EP Fellows Research Competition: Interview With Tina Baykaner, MD

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Tina Baykaner. I am a cardiac electrophysiologist at Stanford University. I have been attending the Western AFib Symposium every year since 2017, initially as an EP fellow, and as a faculty since 2019.

What can you tell us about the EP Fellows Research Competition? 

I heard about the EP Fellows Research Competition preceding the Western AFib Symposium for the first time 2 years ago. When we heard about the call for abstracts, I was working on a project with Dr Ridhima Kapoor, who at the time was a second-year EP fellow at Stanford University. She presented our preliminary data on cardiac imaging and machine learning to predict outcomes of AFib ablation procedures. This was one of the first medical meetings held in-person after a year of break due to the pandemic. Although most of the judges and faculty were onsite, all fellows presented their work virtually. Dr Kapoor, who is now also faculty at Stanford and the VA Palo Alto, won the second-place prize that year, with the first place going to an outstanding study from the University of California-San Francisco. Last year, I had the privilege to hear the outstanding presentations, and this year, I am excited to join the EP Fellows Research Competition as a judge.  

Why is the Western AFib Symposium a great opportunity for EP fellows?

Fellows will enjoy the focused overview of everything about AFib, from basic science to clinical management and invasive approaches, presented by world-class faculty. There are ancillary programs sponsored by industry that are further tailored toward EP fellows. Most importantly, the Western AFib Symposium has an intimate and embracing culture to all attendees of the conference including the fellows, which can give them a chance to network, interact one-on-one with the faculty, broaden their mentorship pool, and even show their interest for job opportunities for the graduating fellows.