Rajiv Mahajan

Biography

I trained in Cardiology from the internationally recognized All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India prior to undertaking a PhD at the University of Adelaide and 4-year Electrophysiology and Pacing Fellowship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I am currently employed in the position of NHMRC and NHF Health Professional Fellow within the Centre of Heart Rhythm Disorders at The University of Adelaide and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). As a fully trained cardiac electrophysiologist I participate in the provision of clinical (inpatient, outpatient and procedural) care for patients at the Royal Adelaide and Lyell McEwin Hospitals. I have been awarded the Health Professional Research Fellowship funded jointly by the National Health and Medical Research Council and National Heart Foundation (2016) to further my career as a clinical academic. I was awarded my PhD from the University of Adelaide in 2014. For my PhD I was awarded several accolades including the Ralph Reader Young Investigator Award from the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (2013), first prize for the Heart Rhythm Society Young Investigator Award (2013), Best Abstract Award (2013) from the Asia-Pacific Heart Rhythm Society and the Eric Prystowsky Clinical Research Award (2015) by the Heart Rhythm Society. In addition, my thesis received a Dean’s commendation and the University Medal. The work from my PhD has been instrumental in understanding the mechanistic link between obesity and atrial fibrillation (AF). In addition, my work has challenged the long-held belief that atrial fibrosis is irreversible. My PhD studies have shown that atrial fibrosis is reversible at early stages. This change in thinking has produced new opportunity to investigate and arrest atrial fibrosis and AF. In addition, I have been involved in translating this work into the clinic and have contributed to the work from our centre on the role of weight reduction on AF burden and ablation outcomes which has been incorporated in the recent AF guidelines (ESC 2016). I am currently investigating catheter technology to improve the outcomes of ablation for atrial fibrillation.

Research Interest

Medicine,Medical Education,Research,etc