Hooman Bakhshi, M.D.

Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Medical School: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
Clinical Interest: Interventional and structural cardiology
Research Interest: Outcomes research and using novel cardiovascular biomarkers for risk stratification

Hooman was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He attended medical school at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran. He completed his medical residency at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore and cardiology fellowship at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Falls Church, Virginia. He is very passionate about medical education and academic cardiology. His research studies are focused on using novel biomarkers to predict cardiovascular disease in population at risk. He is also interested in outcomes research.

Sumon Roy, M.D.

Hometown: Raynham, MA
Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Interventional and Structural Cardiology
Research Interest: Advancement in Intracoronary Anatomic and Hemodynamic Technology

Sumon was born and raised on the South Shore of Boston, MA. He attended college, graduate school, and medical school in Boston, MA. He continued on to complete his internship and residency in Internal Medicine in Rochester, NY, and then his fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease in Richmond, VA. His primary career interests are to perform impactful percutaneous coronary and structural procedures while participating in research to minimize risks associated with these procedures. He is very excited to continue the pursuit of his career goals in Baltimore, MD.

Rimsky Denis, M.D.

Hometown: Miami, Florida
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Interventional and Structural Cardiology
Research Interest: Health Inequities in Cardiovascular Disease

Rimsky was born and raised in Miami, Florida. Prior to beginning his cardiovascular disease fellowship, he completed his internal medicine residency at Brown University in Rhode Island, and his medical school training at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Rimsky holds a masters degree in public health with a concentration in disease prevention, and a masters degree in business administration with a focus in healthcare policy. His research interest pertains to the assessment of health inequities within structural heart disease and interventional cardiology.

Pranoti Hiremath, M.D.

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Clinical Interest: General cardiology and cardiovascular imaging
Research Interest: Medical device and algorithm development, intraoperative imaging

During her undergraduate degree in Bioengineering at University of Washington, Pranoti worked on building mobile health tools for global health settings, and on developing strategies for implanting pediatric medical devices. She completed medical training at Harvard Medical School, then returned home for Internal Medicine residency at University of Washington Hospitals, and now she is looking forward to returning to the east coast for Cardiology fellowship! She hopes to integrate clinical experience with knowledge from research to develop tools that can positively impact the care of patients with cardiovascular disease. Pranoti enjoys dancing of all kinds, kickboxing, cooking for friends, and spending time with people she adores.

Nino Isakadze, M.D.

Hometown: Tbilisi, Georgia
Medical School: David Tvildiani Medical University
Clinical Interest: General Cardiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology
Research Interest: Atrial Fibrillation, Medical Innovation, M Health

Dr. Nino Isakadze is a fourth-year cardiology fellow with research interests at the intersection of digital health and atrial fibrillation. In collaboration with the American Heart Association and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, Dr. Isakadze incorporated Human Centered Design methodology to develop mobile application for management of atrial fibrillation in a way that will meet the needs of diverse groups of patients and clinicians. Dr. Isakadze currently plans to conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial to evaluate clinical outcomes with the use of atrial fibrillation application. She received a Master of Health Science Degree in Graduate Training in Clinical Investigation at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health during her third year of fellowship. She was also selected to be the American Heart Association Health Technology and Information Scientifically Focused Research Network fellow. Dr. Isakadze received The Michael Mirowski and Semyon and Janna Friedman Friedman Fellowship awards given to fellows with the greatest potential for academic success.

Rachit Vakil, M.D.

Hometown: Manahawkin, NJ
Medical School: Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Clinical Interest: Electrophysiology, heart failure
Research Interest: Obesity related cardiovascular comorbidities, prevention, epidemiology

Rachit attended Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for medical training. He received his Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he focused on epidemiology and biostatistics. He completed his internal medicine training in the Osler Residency Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is interested in cardiovascular epidemiology with a focus on risk stratification of sudden cardiac death. After general cardiology, he plans to pursue training in cardiac electrophysiology. Outside of the hospital he enjoys traveling, trying new foods, and strolling down to the harbor with his wife and young daughter to get gelato.

Marc Engels, M.D., Ph.D.

Hometown: Willemstad, Curaçao
Medical School: Leiden University
Clinical Interest: Electrophysiology
Research Interest: Atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death

Marc was born and raised in Curaçao, a small island in the Caribbean. He graduated from medical school at Leiden University in the Netherlands and completed PhD training there as well. During his PhD training he focused on arrhythmia research and specifically shockless defibrillation using optogenetics. He subsequently moved to the US for residency training at Emory University. He plans to pursue a career in cardiac electrophysiology.

Fabrizio Assis, M.D. - Chief Fellow

Hometown: Campina Grande, Brazil
Medical School: Federal University of Paraiba
Clinical Interest: Electrophysiology
Research Interest: cardiac neuromodulation, ventricular arrhythmias, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), cardiac implantable devices, innovative technologies, esophageal protection

Fabrizio graduated from Medical School at Federal University of Paraiba and completed his training in Cardiology and Electrophysiology at Hospital Beneficencia Portuguesa de Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Assis was actively involved with multiple research activities, including the development of a new, minimally invasive technique for cardiac neuromodulation, and new strategies of therapeutic hypothermia and esophageal protection against thermal injury during catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Usama Daimee, M.D.

Hometown: Bloomfield Hills, MI
Medical School: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Clinical Interest: Arrhythmias, catheter ablation, cardiac implantable devices
Research Interests: Clinical outcomes associated with catheter ablation procedures and cardiac implantable devices; prospective registries and clinical trials

Weijia Wang, M.D.

Hometown: Nanjing, China
Medical School: Zhejiang University, School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Cardiac electrophysiology, general cardiology
Research Interests: Epidemiology, inherited heart disease, atrial fibrillation

I attended Zhejiang University, School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China. I completed residency at Tufts Medical Center and cardiology fellowship at UMass. Between residency and fellowship, I obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University. I am interested in the electrophysiology, general cardiology, and epidemiology.

Ilton Cubero Salazar

Hometown: Bluffton, South Carolina
Medical School: Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Heart Failure
Research Interest: Mechanisms underlying myocardial hypertrophy and heart failure, HFpEF
Ilton attended medical school at Dartmouth during which time he completed a research year at the Seidman laboratory in Boston funded by the Sarnoff Research Fellowship. He subsequently completed an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research interest has been focused around genetic modifiers of the hypertrophic response in animal models and in genetic variants associated with hypertrophy and heart failure.

Paul Scheel

Hometown: Ellicott City, MD
Medical School: Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Heart failure, transplant, critical care cardiology
Research Interest: Genetic cardiomyopathies, durable mechanical support
Paul is a Baltimore native but left the Charm City for undergraduate (University of Notre Dame) and medical school education prior to returning for residency in the Osler Medical Residency Program at Johns Hopkins. He has been involved in research within the ARVC and LVAD Programs at Johns Hopkins and has a wider interest in heart failure and cardiac transplant. He plans on pursing an academic cardiology career focusing on clinical research after completing an advanced heart failure and transplant fellowship. Outside of his clinical and academic pursuits, he enjoys playing basketball, cooking new dishes and traveling the world whenever possible.

Rawan Amir, M.D.

Hometown: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Medical School: University of Dammam
Clinical Interest: Adult congenital heart disease, electrophysiology
Research Interest: Advancing care and improving outcomes in adults with congenital heart disease

Rawan Amir received her medical degree from the University of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. She has a special interest in adult congenital heart disease and hopes to be one of the first Saudi physicians to specialize in the field and to one day start a robust ACHD program back in Saudi. Rawan, under the guidance of her physician parents, has been involved in research from a very young age and aims to further advance her career as a physician scientist. She is also very committed to trainee wellness and served as the wellness chair for her residency program for two years running. Outside of work, she enjoys scuba diving, playing tennis and training her pet parrots.

Matthew Belanger, M.D.

Hometown: Stamford, CT
Medical School: University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Preventive cardiology, lipidology, cardiovascular imaging
Research Interest: Diet and nutrition, exercise, biomarkers

Matt grew up in Connecticut and received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, where he majored in English. While a member of the UC Berkeley springboard diving team, he developed a passion for health and wellness, exercise, and nutrition. He completed medical school at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and then moved to Boston for his internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His clinical interests are related to preventive cardiology, lipidology, and cardiovascular imaging. Matt plans to continue research on the prevention of cardiovascular disease through nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle interventions.

Chloe Duvall, M.D.

Hometown: Butler, PA
Medical School: University of Maryland
Clinical Interest: Prevention, heart failure, cardiac imaging
Research Interest:Cardiac sarcoidosis

Originally from Western PA, Chloe moved to Baltimore to complete her medical degree at the University of Maryland, followed by internal medicine residency in the Osler Medical Residency Program. Here she had the opportunity to foster her interests in both prevention and heart failure through involvement with the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and the Cardiac Sarcoidosis Program, where her research focused on sex and race differences in cardiac sarcoidosis. Outside of the hospital, she enjoys running, traveling, and spending time with her husband.

Michael Goetsch, M.D.

Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
Medical School: The University of Alabama School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Comprehensive cardiovascular prevention, hypertension, clinical lipidology, cardiovascular imaging, digital health, and medical education.
Research Interest: Clinical research in early cardiovascular risk assessment and stratification, digital health, and optimization of ASCVD risk factors

Michael grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he graduated with honors and degrees in biology and Spanish. He earned his MD at the University of Alabama in Birmingham before completing his internal medicine training in the Osler Medical Residency as a member of the Thayer Firm. He is interested in a career in preventive cardiology. His clinical and research interests include effective risk stratification, early intervention and risk factor modification to prevent coronary artery disease, cardiovascular imaging, and medical education. Outside of fellowship, he enjoys taking his dog for walks, cooking and hosting friends for dinner, hiking, fishing, and white-water rafting. He is also an avid fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Jelani Grant

Hometown: Cumuto, Trinidad and Tobago
Medical School: The University of the West Indies, Trinidad Campus
Clinical Interest: Preventive Cardiology, Cardiovascular Imaging
Research Interest: Cardiometabolic risk reduction, healthcare disparities, and the application of deep machine learning for assessing coronary calcification

I was born in Trinidad and Tobago, where I completed my medical degree with distinction at the University of the West Indies. I completed internal medicine at the University of Miami/ Jackson Memorial Hospital where I served as the first non-US medical school graduate to be a chief medical resident at Jackson Memorial Hospital. My clinical interest includes preventive cardiology with a focus on cardiometabolic risk reduction. My research interests include outcomes research using large datasets, assessing the role of healthcare disparities in cardiovascular disease, and utilizing deep machine learning to assist with reporting coronary calcification. Following cardiology fellowship, I plan to pursue a career in academic cardiology, further my research interests and utilize my training to assist with preventive efforts in my home country. Outside of medicine, I am a huge soccer and Manchester United fan (GGMU!).

Kellen Knowles, M.D.

Hometown: Nassau, Bahamas
Medical School: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Preventive cardiology
Research Interest: Medical devices, mHealth, application of mHealth and medical devices to improve primary and secondary prevention strategies

I was born and raised on New Providence, a 7x21 mile island off the coast of Florida, which is a part of the 700 island archipelago of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. I attended Purdue University where I studied Biomedical Engineering and during graduate school, I realized I had an interest in clinical medicine. It was in medical school that I discovered a love of cardiac physiology and a desire to combine my interests in engineering with cardiology. I love to travel and met my wife in Germany. We have two children. My wife is definitely the secret of my success and my children inspire me to keep fighting to maintain balance in my career pursuits. Besides traveling, I enjoy SCUBA diving, backpacking, snowboarding, tennis, volleyball, playing board games, lifting weights, and quality time with friends.

Hassan Mirbolouk, M.D.

Hometown: Rasht, Iran
Medical School: Shahid Beheshti Medical University
Clinical Interest: Prevention, Arrhythmias, Cardiovascular Imaging
Research Interest: Cardiovascular epidemiology

Hassan was born and raised in Rasht, Iran. After graduating from medical school, he joined Johns Hopkins’ Ciccarone center for a research fellowship, followed by internal medicine residency in Yale. His clinical and research interests include population health, risk prediction, cardiovascular imaging, arrhythmias, and data science. Hassan’s hobbies include soccer, Olympic wrestling, and literature.

Mohammad R. Ostovaneh, M.D.

Hometown: Salmas, Iran
Medical School: Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Clinical Interest: Advanced cardiac imaging, prevention, and electrophysiology
Research Interest: Cardiac imaging, clinical trials, machine learning and its utility in clinical trials

Originally from Salmas in northwest Iran, Mo earned both his medical degree and master of public health at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. He then spent two years working on a large clinical trial of fixed-dose combination therapy (polypill) for cardiovascular prevention in rural areas of Iran which was ultimately published in the Lancet. Later he joined Dr. Joao Lima’s research lab at Johns Hopkins University and worked on several clinical trials and other epidemiological studies. He has been a finalist for the AHA Melvin Judkins Early Career Investigator Award in 2020. Before returning to Johns Hopkins for clinical cardiology fellowship, Mo completed his internal medicine residency at the Pennsylvania State University. Outside of medicine, he enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, and watching documentaries.

Anjali Wagle, M.D.

Hometown: Gadsden, Alabama
Medical School: University of Alabama SOM
Clinical interest: Electrophysiology
Research interest: Procedural skill acquisition in trainees, AF

Anjali grew up in the Southeast, most recently living in Alabama. She attended UABSOM for medical school and Johns Hopkins Osler Internal Medicine Program for residency. She plans to pursue a career in EP. She enjoys hiking with her dog, Bella, and fiancé Michael!

Edwin Yoo, M.D.

Hometown: Millbrae, California
Medical School: Temple (MD), UPenn (PhD)
Clinical Interests: HFpEF, Pulmonary Hypertension, RV Failure, Preventative Cardiology
Research Interests: Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Biomarkers, Proteomics, Epigenetics

Edwin was born and raised in San Francisco, California and went on to study Biochemistry at UC San Diego, followed by medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia. During a summer research internship at the University of Pennsylvania, Edwin discovered a novel drug target in smooth muscle which led him to develop a passion for translational research. He completed a PhD in Pharmacology at UPenn where he was awarded a NIH NRSA grant, a patent, and several publications on his thesis research. Edwin subsequently completed residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York where he confirmed his aspirations to become a physician-scientist in Cardiology. Outside of the hospital, Edwin enjoys spending time with his wife and playing the electric guitar.

Xuan Ding

Hometown: Houston, TX
Medical School: University of Pittsburgh
Clinical Interest: Cardiovascular imaging
Research Interests: Ultrasound imaging, acoustics, technology development Xuan grew up in Houston, TX and attended medical and graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. He completed residency at Vanderbilt University. His clinical and research interests include cardiovascular imaging especially with echocardiography as well as development of novel ultrasound imaging technologies. Outside of medicine, he enjoys cooking and trying out new restaurants.

Richard Ferraro

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Medical School: Weill Cornell Medicine
Originally from Chicago, Rick Ferraro spent two years as a Teach For America Corps member teaching science before medical school at Weill Cornell Medicine in NYC. Previous senior resident at the Osler Medical Residency program. In addition to cardiology fellowship acts as a producer and content creator at the CardioNerds.

Erin Goerlich

Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Medical School: University of Texas at Houston, McGovern Medical School
Clinical Interest: Cardiovascular imaging, coronary artery disease
Research Interests: Noninvasive imaging, novel echocardiographic techniques, endothelial dysfunction Erin was born and raised in San Antonio, TX and completed medical school at the University of Texas at Houston. She went on to complete Internal Medicine training in the Osler Residency Program at Johns Hopkins. She then joined the Hopkins T32 post-doctoral cardiology research fellowship studying noninvasive assessment of endothelial dysfunction via MRI and investigation of novel echocardiographic findings in a variety of CV disease states. She plans to pursue an academic cardiology career focusing on clinical research. Outside of the hospital, she enjoys spending time with her son, husband, and 2 doodles.

Joseph Goldenberg

Hometown: San Diego, CA
Medical School: University of Illinois at Chicago
Clinical Interest: Advanced heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, cardiovascular disease prevention
Research Interests: Myocardial recovery in heart failure, interactions between myocardial and systemic metabolism, obesity and cardiovascular disease, pulmonary hypertension Joseph was born and raised in southern California. He studied biochemistry and cellular biology at University of California, San Diego, where he developed an interest in metabolism. This led him to focus on myocardial fatty acid metabolism in heart failure for his graduate doctoral thesis during medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He continued his medical training at the University of Chicago internal medicine residency program and where he cultivated his passion for cardiovascular disease. He continued heart failure research and studied the occurrence of myocardial recovery after LVAD implantation. He plans to focus on understanding the connections between systemic and cardiac metabolism to achieve myocardial recovery and improve heart failure outcomes.

Alan Jacobsen

Hometown: Galway, Ireland
Medical School: National University of Ireland, Galway
Clinical Interest: Cardiovascular disease
Research Interests: Preventive Cardiology Alan was born in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. He attended medical school at National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). He moved to Baltimore to complete internal medicine residency in the Osler Medical Residency Program. Here he was welcomed by members the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease where research interests such as antithrombotic therapies and hypertension were fostered. Outside of medicine he enjoys cycling and listening to podcasts.

Maeve Jones-O’connor

Hometown: Dublin, Ireland
Medical School: University College Dublin, Ireland
Clinical Interest: Cardiac critical care
Research Interests: Prevention, digital health Maeve is a native of Dublin, Ireland where she completed her medical degree at University College Dublin. She completed her transitional intern year at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin before moving to Boston for internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. From there, she has made the move southward to Baltimore to complete her cardiology training. She has a particular clinical interest in cardiac critical care, and in developing this subspecialty as it integrates the leading edges of cardiology, cardiac surgery, critical care and medical device technology. She also plans to develop her research interests in prevention and digital health during her fellowship years. Outside of the hospital, she spends as much time as possible hiking, cycling, running or travelling.

Chang Kim

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea ; San Diego, CA
Medical School: State University of New York Upstate Medical University
Clinical Interest: General cardiology, prevention, cardiac imaging
Research Interests: Big data, risk modelling, machine learning/artificial intelligence Chang was born in Seoul and grew up in San Diego. He pursued his MD degree in upstate New York followed by internal medicine training and hospitalist work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Anticipating a paradigm shift towards precision medicine enabled by big data and artificial intelligence, he pursued a PhD degree in biomedical informatics at Rutgers University, applying machine learning to the electrocardiogram for long-term cardiovascular risk prediction. Following cardiology fellowship, Chang plans to further pursue his clinical and research interests as an academic cardiologist.

Minhal Makshood

Hometown: Albany, NY
Medical School: Albany Medical College
Clinical Interest: Prevention and Heart failure
Research Interests: Understanding the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease in South Asians Originally Sri Lankan but born in Saudi Arabia. I I came to the United States at the age of 17 as an undergraduate at University at Albany. I subsequently went to medical school at Albany Medical college and completed internal medicine residency and one year as Assistant Chief of service at Johns Hopkins Bayview. I enjoy cooking, hiking, fashion designing and travel!

Nestor Vasquez

Hometown: Lima, Peru
Medical School: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru)
Clinical Interest: Preventive cardiology, cardiovascular imaging, critical care
Research Interests: Lipoprotein (a), lipids, cardiovascular disease in Hispanics/Latinos I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I completed medical school at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia after which I joined the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) Center of Excellence at Johns Hopkins to investigate left atrial myopathy in HCM patients with atrial fibrillation. Subsequently moved to Dallas for residency at University of Texas Southwestern, becoming very interested in cardiovascular disease prevention, particularly using lipids and lipoprotein (a) to predict atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. I plan to pursue a career in academic cardiology focusing on clinical research. Outside of medicine, I enjoy spending time with my dog, grilling, and trying new restaurants.

Rick Carrick

Hometown: Wakefield, MA
Medical School: University of Vermont College of Medicine
Clinical Interests: Critical Care, Electrophysiology
Research Interests: Computational modeling and simulation in electrophysiology
Rick grew up in New England, attended medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and completed his internal medicine residency at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. He plans to pursue a career that combines clinical cardiology with his interest in computational modeling and simulation based research. Recent projects have focused on using machine learning to develop prediction models for new onset atrial fibrillation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients. Outside of medicine, he enjoys running, painting, and playing music.

Keva Garg

Hometown: Bethesda, Maryland
Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine
Clinical Interests: Preventative Cardiology
Research Interests: HIV related cardiac disease
Keva is a Maryland native. She earned her undergraduate degree at Columbia University, and returned to the area for her masters and medical degree from Georgetown University. She completed her residency at Duke University Hospital, and has returned home to complete her training in cardiology. Her clinical passion lies in preventative cardiology, with a special academic interest in HIV’s impact on the risk for ischemic cardiac disease. Ultimately, she hopes to work as an academic cardiologist, working to improve preventative cardiac care to marginalized populations locally and abroad.

Arune Gulati

Hometown: Kingston, NY
Medical School: University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Clinical Interests: Heart Failure, LVAD, RV Failure, Pulmonary Hypertension
Research Interests: RHF After LVAD
Arune is a native New Yorker who has progressively inched southward for training, beginning with medical school at Penn followed by residency at JHH. Since coming to Hopkins, he has developed a clinical and research interest in the hemodynamics of LVAD and particularly RHF after LVAD. He was fortunate enough to meet his wife and co-fellow, Alison, in medical school and is currently enjoying the suburb life with their rambunctious toddler, Elliott. Outside of medicine, he is passionate about the Baltimore food scene and always making sure his next meal is better than his last.

Esra Gucuk Ipek

Hometown: Ankara, Turkey
Medical School: Gazi University School of Medicine
Clinical Interests: Advanced Cardiac Imaging
Research Interests: Atrial remodeling using multimodality imaging and associations with outcome
I was born and raised in Ankara, Turkey where I completed my medical education followed by post-graduate training in Cardiology. After spending 3 months exploring cardiac MRI at King’s College of London in UK, I moved to US and pursued research first at UCSF, later at Johns Hopkins University where I studied atrial remodeling using strain echocardiography and cardiac MRI. Before returning Baltimore for Cardiology fellowship, I completed internal medicine residency at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. My research interests include identifying factors that contribute adverse atrial remodeling using multimodality imaging and associations with clinical outcome.

Jana Lovell

Hometown: Lutherville, MD
Medical School: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Clinical Interests: Advanced Heart Failure
Research Interests: Translational research, heart failure, immunology
Jana was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. She completed medical school at Johns Hopkins. During medical school, she participated in translational research involving primary immunodeficiency disorders through the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program. She then completed internal medicine training in the Osler Medical Residency Program. Her clinical and research interests include advanced heart failure and immunology.

Mariam Meddeb

Hometown: Tunis, Tunisia; Strasborug, France
Medical School: University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France
Clinical Interests: Cardiac critical care, heart failure
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of decompensated heart failure, novel therapeutic approaches for the acutely failing heart, gene editing
Mariam earned her medical degree and Master of Science at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, where she also completed clinical pathology training and cultivated her passion for translational research. Pursuing her interest in becoming a physician scientist, Mariam moved to the United States in 2016 where she completed internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland midtown, while working on gene editing approaches. After her general Cardiology fellowship, she intends to pursue additional training in cardiac critical care. For her research, she is interested in working on better understanding the molecular mechanisms of the acutely failing heart and proposing novel therapeutic approaches for heart failure.

Martin Tibuakuu

Hometown: Jirapa, Ghana
Medical School: Université d'Alger (Algiers, Algeria)
Clinical Interests: Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention and Interventional Cardiology
Research Interests: Preventive cardiology
Martin was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa. After completing his medical training, he pursued a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He then continued as a research fellow at the Department of Epidemiology and the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins. His research focused on novel risk factors contributing to cardiovascular disease risk such as Vitamin D deficiency, inflammation, frailty and low muscle mass (sarcopenia). Martin was also a fellow at the AHA Tobacco Regulatory and Addiction Center (A-TRAC) where he worked on research focused on tobacco regulatory science from a cardiovascular perspective. He received the AHA Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award for his research on “Patient-Reported Outcomes, Resource Utilization and Healthcare Expenditures across the Three Major Atherosclerotic Diseases”. He enjoys spending time with family, friends and playing soccer.

Alison Wand

Hometown: Wallingford, PA
Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Clinical Interests: Heart Failure, Cardiac Imaging
Research Interests: Cardiac sarcoidosis, inflammatory cardiomyopathies
Ali grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and stayed nearby to complete college and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. She came to Baltimore to begin internal medicine training in the Osler Medical Residency Program and served an additional year as an Assistant Chief of Service. Her clinical and research interests include advanced heart failure and inflammatory cardiomyopathies, with a specific focus on cardiac sarcoidosis. She also has a passion for medical education and mentoring. Outside of the hospital, Ali enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, and spending as much time as possible with her husband and their adorable son.

Renato Quispe Ayala, M.D.

Hometown: Lima, Peru
Medical School: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru)
Clinical Interest: General Cardiology, Prevention, Heart Failure
Research Interest: Prevention, lipids, risk modeling, big-data, machine learning/artificial intelligence, genomics
Dr. Renato Quispe is a third-year cardiology fellow interested in preventive cardiology and lipidology. Using big-data and epidemiologic approaches, his research has focused on the role of coronary calcium score in refining prediction of cardiovascular risk, the metabolism of different lipoproteins and its effect on atherosclerosis, and the importance of emerging lipid markers such as remnant particles and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Dr. Quispe obtained a Master of Health Science in Graduate Training in Clinical Investigation from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH) in 2016. He has been a finalist for the AHA Elizabeth Barrett-Connor Research Award in 2018 and Samuel A. Levine Young Investigator Award in 2020. Dr. Quispe is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Clinical Investigation at JHSPH, with a focus on machine learning/artificial intelligence and genomics in cardiovascular disease. His training and research have been supported by the Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional Research Training Program (T32) and the Trone Family Foundation.

Ilton Cubero Salazar

Hometown: Bluffton, South Carolina
Medical School: Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Heart Failure
Research Interest: Mechanisms underlying myocardial hypertrophy and heart failure, HFpEF
Ilton attended medical school at Dartmouth during which time he completed a research year at the Seidman laboratory in Boston funded by the Sarnoff Research Fellowship. He subsequently completed an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research interest has been focused around genetic modifiers of the hypertrophic response in animal models and in genetic variants associated with hypertrophy and heart failure.

Marc Engels

Hometown: Willemstad, Curaçao
Medical School: Leiden University
Clinical Interest: Electrophysiology
Research Interest: Atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death
Marc was born and raised in Curaçao, a small island in the Caribbean. He graduated from medical school at Leiden University in the Netherlands and completed PhD training there as well. During his PhD training he focused on arrhythmia research and specifically shockless defibrillation using optogenetics. He subsequently moved to the US for residency training at Emory University. He plans to pursue a career in cardiac electrophysiology.

Paul Scheel

Hometown: Ellicott City, MD
Medical School: Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Heart failure, transplant, critical care cardiology
Research Interest: Genetic cardiomyopathies, durable mechanical support
Paul is a Baltimore native but left the Charm City for undergraduate (University of Notre Dame) and medical school education prior to returning for residency in the Osler Medical Residency Program at Johns Hopkins. He has been involved in research within the ARVC and LVAD Programs at Johns Hopkins and has a wider interest in heart failure and cardiac transplant. He plans on pursing an academic cardiology career focusing on clinical research after completing an advanced heart failure and transplant fellowship. Outside of his clinical and academic pursuits, he enjoys playing basketball, cooking new dishes and traveling the world whenever possible.

Nick Smith

Hometown: Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine
Clinical Interest: Cardiology critical care
Research Interest: Cardiogenic shock, Emergency Management Simulation in Medical Education
Nick is the chief cardiology fellow and interested in the care of critically ill patients in cardiac and cardiac surgery intensive care units. He grew up in Northern Maine and attended Boston University School of Medicine by way of Bowdoin College, where he graduated with a degree in Neuroscience in 2009. He joined the Osler Medical Residency in 2016 as an intern on the Janeway Firm. He developed a passion for critical care cardiology and is currently in a non-ACGME year focused on cardiology critical care and is actively engaged in building the cardiogenic shock team program. He is additionally passionate about medical education, has won teaching awards both in residency and fellowship, and is part of an inaugural medical education pathway for cardiology fellows. Outside of cardiology he dares to be an average climber, runner, and cyclist, and has been deemed a catastrophic cook by nearly all of his peers. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Christina.

Rachit (Rick) Vakil

Hometown: Manahawkin, NJ
Medical School: Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Clinical Interest: Electrophysiology, heart failure
Research Interest: Obesity related cardiovascular comorbidities, prevention, epidemiology
Rachit attended Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for medical training. He received his Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he focused on epidemiology and biostatistics. He completed his internal medicine training in the Osler Residency Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is interested in cardiovascular epidemiology with a focus on risk stratification of sudden cardiac death. After general cardiology, he plans to pursue training in cardiac electrophysiology. Outside of the hospital he enjoys traveling, trying new foods, and strolling down to the harbor with his wife and young daughter to get gelato.