Dr. Krasimira Mikhova joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an assistant professor in August 2023. She completed her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in Chemical Engineering. She earned her medical degree at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. Dr. Mikhova completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, prior to relocating to St. Louis for Cardiology and Electrophysiology fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is proficient in the ablation of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, and implantation of cardiac implantable electric devices. She has also had unique exposure to robotic magnetic navigation guided ablation and noninvasive cardiac radioablation. She enjoys working with trainees and sharing her passion for the evaluation and management of heart rhythm disorders. Alongside her clinical work, she has formed interdisciplinary collaborations with data scientists and engineers from the Institute of Informatics that has allowed her to explore her interest in predictive analytics and machine learning. They are developing a model using clinical and electrocardiographic features to predict repolarization reserve in the context of anti-arrhythmic drug loading. This collaboration has introduced her to the building blocks of machine learning and given her insight into the potential and the pitfalls of predictive models for rare outcomes. Implementing these innovations into clinical practice is of particular interest to her.
Dr. Mikhova was selected to complete a one-year fellowship with the Healthcare Innovation Lab, a collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis and the Barnes-Jewish Christian Hospital system that aims to develop, evaluate, and implement new strategies for healthcare delivery. The research project she is leading through this unique fellowship is the user-centered design of a patient level data hub embedded in the electronic health record to aid in the comprehensive care of patients with atrial fibrillation. To aid in the design and build of this hub, she completed a certificate through the Parsons School of Design for Human Centered Healthcare and is a certified Physician Builder for the electronic health record (Epic). Ultimately, she envisions this hub as a digital home for atrial fibrillation care that will incorporate predictive models and digital technology inputs in the future. Her key interests are heart rhythm disorders, atrial fibrillation ablation and management, catheter ablation of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, and pacemaker and defibrillator implantation. Her research areas are developing and implementing solutions that facilitate the comprehensive care of patients with atrial fibrillation, leveraging predictive analytics and user-centered design.