Our Team | Palo Alto Cardiovasc

Investigators

We have a diverse team of experienced researchers with a broad range of expertise across methodology and cardiovascular medicine.

Co-Director

Paul Heidenreich

Paul Heidenreich, MD, MS is a Professor of Medicine and Vice Chair for Quality in the Stanford University Department of Medicine. and is also Chief of Medicine at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He has expertise in outcomes and health services research including including use of screening with diagnostic tests, quality improvement, and economic analyses. He has served as chair of the American Heart Association Quality of Care & Outcomes Research and the American Heart Association Task Force for Performance Measures. Clinically, he is a practicing non-invasive cardiologist.

Co-Director

Alexander Sandhu

Alex Sandhu, MD, MS is a heart failure cardiologist and clinical researcher at Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA. His research focuses on using routinely collected data to better understand quality of cardiovascular care and outcomes and conducting pragmatic trials to evaluate strategies to deliver high-quality cardiovascular care. He is the Co-Director of the Stanford Heart Health Tech Center at the Stanford Center for Digital Health.

Investigator

David Maron

David Maron, MD, is the C.F. Rehnborg Professor of Medicine and Division Chief of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. He is a preventive cardiologist and clinical trialist. His research is focused on primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. He has extensive experience in multicenter clinical trials, serving as a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Optimal Medical Therapy Committee for the VA-funded COURAGE trial, as the PI and Co-Chair of the NHLBI-funded ISCHEMIA trial, and Co-Chair of the NHLBI-funded ISCHEMIA-CKD trial.

Investigator

Fatima Rodriguez

Fatima Rodriguez MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, a cardiologist, and clinical researcher focused on closing care gaps in cardiovascular disease prevention across diverse populations. She leads a multidisciplinary research group, the Health Equity Advancement through Research and Technology (HEART) lab (https://heart.stanford.edu/).

Investigator

Neil Kalwani

Neil Kalwani, MD, MPP is a Staff Physician at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Clinical Instructor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. His clinical expertise is in general and preventive cardiology and echocardiography. His research focuses on the evaluation of policies and innovations in care delivery designed to improve the value of care for patients with cardiovascular disease.

Investigator

Alexander Perino

Alexander Perino, MD, is a cardiac electrophysiologist and cardiovascular researcher. His clinical expertise is treating heart rhythm disorders. His research focuses on using large datasets to examine quality of care, outcomes, and risk prediction for heart rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. He is also the medical informatics director for the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford Health Care where he works to improve 1) the quality and safety of cardiovascular care delivery and 2) patient and clinician experience derived from the EHR and related information and communication technologies.

Investigator

Rebecca Tisdale

Becca Tisdale, MD, MPA is an internist, obesity medicine specialist, and health services researcher. Her work focuses on value, access, and equity in cardiovascular disease care, especially among historically marginalized populations in the US and globally, and the role of virtual care in achieving these goals. She has completed internal medicine residency and chief residency and a health services research fellowship at Stanford and the Palo Alto VA, where she continues to practice obesity and hospital medicine.

Investigator

Anubodh Sunny Varshney

Anubodh Sunny Varshney is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Advanced Heart Failure, Transplant Cardiology, and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Stanford. He is also an outcomes researcher working to identify groups that have unmet medical needs, define outcomes that next generation therapies should improve upon, and understand factors that influence adoption of novel therapies. He also serves as a Venture Advisor at Broadview Ventures, a philanthropically-funded, mission-driven investment organization that invests in early-stage companies developing technologies that have the potential to improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease or stroke.

Investigator

Celina Yong

Celina Yong, MD, MBA, MSc is Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Yong’s current research focuses on understanding and reducing inequities in cardiovascular care for patients, as well as resolving gender imbalances in the medical profession itself. She is actively involved in clinical trials of novel devices for percutaneous coronary and structural interventions.