Speakers

Asimul Ansari MD

Dr. Ansari is the Director of Advanced Cardiac Imaging for the TriHealth Heart & Vascular Institute and Medical Director of Cardiology for TriHealth Physician Partners. He is passionate about progressing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. 

Dr. Ansari’s interest and expertise in advanced cardiac imaging allow him to utilize the latest technologies to accurately diagnose disease and develop individualized treatment plans. He marries cardiac MRI, CT and echocardiography with leading edge technologies to provide the highest quality outcomes for his patients. He also specializes in transesophageal echo imaging during minimally invasive surgery for TriHealth’s Structural Heart program.

While diagnosing and treating all aspects of heart disease in adult patients, he has particular interest in valvular heart disease, structural heart procedures, ICU care, and coronary artery disease.

Andres Carmona Rubio MD

Cardiologist, Cleveland Clinic

Dr. Carmona Rubio is a staff cardiologist in the section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation and Amyloidosis Center at the Cleveland Clinic. 

He received his medical degree from the "Universidad del Zulia". Afterwards, he completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Buffalo, general cardiology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic Florida and lastly, advanced heart failure fellowship at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.

He particularly has an interest in the diagnosis and management of cardiac amyloidosis and is actively involved in multiple clinical trials in that area in Cleveland. Additionally, Dr. Carmona serves as a member of the patient committee at HFSA.

Freidoon Ghazi, MD, FACC, FASCI, FESC

General Cardiologist, TriHealth

Dr. Ghazi is a general/invasive cardiologist who has been with the TriHealth Heart Institute since 1986. He has a medical degree from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services Medical School and was fellowship trained at the Cleveland Clinic. His clinical areas of interest include heart failure, cardiomyopathies, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac pacemakers, and research on new cardiovascular drugs and devices. Dr. Ghazi has devoted much time throughout his career to promoting cardiovascular disease prevention in Croatia. Over many trips, he has brought health promotion and training to Croatian communities to reduce their risk factors of smoking, high blood pressure and physical inactivity.

Saulius K. Girnius MD

Medical Oncologist, TriHealth

Dr. Girnius discovered a fascination for medicine while in college. He finds hematology to be especially rewarding because he can usually make a significant impact on patients who are sick, rapidly improving their lives through treatment or even a cure. He is excited about the tremendous improvements in his field, where life expectancy has increased dramatically over the last decade.

With experience as both a medical center staff physician and an assistant professor of hematology, Dr. Girnius sees patients for blood cancers, especially multiple myeloma, lymphoma and chronic leukemia. He is currently Medical Director of the cellular therapy program at Good Samaritan Hospital. The use of cellular therapy, including autologous stem cell transplantation and chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy allow TriHealth to have a platform to provide cutting edge therapy for blood cancers.

Alexander Gray, PharmD, BCPS, BCCP

Pharmacy Cardiology Clinical Coordinator, TriHealth

Alex Gray graduated with his doctor of pharmacy from Ohio Northern University in 2013 followed by a PGY1 residency at Henry Ford Jackson Hospital in Jackson, MI in 2014. He has been with TriHealth since that time. Alex is currently the pharmacy clinical coordinator for cardiology and the residency program director for the PGY2 pharmacy cardiology program at Bethesda North Hospital.

Jose Gabriel Improvola MD

Imaging Cardiologist, TriHealth

Dr. Impróvola was drawn to the sciences in high school and decided medicine would be the best way to combine that interest with a humanistic career. He chose to specialize in cardiology because it is a field grounded in evidence-based medicine. He truly enjoys gathering the most current evidence and bringing it to his patients in a personalized manner.

A non-invasive cardiologist, Dr. Impróvola sees adult patients for general cardiology concerns, including coronary and valvular heart disease. He has a particular interest in cardiac imaging and holds certifications in several modalities.

Omar H. Jawaid MD

Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist, TriHealth

Dr. Omar Jawaid started his career after earning a master’s degree in immunology by working six years in pharmaceutical quality assurance. He chose to go on to medical school to have more direct impact on people’s lives, helping them live better. He values the opportunity to see an ill patient return after treatment feeling great.

Dr. Jawaid helps people with heart failure live longer, healthier lives with medications and mechanical support like left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). He also diagnoses and treats sarcoidosis and amyloidosis, rare blood and heart conditions.

Sateesh Kesari MD

Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist, TriHealth

Dr. Kesari is the medical director of the Advanced Heart Failure, MCS/LVAD, and Pulmonary Hypertension programs at the TriHealth Heart & Vascular Institute. He has been instrumental in developing the LVAD program, Myocardial Recovery program, Pulmonary Hypertension program, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy clinic, Heart Failure Readmission program, and Virtual Heart Failure clinic at TriHealth. Dr. Kesari is involved in international Heart Failure/Cardiogenic shock, American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines, and INTERMACS registries.

Dr. Kesari began his Heart Failure career as a Cardiovascular Research Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.

Sara Marie Maples MD

Palliative Care, TriHealth

Dr. Maples is a lifelong Cincinnatian who attended medical school and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati followed by a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati Ohio. After fellowship she joined the TriHealth and Hospice of Cincinnati team for inpatient and outpatient palliative medicine. She works closely with the Advanced Heart Failure clinic multidisciplinary team to establish goals of care and assist with symptom management.

Trejeeve Martyn, MD MSc

Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist, Cleveland Clinic

Dr. Martyn is a staff Cardiologist in the section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation at Cleveland Clinic. He serves as the Director of Heart Failure Population Health for the Cleveland Clinic Health System. In this role, he is focused on scaling efforts to improve heart failure care across a large integrated system. He is a staff physician in the Cleveland Clinic Amyloidosis Center.

His research and clinical interests include medical therapy for heart failure, amyloidosis, implementation science, and novel technology in the diagnosis and management of heart failure. He is also actively involved in clinical trials in the areas of heart failure therapeutics, novel devices, digital health, and remote monitoring technology. He is a recipient of a young investigator grant from AstraZeneca looking at novel approaches to EHR-based screening for cardiac amyloid. He serves on the CV Disease in Older Populations committee for the AHA.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bowdoin College, he attended Harvard Medical School and completed his internal medicine residency at UCSF. He completed his general cardiology and advanced heart failure fellowships also at Cleveland Clinic. During his training he completed his master’s degree in Clinical Research at Case Western Reserve University. An active clinical researcher, his academic work has been published in JACC, JACC-HF, Journal of Cardiac Failure, Circulation Research, and the European Journal of Heart Failure.

Venkata N. Muddana MD

Gastroenterologist, TriHealth

TriHealth Medical Director of Gastroenterology and Director of Advanced Endoscopy

Dr. Venkata Muddana is a board-certified and experienced gastroenterologist specializing in treating adult patients with general and complex gastrointestinal disorders. He completed a gastroenterology fellowship with additional training in advanced endoscopy. He finds gastroenterology to be the perfect blend of science and art.

Dr. Muddana has a special interest in pancreaticobiliary disorders, GI oncology, esophageal disorders and patients with gastroparesis. Dr. Muddana believes in less invasive, nonsurgical treatments where possible and he accomplishes this through his expertise in advanced endoscopic procedures, including ERCP, interventional EUS, EMR, luminal stenting and endoscopic suturing. He is one of the few physicians in the country performing third space endoscopic procedures such as ESDs, STER, EFTR, POEM, G-POEM and Z-POEM.

Annelise Page MS, MA, CGC, LGC

Genetic Counselor III, TriHealth

Annelise Page joined the TriHealth Precision Medicine Institute in 2019 as a licensed and board-certified genetic counselor. Annelise specializes in adult hereditary cardiovascular genetics, with a special interest in hereditary transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy. She helped to build the cardiovascular genetics program and integrate genomic information into everyday practice alongside the cardiologists at TriHealth. Annelise is an active member of the cardiovascular genetics special interest group within the National Society of Genetic Counselors. Annelise achieved her Master of Science in Genetic Counseling as well as her Master of Arts in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from Case Western Reserve University.

Kamal Shemisa MD, FACP, FAHA, FASE, CLS

General Cardiologist & Lipidologist, TriHealth

Dr. Kamal Shemisa is a general Cardiologist, Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Lipidology, Director of Noninvasive Cardiovascular Testing at TriHealth, Director of the TriHealth Heart Institute Lipid Clinic, Co-director of GSH Heart Failure Clinic, and Good Samaritan Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Clinical Instructor.

Coming from a medical family, Kamal Shemisa, MD, discovered a love for studying the complexities of the human body at a young age. He was selected for a BSMD program at Kent State, an accelerated program that combines undergraduate studies with medical school. He graduated from the Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2008. He is board certified in Internal Medicine (2013) and Cardiovascular Disease (2017). He specializes in cardio-oncology, cardiology and lipidology.

Dr. Shemisa was attracted to the technology developments in cardiology, especially in imaging that allows physicians to appropriately diagnose cardiovascular disease, accurately risk-predict future events and make important decisions in emergencies. He's excited about the ongoing innovations in cardiology and the ability to make a real difference in people's lives. These include tele-monitoring as well as novel therapeutics in heart failure, stable coronary disease and lipid disease management.

Megan C. Smith, MD

Microbiology Medical Director, TriHealth Laboratories

Hematopathologist and Surgical Pathologist

Dr. Smith completed her pathology residency at Vanderbilt University medical as well as fellowships in surgical pathology and hematopathology. Her fellowship training included an emphasis in cardiac pathology. She is currently the microbiology medical director at TriHealth and practices general surgical pathology, hematopathology and cardiac pathology. She is a guest instructor at both the University of Cincinnati pathology resident program and the University of Cincinnati Medical School.

Jennifer Sprague, PA-C

Advanced Heart Failure APP, TriHealth

Jennifer Sprague, PA-C is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. She joined the Army as a healthcare specialist out of high school where she served for eight years, spending several years overseas practicing both as a combat medic and in the clinic. Upon returning stateside, she attended the University of Cincinnati for her undergraduate degree in Nutrition Science. She worked as a Registered Dietitian for five years at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in the neonatal and cardiac intensive care and step-down units. During that time, she was a member of the neonatal ECMO team and Education Committee for the Pediatric Residency program.

She later attended Kettering College Physician Assistant Program, obtaining her Master of Physician Assistant Studies. Initially working in Emergency Medicine, she was attracted to the critically ill cardiac patients. After four years in the ER, she transitioned to the Advanced Heart Failure Team with TriHealth. She has been part of the team for three years. Initially working inpatient, she then accepted the challenge as one of the outpatient APPS in 2022, where she now spends most of her time. She assists with the work-up and follow-up of the amyloid patients.