New partnership expands Baylor’s team of expert cardiologists

Baylor College of Medicine’s cardiology group has expanded with the addition of Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates, a team of internationally recognized doctors. The team joined Baylor’s Department of Medicine - Section of Cardiology, building on its commitment to improving patient care.

The group of 13 physicians, now known as Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine, comes from a full-service cardiology practice and will continue its decades-long affiliation with the Texas Heart Institute and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, a part of CHI St. Luke’s Health.

“This is a group of physicians with a longstanding history of providing the highest quality of patient care to our community,” said Dr. Juan Carlos Plana, associate professor and chief of clinical operations of the Section of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at Baylor. “Adding them to our Baylor team has been a seamless fit. They support the commitment to excellence we have made toward innovative research, educating the next generation of doctors and effective clinical care.”

The team is not entirely new to Baylor; many completed their training here or held clinical professor titles prior to joining the full-time faculty. The members include:

Dr. Virendra Mathur, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, specializes in management of coronary artery disease and all clinical disorders of heart disease. He has been a clinical faculty member with Baylor for more than 25 years before joining the full-time faculty as well as being a leading experienced cardiologist with the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and Texas Heart Institute.

Dr. Neil E. Strickman, professor of medicine – cardiology, also is an interventional cardiologist at the Texas Heart Institute. He specializes in nonsurgical treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, transcatheter aortic heart valve replacement, carotid artery stenting as well as peripheral vascular and cardiac issues. He was a clinical faculty member long before joining the full-time faculty at Baylor and has served in leadership positions with Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. He remains the CEO of Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Raymond F. Stainback, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, has been in clinical cardiology practice with the group for 20 years. He is the longstanding medical director of noninvasive cardiology at the Texas Heart Institute, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine. He is a current board member for the American Society of Echocardiography and current board chair of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission. He has been an author on several clinical guidelines documents for the ACC and ASE. He received his medical degree from Baylor and internal medicine and cardiovascular and imaging training at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. James Michael Wilson, professor of medicine – cardiology, is a general and interventional cardiologist with special interest in physical diagnosis. He was trained in general and interventional cardiology at the Texas Heart Institute where he succeeded Dr. Robert Hall to become the institution’s second and current director of cardiology education. He is the immediate past-chief of medical staff for Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Hospital. Before joining the full-time faculty of Baylor he was a clinical instructor with the college.

Dr. Abdi Rasekh, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, specializes in electrophysiology. He was a clinical faculty member at Baylor before joining the full-time faculty. He is a leading pioneer in the field of atrial fibrillation. He focuses on ablation therapy as well as working as an internationally recognized proctor for the Lariat device, both treatments for atrial fibrillation. He completed interventional and electrophysiology training at the Texas Heart Institute where he has been in clinical practice for 15 years. He will continue with his clinical leadership as medical director of electrophysiology laboratories at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Dr. Joseph Navarijo, assistant professor of medicine – cardiology, directs the nuclear cardiology laboratory at Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine and also is assistant-director of echocardiography at the Baylor St Luke's Medical Center. He has been in general clinical cardiology practice with the group for more than 15 years and was on the clinical faculty of Baylor before joining the full-time faculty. He received his cardiology training at the Texas Heart Institute, and he is certified in both echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. He focuses his work on valvular heart disease and noninvasive diagnostic imaging. Navarijo plans to remain as the director for nuclear cardiology at Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Mohammad Saeed, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, focuses his work on the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular arrhythmias as an electrophysiologist. He is the program director of the electrophysiology fellowship program at the Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and at the Texas Heart Institute. At Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and Texas Heart Institute, he combines his practice of cutting-edge specialized cardiac care with pursuit of academic medicine and teaching of young doctors with Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Mehdi Razavi, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, also is a research scientist with the Texas Heart Institute and held a clinical associate professor title with Baylor before joining the full-time faculty. As a cardiac electrophysiologist, his patient practice focuses on heart rhythm disorders. He received his medical degree from Medical College of Pennsylvania and his cardiology and electrophysiology training at the Mayo Clinic. He has published extensively and received multiple grants, including from the American Heart Association, for his research on the mechanism and novel treatments of cardiac arrhythmias. He will remain active in patient care and research in electrophysiology as a faculty member with Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. José G. Díez, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, serves as a senior research scientist in interventional cardiology as well as clinical cardiologist at the Texas Heart Institute. He also is a consulting staff of the cardiology service at Texas Children’s Hospital. He remains active in the non-surgical treatment of valvular heart disease as well as a consultant for complex cardiovascular disorders. He is a former faculty member who became a clinical professor before currently rejoining the full-time faculty as part of Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Sheila Heinle, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, specializes in the noninvasive field of echocardiography. She received her cardiology training at Duke University Medical Center where she was a full-time faculty member. Prior to joining the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, she held clinical faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and UT Southwestern Medical Center. Her current academic role includes teaching cardiology fellows at the Texas Heart Institute and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and speaking as an invited faculty member at national and local conferences. Clinically, she maintains a general cardiology practice as a member of Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Bernardo Treistman, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, has been an educator at various hospitals in Houston and around the world for more than 40 years. He brings his expertise in international cardiology and related coronary issues to Baylor and remains the clinical international liaison with Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Michael Mihalick, associate professor of medicine – cardiology, is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and has practiced medicine in Houston for more than 25 years. He was a clinical faculty member at Baylor before joining the faculty full time. His interests include syncope, heart failure, pacing, coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease. His clinical expertise is a welcome addition to Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Joanna Molina, assistant professor of medicine – cardiology, specializes in electrophysiology. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Baylor and fellowships in electrophysiology and cardiology at the Texas Heart Institute and Baylor. She will use her electrophysiology knowledge throughout the Houston, Pasadena, Baytown and southeast area with Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine.

Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine will remain in its location in Fannin Tower at CHI St. Luke’s Health Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center at 6624 Fannin.

For additional information about Baylor heart specialists and their services visit Cardiovascular Medicine.