Interview with Dr Nikki Bart - Australian Mountain Climber and Cardiologist

Mouthing Off With Dr Lewis Ehrlich

In today’s episode we are “Mouthing Off” about all things heart health. We all have a heart, and we all need our ‘ticker’ in fine working order to live a long, happy and productive life. I read an interesting statistic the other day that said that if we live for 80 years and we average 80 beats per minute throughout that time, our heart will beat well over 3 billion times. What an amazing muscle! So, for today’s episode, I thought I would interview the inspiring cardiologist Dr Nikki Bart. Although I don’t believe there is such thing as an over achiever, if there was such a thing, Nikki would tick all the boxes. Nikki is a specialist cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and did a PhD at Oxford University in the UK where she studied what a lack of oxygen does to the heart. Nikki is also an incredible Mountaineer. In fact, Nikki and her mother Cheryl were the first ever mother-daughter team to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. Nikki has literally been to the top of the world when she made the summit of Mt Everest. I should also mention that Nikki has achieved all of this and is still only in her early 30s. In this episode, we talk about the role of the heart, how to keep it healthy, the habits that are making your heart sick, the links between heart health and dental health, training for Everest, what it was like at the top, the mental tenacity it takes to be a cardiologist and climb the highest peaks in the world, plus so much more. I hope you enjoy this interview and find it informative.