues. “Ultimately, the goal is to tailor treatment to individual patients’ needs, prognosis and goals of care to enhance their overall well-being.”
Dr. Ganta completed a fellowship in cardiology at Howard University Hospital. She then completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In addition to seeing patients, she serves as a clinical assistant professor at Texas A&M University College of Medicine.
Dr. Nayak completed her advanced heart failure fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and her cardiology fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta. She also holds a master’s degree in biomedical innovation and development from Georgia Institute of Technology’s Department of Bioengineering.
Dr. Nayak’s special interests include women’s heart health and improving outcomes related to durable LVAD support. She has published more than 40 papers in these two areas, including a recent article in JACC. Her primary research interests are elucidating biological and social determinants of sex and race disparities in the pathophysiology and management of advanced heart failure, and the application of medical device innovation, artificial intelligence and digital health to address these disparities.
Dr. Nayak received the prestigious Philip K. Caves Award from the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation in 2022, and was a finalist for the Samuel A. Levine Early Career Clinical Investigator Award from the American Heart Association and the Jay N. Cohn New Investigator Award from the Heart Failure Society of America in 2020.
“Advanced heart failure patients today have a more optimistic outlook than they have ever had before,” Dr. Nayak says. “Durable LVAD support is now able to provide patients more than five years of median survival, with a good quality of life at the five-year point. We are successfully transplanting more organs that would have previously been considered too high risk with excellent outcomes. There also are many exciting device innovations in the pipeline that we will have the privilege to offer our patients.”
