Current Cardiology Fellows

George George, MD

Haitham Hreibe, MD

Rajesh Polavarapu, MD

Andres Ruiz-Arango, MD

• Incidence of Bradyarrhythmias in Chronic Spinal Cord Injury. (In progress, ARB approved, started 2006) Principal Investigator. Faculty Sponsor: Mahendra Mandawat, MD (Chief of Cardiology, VA Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia).
• Changes in Non-Invasive Hemodynamic Parameters and Exercise Duration in Patients with Non-Ischemic Diastolic Heart Failure after Nitroglycerin Administration. (In progress, ARB approved, started 2006) Sub-Investigator. Faculty Sponsor: Vincent Robinson, MD (Director, Cardiology Fellowship, Medical College of Georgia).
• Clinical outcomes in patients with LV sistolic dysfunction and secondary pulmonary hypertension with and without associated RV failure (In progress, started 2007) Sub-Investigator. Faculty Sponsor: Chandra Kunavaparapu, MD (Assistant Professor – Cardiology section, Medical College of Georgia).
• Contrast Echo and Power Doppler in the Evaluation of Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus (In progress, started 6/07) Sub-investigator. Faculty Sponsor: Carolyn Landolfo, MD (Assistant Professor – Cardiology section, Medical College of Georgia).

Uzoma Ibebuogu, MD

• Cardiac Natriuretic Peptides in Decompensated Heart Failure
• D-dimer Assay in the Evaluation of Atrial Thrombosis
• Cardiac CT angiography in the Evaluation of Coronary Artery Plaques

Mulugeta Fissha, MD

• Alternative Methods of Healthcare in Axum, Ethiopia
• Co-researcher: Semhal Abbay, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
• Determined the prevalence of traditional herbal medicine use
• Investigated the use of religious rituals prior to utilization of western medicine
• Processed platelet aggregation by Thromboelastograph and Flow Cytometer
• Analyzed cardiac markers by Triagemeter
• Comparison of a novel type of Biphasic pacemaker with the contemporary monophasic pacemakers in rats-pressure-volume loop analysis
• Comparison of a novel type of Biphasic pacemaker with the contemporary monophasic pacemakers in rats-ECHO analysis
• Induction and cardioversion of atrial fibrillation in rabbit hearts with external cold application
• A Comparison of AZD6140 and Clopidogrel in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome. Phase III PLATO study

Huajun Liu, MD

• Columbia University Associate Research Scientist Employed as an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Pharmacology and worked on the molecular mechanisms of antiarrhythmic drugs. The studies that I conducted were to determine precisely how antiarrhythmic drugs such as flecainide and lidociane interact with inherited gene mutant Na channels that cause Long QT syndrome. So far 10 papers have been published from these studies.
• Yale University Post-Doctoral Fellow Conducted research in the field of cellular electrophysiology as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics. I studied at molecular level the mechanism involved in detection of oxygen deprivation of neurons, showing that a particular set of ionic channel (calcium activated potassium channel) is modulated by hypoxia in these cells. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
• Attended New York Medical College Post-Doctoral Fellow Conducted research in the field of basic electrophysiology as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology. My research projects were involved in studying the role of heme-heme oxygenase-carbon monoxide system in regulation of renal potassium channel. Two first author papers were published from these studies.

Farzad Majidi, MD

• Studying and analyzing echocardiographic correlates of diastolic heart failure in elderly population, Samer S. Najjar, M.D., National Institute of Aging (NIA/NIH)
• Retrospective study of “excessive utilization of healthcare resources in diagnosing syncope”, Harbor Hospital Center, research poster presentation at American College of Physicians, Annual Associate Meeting, Maryland Chapter, May 2001
• Retrospective analysis of the risk of contrast mediated nephropathy following administration of high dose contrast (>750 ml), for percutaneous coronary interventions, Jeffrey A. Brinker, M.D., Johns Hopkins Hospital, 2001
• Platelet activation in women with acute coronary syndrome: Response to GPIIb/IIIa inhibition, Steven P Schulman, M.D., Johns Hopkins Hospital, December 2000

Dinesh Patel, MD

• Effects of Basal Motion Constraint and Reproducibility of Left Ventricular Volume Curve Parameters Derived from 16-frame Gated Myocardial Perfusion Imaging.
• Preventing Early Adverse Complications in Heart Failure.
• Different Patterns of Transient Cavity Dilatation at Stress in Myocardial Perfusion Imaging: Implication for the Presence of Coronary Artery Stenosis.
• Effects of Metabolic Acidosis on Myocardial Performance in Vivo.

Nirav Patel, MD

• Platelets and coronary artery disease
• QT interval dynamics

Will Maddox, MD

• Heart failure

Rakesh Patel, MD