Biography
Dr Aigul Baltabaeva is a consultant cardiologist at Harefield Hospital, where she treats both private and NHS patients.
She studied medicine at Kyrgyz State Medical School, achieving her MBBS in 1993. Her PhD at the National Centre of Cardiology, Kyrgyzstan, focused on the incidence of arrhythmias in hypertensive heart disease and the effect of antihypertensive treatment on the recurrence of atrial fibrillation.
She won a prestigious international research award in 2002, and moved to London where she widened her research and clinical experience at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London.
She has been working in the cardiology team at Harefield Hospital since 2010.
Dr Aigul Baltabaeva has specialist knowledge covering a range of heart conditions:
- acute and chronic cardiac remodelling (change in shape and function of heart)
- valvular heart disease
- hypertension
- coronary artery disease
- heart failure.
She provides frontline clinical care for cardiology inpatients and outpatients, as well as high-end imaging, such as:
- echocardiography, including complex modalities:
- transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE)
- stress echocardiography
- transcranial doppler - which improves diagnosis for patients with cryptogenic stroke and/or unexplained heart attacks.
- cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.
Dr Baltabaeva works closely with cardiac surgeons. She identifies patients who may require surgery, and treats them before and afterwards, including during their convalescence period. She is a member of the mitral and aortic valve groups at Harefield Hospital - a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss the care and treatment of patients with valvular disease.
Research interests
Dr Aigul Baltabaeva's clinical and research interests are intertwined. She has recently lead a clinical trial on mitral valve disease and mitral regurgitation in acute heart failure.
As a core lab cardiologist for a multi-centre international trial, Dr Baltabaeva has set up standards for cardiac imaging and educated her peers on complex echo modalities.
Publications
Dr Baltabaeva has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and more than 50 competitive abstracts. She has been an invited speaker to national and international meetings.
Teaching
Dr Aigul Baltabaeva is an honorary lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. She supervises doctor of medicine (MD) students as well as master's students who are investigating the prevalence of tricuspid valve disease in heart failure.