Dr Ali Khavandi

Dr Ali Khavandi is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Foundation Trust and St Joseph's Hospital. He specialises in complex angioplasty and advanced rhythm device implantation.

He is part of the Consultant team providing 24/7 emergency treatments for the regional heart attack service at the Bristol Heart Institute. Additionally, Dr Khavandi implants complex pacemakers and defibrillators at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.  He has a special interest in minimising pacemaker scars and the role of diet in cardiovascular conditions. Dr Khavandi has appeared on BBC Horizons and currently writes on the subject of diet and health for the Observer.

General Cardiology
In his role as editor of the UK and European Core Cardiology textbooks, Ali remains fully up-to-date on the latest general cardiology evidence and guidelines. As such he provides a modern and efficient approach to the assessment of a broad range of cardiovascular symptoms and conditions including:

Chest pain and arterial disease
Palpitations, arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation
Loss of consciousness (syncope) or near blackouts (presyncope)
Structural conditions (murmurs, heart muscle and valvular problems)
Risk factors such as weight management, high blood pressure, cholesterol and family history
Specialised Cardiology
Ali has rare dual subspecialty training. This provides additional insight across a spectrum of cardiac conditions and treatments which are often linked.

Coronary angioplasty
He is a contemporary, complex angioplasty operator who performs the majority of procedures via the radial artery (statistically the safest option). He has the expertise and access to the full spectrum of modern techniques and adjuncts including rotational atherectomy, intravascular imaging, chronic total occlusion treatment and Laser-assisted angioplasty (Laser unique to the region).

Complex rhythm device implantation
Dr Ali Khavandi has introduced this new service to Bath, which consists of resynchronization pacemakers for heart failure and implantable defibrillators. He implanted the first new generation ‘leadless’ defibrillator in Swindon and has a specialist interest in surgical techniques which improve outcomes, hide devices and minimise scars.

Special Interests
Optimal surgical techniques for ‘hidden’ pacemaker implantation.
Ali has a national profile for surgical skills training as relevant to Cardiologists. This has lead to close collaboration with plastic surgeons to establish techniques for minimisation of pacemaker scars and ‘hidden’ devices. This provides a relatively unique service for patients with options to revise previous unsightly scars or uncomfortable devices.

Integrated dietary approaches to weight and cardiovascular risk factors.
Unusually for an interventional Cardiologist with a profile and enthusiasm for advanced procedural treatments, Dr Khavandi is equally passionate about the underlying causes, prevention, and contemporary solutions through an integrated diet and lifestyle approach.

As a food enthusiast, he is the founder of the Cardiologist’s Kitchen initiative and this has lead to hospital food improvement projects, engagement with the food industry (including the major supermarkets) and media. He has advised and appeared on BBC Horizon television series as an expert and national newspapers. He is currently writing articles and recipes for the Observer.

Clinically, Dr Khavandi provides tailored dietary prevention and weight management service for patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and associated condition such as atrial fibrillation, many of whom can significantly reduce their tablet medication burden, avoid more complex treatments and improve symptoms through simple dietary and lifestyle changes.

Dr Khavandi is published in international journals on a number of subjects. His past area of interest was around contemporary transcatheter structural and endovascular treatments, including aortic valve implantation and thoracic aortic aneurysm repair.

His current interest is modern dietary approaches to risk factors such as high blood pressure and is currently leading the development of a collaborative project in Bath. 

Personal & training history

Dr Ali Khavandi has Persian parents but was born and brought up in Bath. He went to school at King Edward’s where he received 4 As at A-level, played rugby in the winter, tennis in the summer and left with the prize for all-round performance. He spent the majority of his childhood summers at Lansdown tennis club.

He went to University in Manchester, which culminated in the Professorial house job. Following this, he trained in London and Bristol with the majority of cardiac training at the Bristol Heart Institute. His first consultant appointment was at the prestigious Royal Harefield and Brompton NHS Foundation Trust in London but the strong links to Bath brought him back in 2013.

He is married to Heidi, who is a Sister of the Acute Medical Unit at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and his daughter Ara was born in 2015. 

In 2010 Ali was lead author for the published paper, “Cardiologists should have basic surgical skills training” - providing patients with the highest quality procedural outcomes by focusing on the fundamentals is a subject he remains passionate about.  He is the founder/ director of the Essential Surgical Skills course which runs at the Royal College of Surgeons and the Consultant-only Advanced Surgical Techniques course for leadless defibrillator implantation.

He is a simulator training lead for the British Cardiovascular Society and regularly invited faculty at national meetings including Advanced Cardiovascular Intervention and Heart Rhythm Congress.

Ali is editor of the UK Core Cardiology training textbook and accompanying multiple choice questions book, which received a BMJ book of the year award. He is currently commissioned to produce the pan-European second edition in collaboration with Oxford University Press.

Research                                                                                                 

Ali is published in international journals on a number of subjects. His past area of interest was around contemporary transcatheter structural and endovascular treatments, including aortic valve implantation and thoracic aortic aneurysm repair.

His current interest is modern dietary approaches to risk factors such as high blood pressure and is currently leading the development of a collaborative project.