Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship
Faculty

Alfonso Waller, MD, FACC, FASE, FASNC, FSCCT, RPVI

Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology
Associate Director, Division of Cardiology
Director, Cardiac Imaging
Program Director, Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship

Alfonso H. Waller, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology, Director of Cardiac Imaging, and Program Director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He previously served as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer (2016-2020) at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Dr. Waller completed completed an Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship and served as Chief Fellow of the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital - Harvard Medical School. Dr. Waller is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology, Cardiac CT, Cardiac MRI, and Vascular Interpretation. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society of Echocardiography, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, and the Society for Cardiovascular CT.

Dr. Waller has extensive clinical expertise in multi-modality cardiovascular imaging and has published peer reviewed manuscripts in the fields of Cardiac MRI, Cardiac CT, Nuclear cardiology (SPECT and PET), and Advanced Echocardiography. Dr. Waller serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and serves a co-section editor in Current Cardiovascular Reports.  He serves on committees in the American College of Cardiology, Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology, and the Society for Cardiovascular CT. His clinical and research interests include optimal selection between imaging tests and comparative effectiveness of cardiovascular imaging.

Julius Gardin, MD , MD, MBA, FACC, FASE

Professor of Medicine
Director, Division of Cardiology

Julius M. Gardin, MD, MBA is a Professor of Medicine and Director, Division of Cardiology at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Dr. Gardin has made important contributions to cardiac investigation through research funded by the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and medical industry. He has been an author of more than 200 original research articles, in addition to guidelines, editorials, textbook chapters, and review articles.  He holds a U.S. patent on a method for determining blood flow through a narrowed orifice using color Doppler echocardiography (PISA). Dr. Gardin serves on multiple editorial boards and is currently a Senior Consulting Editor for the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. He is a former President of the American Society of Echocardiography, International Cardiac Doppler Society, and Council on (Society of) Geriatric Cardiology and was awarded the Melvin L. Marcus Gifted Teacher in Cardiology Award from the International Academy of Cardiology.

Christine Gerula, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine
Program Director, Cardiovascular Fellowship

Christine Gerula, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Program Director for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Gerula specializes in echocardiography and her research interest lie in the assessment and management of cardiac disease in end stage liver disease patients awaiting transplantation.

Marc Klapholz, MD, MBA, FACC, FSCAI

Professor of Medicine
Chair, Department of Medicine

Marc Klapholz, MD, FACC, FSCAI is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Director of the Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment Program.

Dr. Klapholz received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. He completed his residency in internal medicine, followed by an NIH sponsored Heart Failure Research Fellowship, General Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Bronx Municipal Hospital Center. Dr. Klapholz is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Echocardiography, Interventional Cardiology and Heart Failure and Transplant.

Dr. Klapholz has been a principle investigator on over 100 clinical trials in heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. He has served on AHA Grant Review Committees, the Heart Failure Society of America Guidelines Committee and on the Editorial Board of several journals. He has chaired and continues to chair numerous Steering, Endpoint and Data Safety Monitoring Board Committees for national and international trials in heart failure.

His major research interests include the evaluation of novel therapeutic agents and devices for the treatment of heart failure. Dr. Klapholz has authored and co-authored over 100 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, monographs, and reviews in cardiovascular disease.

Pierre Maldjian, MD

Professor of Radiology

Pierre Maldjian, MD, is a Professor of Radiology and Program Director for the Radiology Residency training program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

After receiving his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, Dr. Maldjian completed residency training in Diagnostic Radiology at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey and a fellowship in Body Imaging at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His areas of expertise include Thoracic imaging, and Cardiac CT and MRI.

Abhishek Sharma, MD , FACC, FSCAI

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Interventional Cardiology Program

Abhishek Sharma, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Interventional Cardiology Program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Sharma completed his fellowships in interventional cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Boston) and Structural and Congenital Heart Disease at Rush University Medical Center.
Dr. Sharma is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology and comprehensive adult echocardiography.

He is actively involved in cardiovascular outcomes research, especially in the field of coronary artery disease and transcatheter valve therapies. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 peer reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. He serves on editorial board and as reviewer for several reputed national and international medical journals and actively involved at national level in committees of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (Ischemic Heart Disease Council, Structural Heart Disease Council), the American Heart Association (Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Committee, Lifelong Learning Activity Review Group) and American College of Cardiology. His clinical focus includes an entire spectrum of transcatheter mitral valve therapies, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, ASD/PFO closure, paravalvular leak closure, and left atrial appendage closure, in addition to high risk coronary interventions and mechanical circulatory support.

Pallavi Solanki, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Assistant Devices

Pallavi Solanki, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and serves as the Director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support. She completed her Cardiovascular Research Fellowship as well as Cardiology Fellowship at Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School. She completed subspecialty training in Advanced Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Columbia University in New York. Dr. Solanki is board certified in cardiovascular disease, advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology and comprehensive adult echocardiography.