Khadijah K. Breathett, MD, MS

Khadijah Breathett, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, FHFSA is tenured Associate Professor of Medicine at Indiana University, Division of Cardiology, and advanced heart failure transplant cardiologist with the Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation Team at Indiana University Health. Dr. Breathett graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering. Dr. Breathett is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School with distinction in service. She completed training in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center, and cardiology and advanced heart failure/transplant subspecialty fellowships at the Ohio State University. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association while obtaining a Master of Science in Clinical Science at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Breathett is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. As an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist, her clinical work focuses on the prevention and treatment of the advanced heart disease including longitudinal heart transplantation and ventricular assist device care. Dr. Breathett prioritizes providing evidence-based care and shared decision-making in her clinic. She co-authored the 2021 Update to the 2017 American College of Cardiology Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for Optimization of Heart Failure Treatment.

As a physician-scientist, Dr. Breathett has developed randomized controlled trials, outcomes studies, observational population studies, mixed-method studies, implementation science studies, and community interventions focused on reducing racial and gender disparities in cardiovascular disease, resulting in over 80 manuscripts. Dr. Breathett is a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded primary investigator with a portfolio of work including R01, R56, and K01 focused on achieving racial/ethnic and gender equity in advanced heart failure care. Dr. Breathett’s research has been published in high impact journals including Circulation, JAMA, JAMA Network Open, JACC, Circulation: Heart Failure, JACC: Heart Failure, and The American Journal of Medicine. Her works have received press acknowledgment in Reuters, MedPage Today, U.S. News & World Report, and Business Insider among others.

Dr. Breathett has been widely recognized for her research and clinical achievements. She has been recognized with prestigious awards including Women As One Escalator Award recipient, Heart Failure Society of America Emerging Leader, National Minority Quality Forum 40 under 40 Leaders in Minority Health, and selected for the American Heart Association Research Leader’s Academy. She chairs and serves on multiple national committees for the American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, and Association of Black Cardiologists. She serves on multiple editorial boards and led the development of the Disparities Research Guidelines for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association journals. Dr. Breathett is passionate about reducing racial/ethnic and gender disparities in heart failure.