Dr. Willard N. Applefeld

I am an interventional cardiologist and researcher who has been at Duke for nearly 20 years. I enjoy being at Duke because of the “family” I get to work with every day. When we are able to make a patient feel better through teamwork; it’s a great feeling. I chose cardiology as my specialty because of the chance to make a difference in someone’s life in real time. When someone is having a heart attack, they are relying on you to come to their aid quickly. At that moment, I get to apply science to save a life, while learning more about what we can do to help improve people’s lives in the future. In that way, medicine also gives me the chance to learn from my patients and apply what I find to benefit the greater good. I find that whole process is exciting. When I am not at work, I enjoy spending time with my school-aged children. Dr. Patel is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Vasoconstriction. His top areas of expertise are Peripheral Artery Disease, Atherosclerosis, Coronary Heart Disease, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), and Angioplasty.

I take care of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). I also research signaling pathways that are altered in the development of PH in rodent models of the disease. PH covers a wide spectrum of diseases, from the rare pulmonary arterial hypertension (prevalence of 15 in one million) to complications of more common heart and lung disease. PH typically leads to complications through its effects on the heart, leading to heart failure. At the Duke Center for Pulmonary Vascular Disease we see a number of patients with PH and offer all available therapies, including continuous intravenous infusion, inhaled therapies, and surgical options. Dr. Rajagopal is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Vasoconstriction. His top areas of expertise are Pulmonary Hypertension, Hypertension, Pulmonary Veno-Occlusive Disease, Embolectomy, and Angioplasty.

As a fellowship trained adult congenital heart disease specialist and Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Center at Duke, I take care of a wide spectrum of heart problems, spanning from simple shunt lesions like patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, to more complicated disorders, like tetralogy of Fallot, Ebstein anomaly, transposition of the great arteries and single ventricles. I collaborate with my colleagues in adult and pediatric medicine to provide comprehensive health services including complex cardiac interventions like catheter-based pulmonary valve implantation, closure of aortopulmonary collaterals and coarctation stenting. I am also skilled at the non-invasive and invasive assessment of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Congenital heart disease is my passion and I strive to educate my patients, their doctors and our fabulous trainees in order to improve everyone's awareness of these challenging conditions. My spare time is spent mostly at home with my wife and 2 teenage boys. I enjoy participating in and watching all types of major sports and also enjoy traveling. Dr. Krasuski is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Vasoconstriction. His top areas of expertise are Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Foramen Ovale, Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), Heart Transplant, and Thrombectomy.