1. Tell us about yourself.

I am from Cartagena, Colombia, but I have been living in Bogotá, for the past 13 years since I started studying medicine. I work as an internal medicine physician and I’m also a cardiology fellow. I have been involved in research since my second year of medical school, with the opportunity to conduct research in geriatrics, neurology, internal medicine, and cardiology. I am also part of the emerging leaders’ program, from SIAC (Inter-American Society of Cardiology).

2. What are your research interests?

I have a strong interest in cardiovascular risk. Right now, I am involved in research on hypertension and lipidology. I’m also very interested in echocardiography and heart failure, and I’m attracted by the whole artificial intelligence field.

3. What are you working on right now?

With our group, we are working on the prevalence of hypertension in Colombia across different geographic zones. We are also studying the quality of online videos about lipid medications for patients. In future projects, we plan to evaluate the concordance between standard blood pressure measuring methods and cuffless methods in the Colombian population.

4. What do you hope to achieve in the field of hypertension over the next 5 years?

I’m just starting in the field, but I hope to become more involved in hypertension research, such as new methods to measure blood pressure. Additionally, I want to contribute data that can help make better clinical decisions regarding hypertension in Colombia. I’m also looking forward to collaborating with colleagues both nationally and internationally.

5. What challenges have you faced in your career to date?

One of the main challenges has been wanting to dedicate myself to both clinical practice and research. To learn and perform well in both at the same time is a big challenge for anyone who pursues this goal, especially in a middle-income country. I have been fortunate to study at a great university and hospital and to have excellent teachers. Nonetheless, it requires a lot of commitment and teamwork to achieve results in research in this context.

6. Which of your publications are you proudest of and why (please include paper reference)

Our most recent publication on the concordance of direct LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) values and different formulas in our hospital population. I had the opportunity to be involved in the project from the very beginning and to collaborate with very talented and experienced researchers. I was able to learn and actively participate in every step of the research. Also, I really enjoyed the methodological part; learning and performing the concordance analyses, which were new to me.

David-Pardo DG, Ruiz ÁJ, Muñoz ÓM, García ÁA, et al. Concordance between LDL-C estimated by various formulas and directly measured LDL-C. J Clin Lipidol. 2024 Aug 31:S1933-2874(24)00236-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2024.08.009.

7. What is your favourite manuscript from a lab other than your own?

Several, but one published by Dr. Carlos Cano in 2015 about the prevalence and factors associated with hypertension in Bogotá (https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264315573518). It helped to understand the current situation of hypertension in our setting and plan necessary interventions.

Also, the paper published by Friedewald in 1972 (PMID: 4337382) about his formula to calculate LDL-C, because even today it remains relevant despite the many innovative formulas that have been developed for the same purpose.

8. What are your passions outside of work?

I enjoy watching and playing football, as well as traveling with my family and fiancée, especially trying different types of food when we go out. Recently, I’ve been learning to play chess. I’m also a big fan of music and I play the guitar.