Our Team

Dr. Kim Smolderen is a licensed clinical psychologist and outcomes researcher and expert in vascular disease, specifically in studying psychological risk factors, including depression, in peripheral artery disease (PAD) and its relationship with outcomes. She also studied the quality of care of depression screening and treatment in acute coronary infarction populations, as well as mechanisms of depression that are linked to cardiovascular outcomes. She is a Belgian native and completed her clinical training at the local Tilburg teaching hospitals in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD in Health and Medical Psychology from the Tilburg University, the Netherlands in 2009, following which she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular outcomes supported by the American Heart Association at the Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City. Since 2020, Dr. Smolderen is Associate Professor at the Yale Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, and is the Co-Director of the Vascular Medicine Outcomes Program and co-founder of the integrated cardiovascular behavioral health program at Yale New Haven Health. Dr. Smolderen has designed and led several multi-center international peripheral artery disease (PAD) registries, funded by PCORI grants, a Dutch Career Development award, and industry sponsored work studying trajectories of patients with complex late stage vascular disease, pain phenotypes, the role of behavioral factors, and the interaction with their quality of care and outcomes as they navigate acute surgical management, chronic disease management, and their rehabilitation processes, for which she leads several NIH-supported efforts. She published over 120 peer reviewed articles, and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. She serves as the Co-Chair for the American Heart Association’s PAD national action plan geared towards activating health care systems. She serves on editorial boards of Vascular Medicine, Health Psychology, and Psychosomatic Medicine, and is Board member of the American Psychological Association’s Health Psychology Division 38’s Health Advocacy & Policy Council. She is also co-founder of the newly formed intersectional cardiovascular psychology workgroup at the American College of Cardiology, which will result in a new council directed towards integrated cardiovascular behavioral health, and set standards for the field. With her work, Dr. Smolderen has been able to put on the agenda, a patient-centered focus for patients suffering from peripheral artery disease, and cardiovascular populations at large. Her work has been accordingly characterized by advocacy and demanding awareness for the patients’ voice, mental health burden of vulnerable groups in experiencing cardiovascular disease, highlighting the patients’ perspective, and working towards novel integrated care models.

Dr. Kim Smolderen is a licensed clinical psychologist and outcomes researcher and expert in vascular disease, specifically in studying psychological risk factors, including depression, in peripheral artery disease (PAD) and its relationship with outcomes. She also studied the quality of care of depression screening and treatment in acute coronary infarction populations, as well as mechanisms of depression that are linked to cardiovascular outcomes. She is a Belgian native and completed her clinical training at the local Tilburg teaching hospitals in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD in Health and Medical Psychology from the Tilburg University, the Netherlands in 2009, following which she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular outcomes supported by the American Heart Association at the Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City. Since 2020, Dr. Smolderen is Associate Professor at the Yale Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, and is the Co-Director of the Vascular Medicine Outcomes Program and co-founder of the integrated cardiovascular behavioral health program at Yale New Haven Health. Dr. Smolderen has designed and led several multi-center international peripheral artery disease (PAD) registries, funded by PCORI grants, a Dutch Career Development award, and industry sponsored work studying trajectories of patients with complex late stage vascular disease, pain phenotypes, the role of behavioral factors, and the interaction with their quality of care and outcomes as they navigate acute surgical management, chronic disease management, and their rehabilitation processes, for which she leads several NIH-supported efforts. She published over 120 peer reviewed articles, and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. She serves as the Co-Chair for the American Heart Association’s PAD national action plan geared towards activating health care systems. She serves on editorial boards of Vascular Medicine, Health Psychology, and Psychosomatic Medicine, and is Board member of the American Psychological Association’s Health Psychology Division 38’s Health Advocacy & Policy Council. She is also co-founder of the newly formed intersectional cardiovascular psychology workgroup at the American College of Cardiology, which will result in a new council directed towards integrated cardiovascular behavioral health, and set standards for the field. With her work, Dr. Smolderen has been able to put on the agenda, a patient-centered focus for patients suffering from peripheral artery disease, and cardiovascular populations at large. Her work has been accordingly characterized by advocacy and demanding awareness for the patients’ voice, mental health burden of vulnerable groups in experiencing cardiovascular disease, highlighting the patients’ perspective, and working towards novel integrated care models.

Dr. Attaran studied as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, Canada. He attended medical school at the University of Sheffield, UK, with Honors. He completed his internal medicine residency and cardiovascular medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona before completing his interventional cardiology fellowship at Yale University. Dr. Attaran is the Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program and the Endovascular Fellowship Training Program. His interests outside interventional cardiology include treatments for peripheral arterial and venous disease. He is involved in a number of national and international research studies in cardiovascular disease therapies. He has served on the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry, Research and Publications Committee. He is a member of the Vascular Disease Council and Publications Committee of the . Dr. Attaran is Chair of the Chronic Disease Guidelines Committee and Working Group of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention. He is on the Board of the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine. He serves on the American Venous Forum Early Career Course and Committee. He serves on the American Venous Forum Newsletter and the Venous and Lymphatic Medicine Workgroup.

Dr. Nagpal is an Interventional Cardiologist with additional specialized training in peripheral vascular interventions.  His path into medicine began at Amherst College where he graduated cum laude, majoring in Neuroscience and receiving the honor for best thesis.  He then went on to medical school at Emory University School of Medicine where he decided to pursue a career in Interventional Cardiology.  He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Yale New Haven Hospital and was selected to be a Chief Medicine Resident for an additional year.  He continued his training at Yale in Cardiology, Peripheral Vascular Interventions, and Interventional Cardiology and is currently a faculty member in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Dr Regan is a board certified interventional cardiologist with clinical interests in coronary artery and peripheral vascular disease.

I am a PhD Biostatistician for the Vascular Medicine Outcomes research program at Yale University School of Medicine. My primary research interest is the study of health outcomes and associated risk factors in cardiovascular disease patient populations. My current research covers the development and application of statistical methods to study mortality and amputation outcomes in patients with peripheral artery disease and critical limb ischemia. In addition, my work examines the relationship between risk factors and patient reported outcomes using national cardiovascular registry databases. My research includes use of descriptive and predictive methodologies and modeling such as time-to-event survival models, linear or logistic regression, and machine learning methods such as random forest predictive models. My background in health outcomes research includes previous work studying mortality or disease recurrence in patients with cancer. I have extensive experience in survival analysis methods to study outcomes, which often involves adjustment for competing risk. I co-led biostatistics analysis and data quality in registry work and tailored competing risk models in cancer and stroke populations at the University of Dijon, France. I am the lead statistician on the VAMOS research lab which Drs. Smolderen and Mena both direct. I have an established track record of analyzing complex vascular outcomes data, specializing in analyzing competing risks, Bayesian statistics, and mixed modeling. I am currently the lead statistician on the SCOPE-CLI registry, and the 1R21AT012430-01 “Pain Management Strategies, Associated Psychological Variables, and Outcomes in Critical Limb Ischemia” under the HEAL initiative (PIs Mena-Hurtado and Smolderen) and lead statistician for the 1R01HL163640-01A1 “Multi-isotope Hybrid PET/CT Imaging of Peripheral Artery Disease in Diabetes” (PIs Sinusas, Liu, and Smolderen) project, wherein validation methods of peripheral ischemia within current PAD registry work are being executed. The proposed multi-isotope imaging of lower extremity flow and nerve activity developed and applied in this project in conjunction with imaging of calcifications of the arteries will characterize the pathophysiology of nerve dysfunction in PAD and this information may lead to a paradigm change in the evaluation and long-term management of patients with DM and PAD.

Dr. Lindsey E. Scierka, MD, MPH, is a physician and researcher specializing in cardiovascular medicine, currently serving as a fellow in the Yale New Haven Hospital Cardiology Fellowship Program. She is a former T32 Vascular Outcomes Research Fellow with the Vascular Medicine Outcomes Program (VAMOS) at Yale University, where her clinical expertise and research focus on the intersection of vascular disease and psychosocial factors, including social determinants of health and mental health comorbidities. Dr. Scierka’s research has led to numerous peer-reviewed publications and abstracts, highlighting her commitment to advancing patient-centered outcomes in cardiovascular care. Dr. Scierka earned her MD from the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University and her MPH from New York Medical College with a concentration in Health Policy and Management. She completed her internal medicine residency and served as Chief Medical Resident at Yale New Haven Hospital, where she participated in the Investigation Distinction Track and Research in Residency. Beyond her academic and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Scierka is actively involved in professional organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.