Insights on Clinical Cardiology
Damian Rasch, D.O.
Human-Centered Cardiology in the Age of Augmented Intelligence
Welcome. Most people find this site the way you probably did: searching for an answer about their heart, or sent by someone who told them to read something here. I'm a board-certified cardiologist in Encinitas, CA. The scarcest thing in medicine now is a doctor's full attention, and my practice is built to protect it: fewer patients, longer visits, decisions made together. This site extends that attention to the page. Long-form answers to real questions about the heart, written the way I'd explain them across the desk, with new technology doing the busywork so the thinking stays mine.
Reading list
Three pieces I keep sending patients.
Prevention
LDL Cholesterol and Death Risk
Why your lifetime exposure to LDL, not any single lab value, drives heart attack and stroke risk, and how to lower it early.
ReadMedications
Daily Aspirin: Why the Rules Changed
What happened to the old "baby aspirin a day" advice, and what to do now.
ReadCardiometabolic
GLP-1s and Heart Protection
Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are rewriting what cardiometabolic medicine looks like.
ReadClinical Focus
What I see most.
I trained as an invasive cardiologist and care for the full range of cardiovascular disease, but my day-to-day focus has narrowed around a few areas I think about most.
- Preventive cardiology
- Most heart disease is preventable. I spend a lot of my clinical time on risk assessment and lifestyle plans that actually fit how people live.
- Coronary artery disease
- Diagnosis, medical management, and cardiac catheterization when it's needed.
- Afib, heart failure, hypertension
- Long-term care for the conditions that make up most of cardiology's daily reality.
- AI-augmented practice
- I've been an early adopter of clinical AI tools. Used well, they sharpen diagnosis and give me more time with patients. Used poorly, they add noise. I try to be thoughtful about the difference.
Background
Training and credentials.
Training
DO, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (Bradenton, FL)
Internal Medicine Residency, Cleveland Clinic Health System, South Pointe Hospital
Cardiology Fellowship, Midwestern University, Riverside Medical Center
Certification
Board Certified in Cardiovascular Disease
Hospital affiliations
Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla
Prebys Cardiovascular Institute
For My Patients
If you're already in my practice.
Patient guides
Plain-language answers to the questions I hear most often in clinic.
Procedure explanations
What to expect from echocardiograms, stress tests, catheterizations, and more.
Health notes
Short pieces on medication questions, symptom flags, and common follow-up points.
New Patients
Requesting a consultation.
I see a limited number of new patients each month, to protect the time I spend with each one. Scheduling is handled by my practice in Encinitas. Wait times vary by season.
This is my personal website. Opinions and writing here are my own.