Mandeep R. Mehra (born December 1967 in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

) is The William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine and a professor of medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. He is the medical director of the Brigham Heart and Vascular Center in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and specializes in advanced

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

, mechanical circulatory support and cardiac transplantation. He has served as president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) and is the editor-in-chief of the society's journal, the '' Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation''. He was also president of the Heart Failure Society of America.

Early life and career

Mandeep Rajinder Mehra was born in December 1967. After graduating in medicine from the

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) is India's first rural medical college, located in Sevagram, Maharashtra, India. It is managed by the Kasturba Health Society. The college was earlier affiliated to the Nagpur Universit ...

in 1993, he pursued further studies in the United States with the ambition to qualify in

cardiac catheterization Cardiac catheterization (heart cath) is the insertion of a catheter into a heart chamber, chamber or Blood vessel, vessel of the heart. This is done both for diagnostic and interventional purposes. A common example of cardiac catheterization is c ...

Cardiology career

Narrowing of the coronary arteries, or

cardiac allograft vasculopathy The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissue ...

(CAV), after a heart transplant has been noted as a significant problem in terms of long-term survival. The terminology used in past research has varied, causing difficulties in interpreting which treatments benefit. In 2010, Mehra led the first international consensus document from the ISHLT working group on the classification of CAV, standardising the nomenclature used and therefore defining the best way to identify CAV. His paper on allograft vasculopathy was accepted for presentation at the ISHLT in Venice. His research focuses on the use of

intravascular ultrasound Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or intravascular echocardiography is a medical imaging methodology using a specially designed catheter with a miniaturized ultrasound probe attached to the distal end of the catheter. The proximal end of the cathe ...

and

angioscopy Angioscopy is a medical technique for visualizing the interior of blood vessels. In this technique, a flexible fibre bundle endoscope An endoscope is an inspection instrument composed of image sensor, optical lens, light source and mechanical d ...

coronary artery disease Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...

after heart transplantation. In addition, he has interests in new

immunosuppressive therapy Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse react ...

in minority populations and the role of

artificial heart An artificial heart is a artificial organ, device that replaces the human heart, heart. Artificial hearts are typically used as a bridge to heart transplantation, but ongoing research aims to develop a device that could permanently replace the ...

s and bio-markers to assess diagnosis and treatment in heart failure. Other research pursuits have included reducing side-effects of endomyocardial biopsies using

genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

and

proteomic Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital macromolecules of all living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replicatio ...

markers. He was also the first to define the association of suppressed

natriuretic peptide A natriuretic peptide is a hormone molecule that plays a crucial role in the regulation of the cardiovascular system. These hormones were first discovered in the 1980s and were found to have very strong diuretic, natriuretic, and vasodilatory eff ...

expression in

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

. In 2018, Mehra published results of his research on the benefits of some

left ventricular assist device A ventricular assist device (VAD) is an electromechanical device that provides support for cardiac pump function, which is used either to partially or to completely replace the function of a failing heart. VADs can be used in patients with acute ...

Surgisphere scandal

On May 1, 2020, Mehra was the lead author of a small group who published results of an analysis of data from 169 hospitals collected via a database funded by

Surgisphere Surgisphere is an American healthcare analytics company established in 2008 by Sapan Desai. Originally a textbook marketing company, it came under scrutiny in May 2020 after it provided large datasets of COVID-19 patients that were subsequently ...

to assess the risk of in-hospital death among patients with cardiovascular disease infected with SARS-CoV2 in the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor was ...

''. On May 22, 2020, the same group published another analysis of the Surgisphere data in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

'' describing outcomes in patients treated with

hydroxychloroquine Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, an ...

with or without a

macrolide Macrolides are a class of mostly natural products with a large macrocyclic lactone ring to which one or more deoxy sugars, usually cladinose and desosamine, may be attached. Macrolides belong to the polyketide class of natural products. ...

for patients with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The latter paper resulted in the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

Director-General

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (, sometimes spelled ; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, diplomat, and the DGWHO, Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. He is the first African to become W ...

announcing the temporary halt of hydroxychloroquine arm of its Solidarity Trial of therapies for COVID-19. The provenance and validity of the data and database on which both papers rely was questioned, and an expression of concern was published in ''The Lancet'' and in the ''NEJM''. Mehra, Ruschitzka, and Patel quickly hired an independent company to conduct an audit of the Surgisphere data. On June 4, Mehra and two of his co-authors retracted ''The Lancet'' paper that had raised caution about the safety of hydroxychloroquine, due to inability to gain access to the data in the audit. "We can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources," Mehra and his co-authors wrote. As the ''NEJM'' study used data from Surgisphere, the authors also withdrew that study. In the meantime, the same authors pulled a pre-print publication claiming effectiveness of

ivermectin Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis. Approved for human use in 1987, it is used to treat infestations including head lice ...

, an

anthelmintic Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them without causing significant damage to the host. They may also ...

, in treating coronavirus from the pre-print server, as this paper also relied on the same

data source. However, the study had already led to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile using the drug for COVID-19 treatment. Mehra apologised for rushing to publish during the COVID-19 crisis: "I did not do enough to ensure that the data source was appropriate for this use. For that, and for all the disruptions—both directly and indirectly—I am truly sorry." Dr. Richard Horton,

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

of The Lancet, called the paper a fabrication and "a monumental fraud". Dr.

Eric Rubin Eric J. Rubin is an American microbiologist, infectious disease specialist, and is currently the editor-in-chief of the ''New England Journal of Medicine''. He is also an adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases and was formerly the ...

, editor in chief of NEJM, said "We shouldn’t have published this". Mehra was introduced to

founder Sapan Desai by colleague Amit Patel. It was later found that Desai and Patel were brothers-in-law, and that Patel's position at the University of Utah was terminated.

Appointments

He became the William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical director of the Brigham Heart and Vascular Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He specializes in advanced

, mechanical circulatory support and cardiac transplantation. Mehra served as president of the ISHLT in 2008-2009 and became editor-in-chief of the society's journal, the ''Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation''. In 2016, he was appointed president of the Heart Failure Society of America.

Selected publications

He has published more than 500 manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters in areas of

immunosuppression Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse react ...

genomic medicine Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to me ...

, cardiac

transplant rejection Transplant rejection occurs when transplanted tissue is rejected by the recipient's immune system, which destroys the transplanted tissue. Transplant rejection can be lessened by determining the molecular similitude between donor and recipien ...

, guidelines for listing patients for a heart transplant, and in mechanical circulatory support.

Papers

* *

Books

''Current Advances in Heart Transplantation: An Issue of Heart Failure Clinics''

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

(2007), .
''History of International Heart and Lung Transplantation''
co-authored with James K. Kirklin and Lori J. West, Elsevier (2010).
Clinical Challenges in Heart Failure
Clinical Pub Serv (2010), .
''Emergency Cardiac Care 2012: From the ED to the CCU, An Issue of Cardiology Clinics''
co-authored with Amal Mattu,

Elsevier Health Sciences Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', '' Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

(2012), .
''Oxford Textbook of Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation''
co-authored with Michael J. Domanski and Marc A. Pfeffer, Oxford University Press (2016), (.

Chapters

Chapter 12, "Management of Hypertension in Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction"
co-authored with F. Siddiqi, and K. Thanavaro in ''Evidence-based Management of Hypertension'', edited by Matthew R Weir, Gutenberg Press (2010), .