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Dr. Marcelo P. Villa-Forte Gomes, MD, is co-Associate Section Head of the Section of Vascular Medicine, the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He was appointed to Cleveland Clinic in 2003. He is board-certified in internal medicine and vascular medicine.

Dr. Gomes has a wide range of research and treatment interests, including blood clotting disorders, carotid artery disease, claudication, deep venous thrombosis, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, hypercoagulable states, peripheral arterial disease, peripheral vascular disease, pulmonary embolism and thrombophilia.

Dr. Gomes is a Fellow of the Society for Vascular Medicine, as well as member of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, American Heart Association, American College of Physicians, and Brazilian Society of Cardiology. He has been a speaker at medical conferences and symposia both in Brazil and the United States. His research articles have been published in major scientific journals and he has contributed chapters for textbooks.

Dr. Woosup Michael Park, MD, is the Department Chair of Vascular Surgery in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Park was a Staff Surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. He is accomplished in all aspects of vascular surgery of the arteries and veins, as well as proficient in both open surgery and endovascular procedures, particularly hybrid procedures. During his time at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, he lead the development of the Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS) clinic and is the inventor of several devices.

Dr. Park received his medical degree from Columbia University, New York City, New York. He completed his residency in General Surgery at Columbia University/St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center. He completed his fellowship in Vascular Surgery at the Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Park resides in Abu Dhabi. He enjoys writing, fishing, golf and travel.

Dr. Khubaib Mapara, MD, is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Mapara was a Staff Physician at Trinity Health of New England, Connecticut, and faculty member at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Mapara received his medical degree from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. He then finished postdoctoral research training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, where he also finished his general surgical training. He then completed a Vascular Surgery Fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Dr. Mapara is an accomplished Vascular Surgeon and during his tenure, has treated a broad variety of complex vascular pathology cases utilizing state-of-the-art minimally invasive, catheter-based techniques, as well as traditional open vascular surgical techniques.

Dr. Mapara has a special interest in carotid arterial disease, aortic dissections and limb salvage. He was one of the first surgeons to perform Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) in the state of Connecticut.

Currently, Dr. Mapara resides in Abu Dhabi with his wife and three children. He enjoys outdoor activities with his family, swimming, and cooking.

Lee Kirksey, MD, is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic’s Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute and holds the Walter W Buckley endowed chair. He is board certified in surgery with special qualifications in vascular surgery. He holds a master’s in business administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business and received his undergraduate and medical degree from The Ohio State University School of Medicine.

Dr Bernard Prendergast is the Chair of Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic London and a Consultant Cardiologist at St Thomas' Hospital, London where he is also a leading member of the multidisciplinary valve team. He undertook Cardiology training in Cardiff, Paris and Edinburgh and held Consultant posts in Manchester and Oxford before relocation to London in 2015.

He has been Honorary Secretary of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society and the British Cardiovascular Society, and Chairman of the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Valvular Heart Disease, and is the principal Course Director of PCR London Valves, the world’s largest specialist meeting in valve intervention.

Lars Georg Svensson, MD, PhD, is the Chairman of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular, and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Svensson is an internationally known cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. His research has led to many innovative surgical treatments and techniques. Dr. Svensson is board-certified in thoracic, cardiovascular and general surgery. He is a Professor of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Prior to being appointed to Chair of the institute, Dr. Svensson’s leadership positions at Cleveland Clinic included Director of the Aorta Center; Director of the Marfan Syndrome and Connective Tissue Disorder Clinic; Director of Quality and Process Improvement, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery; Director of Affiliate Cardiothoracic Surgery Programs; and Co-Director, Transcatheter Valve Program.

Specialty/Clinical interests: Aortic valve surgery, aortic valve and bicuspid valve repair, cardiac surgery, complex aorta surgery, surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysm, endovascular aorta treatment – thoracic, heart surgery for patients with Marfan syndrome, modified David's reimplantation procedure, percutaneous treatment for patients with valve disease, minimally invasive heart surgery, Marfan syndrome and connective tissue disorders. Dr. Svensson has had six NBA players as patients as well as a number of NFL, MLB, NHL and NCAA players.

Education and Training: Dr. Svensson was born in Barberton, South Africa. He completed his undergraduate work at Treverton College in Mooi River, South Africa. He earned his medical degree and PhD in blood flow pathophysiology from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he received numerous fellowships and awards.

Dr. Svensson received his training in cardiology and general surgery at the Johannesburg Hospital, South Africa, and his training in cardiothoracic surgery at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, for which he received a fellowship. He also completed a cardiovascular surgery fellowship and residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

Milind Desai, MD MBA, is the Director of Clinical Operations of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He holds the Haslam Family Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has dual appointments in the Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine (Section of Cardiovascular Imaging) and Radiology.

Dr. Desai is the Director of Center for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, the Medical Director of the Center for Aortic Diseases, the Medical Director for Center for Radiation Heart Disease and an integral part of the Center for Valvular heart disease. He is an expert in multimodality cardiovascular imaging, having achieved the highest level of proficiency in all imaging modalities, including cardiac MRI, cardiac CT, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology.

Dr. Desai’s research interests include large outcomes studies in valvular heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, radiation heart disease, coronary artery disease and aortic disorders. He is also an active researcher in noninvasive imaging using advanced echocardiography, CT and MRI; stress testing in patients with valvular heart disease; outcomes assessment using multimodality imaging in ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Dr. Jai Khatri is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He is Director of Complex Coronary Intervention at the Cleveland Clinic. His research and clinical focus is the management of coronary chronic total occlusions.

Leslie Cho, MD, is Director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Women’s Cardiovascular Center. She is also Section Head, Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation and Chief Quality Officer in the Heart, Vascular, Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. She is a professor of Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine Case Western Reserve Medical School. Dr. Cho is board-certified in interventional cardiology, cardiovascular medicine, and internal medicine.

Luke J. Laffin, MD, is a physician in the Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation Section in the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. Originally from Calgary, Canada, Dr. Laffin earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. He served his residency at University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Ill., followed by fellowships in hypertensive diseases and cardiovascular disease there. He was named to the Cleveland Clinic staff in 2018. He is a clinical specialist in hypertension as certified by the American Heart Association and directs the Resistant Hypertension Clinic and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Clinic within the Heart Vascular and Thoracic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Laffin has published widely in the field of preventive cardiology, mainly on the diagnosis and management of hypertension. He given multiple invited national and international lectures in the field of preventive cardiology.

Marwan Noel Sabbagh, MD, board certified neurologist and geriatric neurologist, hopes to work himself out of a job. Considered one of the leading experts in Alzheimer’s and dementia, he is the Camille and Larry Ruvo Endowed Chair for Brain Health and Director of Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Dr Sabbagh has dedicated his career to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Sabbagh is a leading investigator for many prominent national Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment trials. Dr. Sabbagh is on the editorial board for Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and BMC Neurology. He is now editor in chief of Neurology and Therapy. He has authored and co-authored almost 370 medical and scientific articles on Alzheimer’s research.

Dr. Sabbagh is the author of The Alzheimer’s Answer: Reduce Your Risk and Keep Your Brain Healthy, with foreword by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and of The Alzheimer’s Prevention Cookbook: 100 Recipes to Boost Brain Health. He has edited Palliative Care for Advanced Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Based Care and Geriatric Neurology, published in 2014 and Fighting for my Life: living in the shadow of Alzheimer’s disease in 2019.

He has been recognized with numerous awards, including WestMarc Innovator Award, 2015; Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, 2004.

Dr. Sabbagh earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his medical degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He received his residency training in neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, and completed his fellowship in geriatric neurology and dementia at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, where he served on the faculty as assistant professor. Before joining the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic, he was at the Barrow Neurological Institute where he served for three years, and prior to that, he was the director of the Banner Sun Health Research Institute for 15 years.

Dr. Walid Saliba is a staff cardiologist in the Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Saliba is also the Medical Director of the EP lab and Director of the Atrial Fibrillation Center. He is trained in all aspects of clinical cardiac electrophysiology and pacing, including catheter ablation, epicardial access, LAA occlusion, implantation of cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators and extraction of implanted pacemaker and ICD leads using laser technology.

A native of Lebanon, Dr. Saliba did his undergraduate work at the American University of Beirut, continued at the American University and earned his medical degree. He is fluent in English, French and Arabic. He moved to the United States where he completed an internship and residency program in internal medicine at Duke University, a fellowship in Cardiology from Baylor College. The Cleveland Clinic awarded him a fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology and he was appointed to Cleveland Clinic as a staff cardiac electrophysiologist in 1999.

Dr. Saliba’s research has focused on topics related to new treatments of atrial fibrillation, stroke prevention strategies and pericardial ablation. He has been a guest lecturer and authored or co-authored numerous articles in leading scientific journals.

Dr. Saliba is a member of the American College of Cardiology and fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society.

Khalid Almuti is a consultant cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and the section head for Cardiac Electrophysiology. He has American Board of Internal Medicine certification in cardiac electrophysiology and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Almuti is trained in the management of cardiac arrhythmias and in cardiac device implantation.

Dr. Almuti completed his college and professional studies in the United States. He did his undergraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley. He subsequently pursued his medical degree at the State University of New York.

He then pursued specialty training in Internal Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. This was followed by a year of training in heart failure and cardiac transplantation at Columbia University also in New York. He completed further training in cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology in Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Almuti was a staff cardiologist and electrophysiologist at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio. He also served as an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Cincinnati and as director of electrophysiology services at West Chester Hospital.

Dr. Almuti’s research has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. This includes the use of advanced ablation technology without radiation, improving the safety and efficacy of cardiac ablation procedures, prevention of sudden cardiac death and prevention of stroke. He has special interest in comprehensive multidisciplinary strategies for the management of atrial fibrillation. He has authored multiple articles and textbook chapters on these and other related topics.

He is a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society (FHRS) and the American College of Cardiology (FACC). He is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Lerner College of Medicine.

He is the Director of C5Research, the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research, an academic research organization which plans, coordinates, and manages multicenter clinical trials of new pharmacologic or device therapies. Dr. Lincoff’s research activities focus on development of therapies to reduce acute and long-term complications of percutaneous coronary revascularization procedures, optimize management of acute coronary ischemic syndromes, or reduce progression or complications of atherosclerosis. He has served as principal investigator or steering committee member of over 50 trials in ischemic heart disease.

Dr. Lincoff also supervises clinical research activities throughout the Cleveland Clinic as Director of the Center for Clinical Research of the Lerner Research Institute. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He holds the Charles and Charlotte Fowler Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Lincoff has authored or coauthored over 350 peer-reviewed articles, authored over 80 book chapters and reviews, and presented lectures at various medical meetings and courses throughout the world. He has served as the Chair of the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Lincoff earned his undergraduate BS degree in chemical and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in 1982 and his MD from Johns Hopkins University in 1986. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, a fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at the University of Michigan Medical Center, and a fellowship in interventional cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American Heart Association and the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.

Dr. Houssam Younes, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Younes was a Vascular Surgeon and Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. During his tenure, he treated a wide spectrum of complex vascular diseases utilizing new minimally invasive endovascular surgery technologies, including image-guided and catheter based therapies and traditional open surgery techniques. He also served as a teaching faculty at medical school, as well as general and vascular surgery residency programs.

Dr. Younes received his medical degree from Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey. He then completed his surgical training at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch. He later completed a Vascular Surgery fellowship at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

His clinical interest is in limb salvage therapies and hybrid procedures, which extend the range of vascular diseases treated and expand the patient population, which will benefit from minimally invasive surgery. His research interests include limb salvage, dialysis access and endovascular surgery outcomes. He has presented multiple national presentations and authored numerous published articles.

Dr. Younes resides in Abu Dhabi with his family. He enjoys biking, soccer, calligraphy and gardening.

Dr. Faisal Hasan, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. He also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Hasan was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. He was a member of the Academic Interventional Cardiology practice at Yale New Haven Hospital, where he treated a spectrum of cardiac and peripheral vascular diseases and performed a high volume of interventional cardiology procedures. He was also involved in the training and education of Yale Cardiology fellows.

Dr. Hasan is trained in advanced coronary and peripheral vascular interventions, with a focus and interest in minimally-invasive complex cardiac and vascular procedures. His specialty expertise includes the treatment of ischemic heart disease, structural heart and valve disease, invasive coronary imaging, cardiomyopathy, coronary interventions and endovascular therapies for peripheral artery disease.

His recent focus is on endovascular therapies for complex peripheral artery disease and has published multiple book chapters on this topic.

He has maintained active research activities, leading to national and international recognition, including key publications in peer-reviewed journals such as Circulation, American Heart Journal and Journal of American College of Cardiology. He has presented multiple abstracts at American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association meetings and is an invited Faculty Member at multiple international cardiovascular conferences.

Dr. Hasan currently resides in Abu Dhabi. He enjoys spending his free time with his wife and four children.

Dr. Mahmoud Traina, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Traina was an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), California, US. He was also Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, where he doubled the capacity of the laboratory and introduced complex coronary interventions and the radial catheterization approach. During this time, Dr. Traina performed over 6,000 cardiac catheterizations, using advanced techniques and minimally invasive approaches.

Dr. Traina was the Associate Program Director of the Cardiology fellowship at UCLA, overseeing the training of over thirty fellows annually. He also served as core faculty of Internal Medicine Residency, supervising over eighty residents every year. He is known as a dedicated educator and has won several teaching awards.

He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, US and received his medical degree from the University of California, Davis, California. His postgraduate training was at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he completed his training in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology.

Dr. Traina’s research interests include optimization of radial access approaches, evaluation and management of cardiomyopathies and novel management of acute heart failure and atrial fibrillation. He has participated in multiple international multicenter trials and has over forty publications and abstracts in peer-reviewed journals. He has also been an invited speaker at both national and international conferences.

Dr. Traina enjoys spending his free time with his wife and two children.

Dr. Ronney Shantouf, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Shantouf was a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he has served as the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization lab of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center since 2016. He further served as the Cardiology Education Course Chair for the Olive View-UCLA Internal Medicine Residency program. As an Interventionalist, he specializes in transradial coronary interventions, intravascular imaging and invasive hemodynamic assessment. He has also performed thousands of cardiac catheterizations throughout his career.

Dr. Shantouf is American Board certified. He received his medical degree from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and went on to complete his residency in Internal Medicine at the UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Shantouf enjoys spending his free time with his wife and son. When not at work, he enjoys playing the guitar, listening to music, discovering new travel destinations and reading.

Leben Tefera, MD, is a staff physician in the Vascular Medicine Section of the Tomsich Family Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. He sees patients at Cleveland Clinic main campus.

Dr. Tefera earned his Doctorate of Medicine from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine, and completed his internal medicine residency at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. During his residency Dr. Tefera fulfilled the requirements for the Leadership in Medical Education track and earned an Emotionally Intelligent Leader Certificate from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management. He was selected to serve as Chief Medical Resident in his final year. He received his specialty training as a fellow in Vascular Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mohamed Al Jaabari, MBBS, FACC, FHRS is a consultant cardiac electrophysiologist in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Al Jaabari practiced as Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) and Mafraq Hospital, Abu Dhabi where he was also a core faculty of the cardiovascular disease fellowship program. Dr. Al Jaabari is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society. Dr Al Jaabari treats a wide range of simple and complex cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia by performing ablation procedure. He also performs advanced cardiac device implantation and extraction procedures. Dr. Al Jaabari received his medical degree with honors from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He completed an Internal Medicine residency training at Georgetown University, Washington Hospital Center, Washington D.C. where he also served as Chief Resident of the Internal Medicine Residency program. He completed his fellowship training in Cardiovascular Medicine and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, United States. Dr. Al Jaabari leads the Cardiac Electrophysiology Working Group of the Emirates Cardiac Society. He has authored several book chapters in the field of electrophysiology and a regular speaker at national and international conferences on his area of expertise.

After graduation, Prof Wendler worked as staff surgeon at the Heart Centre Leipzig/Germany and as Deputy Lead of the Cardiothoracic Department of the University Hospital Saarland/Germany. In 2004 he was appointed as Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon/Clinical Director at King’s College Hospital/London and in 2012 he was promoted Professor of Cardiac Surgery at King’s College London. As Institute Chair of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute of Cleveland Clinic London he is currently preparing the opening of the Services in September 2022.

Prof Wendler extensively studied modern techniques and outcome of complete arterial revascularization to improve long-term revascularization results in patients with coronary artery disease. He has a particular surgical/academic interest in the treatment of heart valve disease and is sub-specialized in minimally-invasive surgical techniques and operations to restore native valve function. In 2007 he performed the first transapical Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in the UK and has established King’s College Hospital as one of the major international centers for less invasive heart valve therapy.

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