Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship Program
Fellowship Faculty

The divisions of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the The University Hospital are staffed by 150 dedicated professionals in a wide array of disciplines. The physician team is comprised of board-certified specialists who are also faculty members of New Jersey Medical School (NJMS).

Marc Klapholz, MD, FACC, FSCAI

Chair, Department of Medicine

Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

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.

Christine M. Gerula, MD, FACC

Program Director, Cardiovascular Fellowship

Associate Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Christine Gerula is an Associate Professor of Medicine and previously the Assistant Dean for Careers in Medicine at the New Jersey Medical School. Within the division of cardiology she serves as the Program Director for the Cardiovascular Fellowship.

Dr. Gerula earned her medical degree from New Jersey Medical School in 1996, and has remained at the institution, completing both her Internal Medicine residency and her Cardiology fellowship. She is an esteemed educator at the medical school and is the Course Director for the first year medical school curriculum for the Cardiovascular Organ system block. 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. She has been responsible for the preoperative cardiac assessment for liver transplant candidates for the last two decades.

Julius M. Gardin, MD, MBA, FACC, FASE

Director (Interim), Division of Cardiology

Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Julius M. Gardin, MD, MBA is a Professor of Medicine, Director (interim), Division of Cardiology, and the Chief of Quality and Program Development for the Division at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He previously served as Chair of the Department of Medicine (2008-2015) at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Gardin cares for patients with a wide spectrum of cardiac conditions and risk factors, and has been listed annually in the Who’s Who, Best Doctors in America and Top Doctors publications.

Dr. Gardin earned his undergraduate and medical degrees with honors from the University of Michigan. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at University of Michigan-affiliated hospitals and then completed a fellowship in Cardiology at Georgetown University Hospital.  Dr. Gardin has made important contributions to cardiac investigation through research funded by the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and the medical industry. His ongoing research has helped to elucidate the role of non-invasive cardiac imaging in predicting the risk of developing heart attacks and stroke. He has been an author of more than 200 original research articles, in addition to guidelines, editorials, textbook chapters, review articles, and a U.S. patent. Dr. Gardin serves on multiple editorial boards and is currently an 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.

Emad F. Aziz, DO, MBCHB, FACC, FHRS

Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology

Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Emad Aziz joins Rutgers New Jersey Medical School as a Professor of Medicine and Section Chief of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Director of the Arrhythmia Institute at the Rutgers-NJMS University Hospital.

Dr. Aziz is triple certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine, the American Osteopathic Board of Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology. He attended the Faculty of Medicine of Alexandria University in Egypt and the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Westbury, NY.

Dr. Aziz completed his residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, a University Hospital of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, along with a fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure at Montefiore-Einstein Heart Institute. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society joining the elite physicians in the field of electrophysiology.

He is a highly regarded lecturer at national and international conferences, with hundreds of presentations to his credit, Dr. Aziz has published more than 130 abstracts and 80 manuscripts and book chapters in peer-reviewed and professional journals. He currently serves as a reviewer on more than two dozen peer-reviewed journals.

Pallavi Solanki, MD, FACC, FASE

Director, Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Assistant Devices

Associate Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Pallavi Solanki, MD, is an Assistant 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 Transplant at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. She worked as an Advanced Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Cardiologist at the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio prior to joining NJMS. She participates in several international clinical trials involving heart failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support. She performs right heart catheterizations, heart biopsies, cardiopulmonary stress tests, and is part of the primary teaching faculty in the echocardiography laboratory.

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

Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology

Director, Cardiac Imaging

Faculty Profile

Alfonso H. Waller, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and is the Director of Cardiac Imaging 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 his Internal Medicine Residency and Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at New Jersey Medical School. He subsequently 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. His clinical and research interests include optimal selection between imaging tests and comparative effectiveness of cardiovascular imaging.

Abhishek Sharma, MD, FACC, FSCAI

Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Interventional Cardiology Program

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Abhishek Sharma joined the Division of Cardiology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Interventional Cardiology Program. He is also the Director of the Structural Heart Disease Program at Rutgers NJMS.

Dr. Sharma completed his fellowships in interventional cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Structural and Congenital Heart Disease at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Sharma studied medicine at the University of Delhi (Maulana Azad Medical College). Dr. Sharma is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, interventional cardiology, and comprehensive adult echocardiography. Prior to joining Rutgers NJMS Dr.Sharma served as Co-Director of Structural Heart Disease Program at the Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin.

Dr. Sharma 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 in several national committees associated with Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and American College of Cardiology (ACC).

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.

University Cardiology Associates

University Cardiology Associates is group of dedicated cardiologists who practice in the community and at University Hospital. These physicians are leaders in their field and hold academic appointments at the New Jersey Medical School. They have unique access to the cutting edge technologies and protocols available at University Hospital and are invited to attend weekly grand rounds and conferences.

Qaisra Saeed, MD

Attending Interventional Cardiology & Echocardiography

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Saeed, is an Clinical Assistant Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.  She earned her medical degree from Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, Pakistan and completed her residency and fellowship in Maryland and New Jersey. Dr. Saeed also completed Interventional Cardiology at Mount Sinai Hospital Center in New York, NY. She has advanced board certification in both Nuclear Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology. She is part of the primary teaching faculty in the cardiac catheterization laboratory and is also part of the reading panel in the Echocardiography lab at University Hospital.

Kamran Hamirani MD

Attending Interventional Cardiology & Echocardiography

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Hamirani, is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Cardiology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He earned his medical degree from University of Sindh-Liaquat Medical College in Jamshoro, Pakistan. Dr. Hamirani completed his residency at Morehouse in Atlanta, GA and graduated the Cardiology Fellowship at MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA and Interventional Cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Echocardiography and Nuclear Medicine. He is part of the primary teaching faculty in the cardiac catheterization laboratory and is also part of the reading panel in the Echocardiography lab at University Hospital.

Joaquim Correia MD

Attending Electrophysiology

Clinical Associate Professor

Dr. Correia, is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Cardiology at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School. He earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine, graduating with honors. Dr. Correia completed his residency, Cardiology and Electrophysiology Fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, NY.

Dr. Correia has a private practice in Newark, NJ. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Radiology

Pierre Maldjian, MD

Radiology, Chest Imaging

Professor of Medicine and Radiology

Dr. Maldjian is a Professor of the Department of Radiology and reads Thoracic and Cardiac CT & MR Imaging.

Dr. Liu

Radiology, Nuclear Medicine

Professor of Radiology

Dr. Liu is a Professor of the Department of Radiology and reads Nuclear SPECT and PET Imaging.

Veterans Affairs-New Jersey Healthcare System - East Orange, NJ

Wojciech Rudzinski, MD

Chief of Cardiology

Associate Program Director, Cardiology Fellowship

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine

Maryam Afshar, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine

Delia Cortiga MD

Non-invasive cardiology

Govindarajan Venkatesh, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine

Renjit Thomas, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center

Susan Simandl MD

Fellowship Site Director

Director, Non-invasive cardiology

Bruce Haik, MD

Division Chief of Cardiology

Jeffrey Landers MD

Non-invasive Cardiology

Sabino Torre, MD

Invasive Cardiology

Jersey City Medical Center

Abdul Ameen, MD

Fellowship Site Director

Attending Electrophysiology

Clinical Associate Professor

Michael Benz MD

Attending Interventional Cardiology & Vascular Medicine

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Benz, is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Cardiology at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School. He earned his medical degree from Osmania Medical College in India. Dr. Benz completed his residency at New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ. He was awarded the “Resident of the Year” and the “Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence”. Dr. Benz completed his Cardiology Fellowship at the same institution. He was awarded the “Fellow Teaching Award”. Dr. Benz also completed an additional year of training in Interventional Cardiology at Saint Vincent Hospital in New York, NY.

Dr. Benz is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Nuclear Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology, Echocardiography, Vascular Medicine, Endovascular Interventions and CT Angiography Level II.

Mary Abed MD

Division Chief of Cardiology