Preventive Cardiology Section
The Preventive Cardiology Section at Stanford seeks to prevent cardiovascular disease and promote cardiovascular health through a multidisciplinary, team-based approach. We specialize in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease, acquired and inherited lipid disorders, and cardiovascular risk assessment.
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Bio
Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine and (by courtesy) the Stanford Prevention Research Center. Dr. Rodriguez earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She then completed internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University. She currently serves as the Section Chief of Preventive Cardiology. Dr. Rodriguez specializes in cardiovascular disease prevention, inherited lipid disorders, and cardiovascular risk assessment in high-risk populations.
Dr. Rodriguez’s research includes a range of topics around racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in cardiovascular disease prevention, developing novel interventions to address disparities, and opportunistic screening of coronary artery disease.
Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Bio
Abha Khandelwal is an imaging cardiologist who has clinical experience in cardio-obstetrics, structural disease and prevention of cardiovascular disease in high risk populations. She has a Master’s in Management of Information Systems and has integrated technology to improve operations within the cardiovascular ambulatory clinics. She serves as the Ambulatory Clinic Chief for Cardiovascular Medicine and the General Cardiology Section Lead. Her research spans clinical trials in preventative cardiology, imaging, cardio-obstetrics and women’s heart health. She has participated in a broad range of phase II- phase III clinical trials targeting treatment of elevated lipoprotein a for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes control in cardiovascular disease and dyslipidemia in high risk populations. She has worked within the Stanford South Asian Translational Heart Initiative (SSATHI) program looking at technology utilization to improve adherence to care plans in the south Asian population. She is the course director for the first annual CME for transforming cardiac rehab in the fall at Stanford. She has utilized digital health initiatives to improve cardiometabolic profile of women with history of gestational diabetes and hypertension post-partum. She is an active member in the AHA go red scientific advisory committee and helped with virtual enrollment for their initiatives. As Ambulatory Clinic Chief, she has worked at operationalizing mobile technology within the clinics and used remote patient monitoring to improve patient outcomes. Her vision is to integrate technology to improve health care delivery, health in high-risk populations, and reduce health disparities.
C. F. Rehnborg Professor and Professor of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center)
Bio
Dr. Maron is Director of Preventive Cardiology. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and clinical lipidology. He was an undergraduate at Stanford, received his medical degree from University of Southern California, and completed his residency in internal medicine at UCLA. He completed a cardiology fellowship and a research fellowship in cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention at Stanford University as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. He was on the faculty at Vanderbilt for 20 years before returning to Stanford in 2014. 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, and now as the PI and Co-Chair of the NHLBI-funded ISCHEMIA trial, and Co-Chair of the NHLBI-funded ISCHEMIA-CKD trial.
Clinical Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Bio
Eleanor Levin completed her undergraduate degree at Stanford, Phi Beta Kappa in Human Biology with Distinction, and her MD at UCSF as a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar. Her first internship was at Children's Hospital of San Francisco in pediatrics and her second at the Cleveland Clinic in internal medicine. She completed internal medicine training at Georgetown University and cardiology fellowship at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. At GW she undertook an advanced fellowship in echocardiography and lipids following her general cardiology fellowship. After fellowship training, Dr. Levin joined the GW faculty as an assistant professor of medicine in the Lipid Research Clinic. Subsequently she joined The Permanente Medical Group in northern California as a non-invasive cardiologist. She directed the Echocardiography Lab at Kaiser Santa Clara and introduced TEE and stress echo during her 25-year tenure. She introduced CT angiography of the heart at Santa Clara and coordinated joint readings between Radiology and Cardiology for 15 years. She created the Cholesterol Management and Heart Failure Programs initially at Santa Clara and eventually at more than 20 medical centers in Northern California. She was Kaiser's regional expert in lipidology as well as in cardiac disease in pregnancy in a patient population of 4 million. Dr. Levin served as Chief of Cardiology at Santa Clara for 14 years and as Chair of the Chiefs of Cardiology (120 cardiologists) for Northern California Kaiser for 8 years. She directed the Regional Cardiac Rehabilitation Program using home-based comprehensive rehabilitation across 18 medical centers for nearly three decades. During this time, she led teams developing cardiac guidelines embedded in order sets and electronic medical records throughout Kaiser medical centers to improve quality. She has spoken about and presented her work on population management and quality improvement nationally and internationally. Her awards include the national NCQA (National Committee of Quality Assurance) Award for Excellence in Cardiac Care, the Exceptional Contribution Award from The Permanente Medical Group for “exceptional work in care management programs” for heart failure and cholesterol management, the Santa Clara County Medical Association Outstanding Achievement Award for cardiac care management, and the Silicon Business Journal Award as one of the "Top 100 Influential Women in Silicon Valley." She is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. She is board certified in both Internal Medicine and in Cardiovascular Diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She joined the Stanford University School of Medicine as a Clinical Professor in 2018 after decades as Voluntary Affiliate Faculty at Kaiser Santa Clara. Currently she teaches medical students, medical residents, and Cardiology fellows, as well as directing the Stanford undergraduate shadowing program. She conducts collaborative research in cardio-obstetrics, Value Based Care, and cardiac rehabilitation.
Dr. Levin is a member of the Preventive Cardiology group. She consults on pregnant patients with heart disease as well as general cardiology patients with lipid disorders and a broad range of cardiovascular diseases.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Bio
Dr. Fahim Abbasi specializes in diagnosis and treatment of prediabetes and insulin resistance. Dr. Abbasi has a special interest in prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease through lifestyle modifications.
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Bio
I am a physician-scientist and the overall theme my research has been the genetic basis of cardiovascular disease across the continuum from Discovery to the development of Model Systems to the Translation of these findings to the clinic and most recently to the Public Health aspect of genetics. I completed his MD-PhD at UNC with Prof. Nobuyo Maeda and Nobel Laureate Oliver Smithies. I did Internal Medicine residency and Cardiology fellowship training at Stanford working with Dr. Tom Quertermous. Currently my Discovery and basic translational efforts center on understanding the genetic basis of insulin resistance using GWAS studies coupled with exploration in model systems including iPSCs and CRISPR screens. My clinical translational focus is on Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and I am the volunteer Chief Medical Advisor of the FH Foundation (FHF) which is a patient-led organization dedicated to increasing awareness of FH, identifying and treating patients with FH and screening family members to prevent deleterious outcomes. I helped lead the FHF efforts to establish a national patient registry (CASCADE FH), apply for an ICD10 code for FH and am now using cutting-edge “big-data” approaches to identify previously undiagnosed FH patients in electronic medical records (FIND FH). I have published over 90 papers with research projects currently funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Bio
Latha Palaniappan MD, MS, is an internist, and clinical and population researcher. Her research has focused on the study of diverse populations, chronic disease and prevention. Dr. Palaniappan specifically seeks to address the gap in knowledge of health in Asian subgroups and other understudied racial/ethnic minorities (PACS 5R01DK081371, CASPER R01HL126172, and CAUSES R01MD007012). Her current work examines the clinical effectiveness of structured physical activity programs for diabetes management (Initiate and Maintain Physical Activity in Clinics - IMPACT, 5R18DK096394), as well as best exercise regimens for normal-weight diabetics (Strength Training Regimen for Normal Weight Diabetics - STRONG-D, 2R01DK081371). She was recently awarded a Midcareer Investigator Award (K24 HL150476) by the National Institutes of Health to provide mentoring to junior clinical investigators in the conduct of patient oriented research. She is currently working on implementation of evidence based genetic and pharmacogenetic testing in clinical settings. She is the Faculty co-Director of the Stanford Biobank (with Drs. Brooke Howitt and Joachim Hallmayer) designed to accelerate translatable scientific discoveries. She co-founded (with Dr. Bryant Lin) the Center for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Research and Education (CARE) at Stanford in 2018. She recently received a Fulbright Future Scholar Award and will work with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation on implementation of Precision Health in Australia.
Clinical Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Bio
Dr. McConnell is a native of Brooklyn, NY and attended MIT, obtaining his BS and MS in Electrical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering, followed by his MD at Stanford University. He returned to Boston and specialized in Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardiovascular Imaging at Brigham and Women’s and Beth Israel Hospitals and then joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he also obtained a MS in Clinical Investigation. His early research discovery in echocardiography has become known as “McConnell’s sign.”
He joined the faculty at Stanford in 1998 and went on to become Professor of Medicine and Electrical Engineering and Molecular & Cellular Physiology (by courtesy). He directed clinical, research, and teaching programs in cardiovascular imaging, prevention, and digital health. He was Principal Investigator for the top-enrolling MyHeart Counts mobile health research study launched with Apple. In 2015 he joined Google/Alphabet leading cardiovascular and mobile health projects, including mobile/wearable products with Verily, Google Health, and Fitbit. He was most recently Chief Medical Officer and Head of Cardiovascular and Digital Health at identifeye HEALTH, with a mission to democratize screening and prevention of major health conditions.
Dr. McConnell continues to see patients in the Stanford Preventive Cardiology Clinic and mentor in the Stanford Biodesign program. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles and been the Principal Investigator of multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association (AHA). He is a Fellow of the AHA, the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and the American Society of Echocardiography. He is a founding member of the AHA’s Health Technologies Advisory Group and recently co-chaired AHA’s 2030 Impact Goal task force and the ACC-Consumer Technology Association’s guidance on Cardiovascular Technology Solutions. In 2022, Dr. McConnell was appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Board of Directors of the National Fitness Foundation.
Clinical Instructor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Bio
Neil Kalwani, MD, MPP is a Clinical Instructor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. He attended college at Yale University and completed graduate degrees in medicine and public policy at Harvard University. He trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before arriving at Stanford in 2018 for fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, during which he served as Chief Fellow. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Training Program in the Department of Health Policy. His clinical focus is in general and preventive cardiology and echocardiography. He practices at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and at Stanford Health Care.
Dr. Kalwani's research focuses on the evaluation of policies and care delivery innovations designed to improve the value of care for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Postdoctoral Medical Fellow, Cardiovascular Medicine
Fellow in Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Clinical Scholar, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Postdoctoral Scholar, General Internal Medicine
Masters Student in Health Policy, admitted Autumn 2022
Bio
Dr. Dudum is a cardiologist, public health specialist, and outcomes researcher working to develop novel risk prediction methods and implementation strategies to create practices and systems that allow for reductions in cardiovascular disease. He completed a Masters in Public Health at Johns Hopkins concentrating in epidemiology and biostatistics and a Doctorate of Medicine at George Washington University. He is currently a candidate for a Masters of Science in Health Policy at Stanford.
He completed internal medicine residency training as part of the Osler Medical Service, where he worked under the mentorship of Drs. Roger Blumenthal and Michael Blaha to study improving cardiovascular risk prediction and coronary artery calcium. Given his focus on population health and implementation science, he also helped launch and refine risk adjustment tools and implemented guideline-directed medical care pathways. During his time there, he was recognized for his clinical acumen and dedication to patient care.
He came to Stanford for his cardiovascular medicine fellowship and continued research in coronary artery calcium under the mentorship of Drs. David Maron and Fatima Rodriguez while also conducting cardiovascular health implementation science work under the mentorship of Dr. Steve Asch. He serves as the co-investigator of a prospective randomized trial testing the effects of notification of incidental coronary artery calcium on statin initiation rates among those with and without cardiovascular disease (NCT 05588895). He has worked with hospital leaders to implement digital health and artificial intelligence tools, creating the infrastructure for the prospective use of AI-algorithms on radiology studies. As a preventive cardiologist and population health specialist, he leads efforts in the preventive cardiology section related to improving cardiovascular health.
Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine - Primary Care and Population Health
Instructor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
Instructor, Pediatrics - Cardiology
Bio
Dr. Clarke is a preventive cardiologist and an instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics. He earned his undergraduate degree in human biology from the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University before obtaining his MD and PhD (genetics) from Stanford University School of Medicine. He has completed clinical training in internal medicine (Brigham & Women’s Hospital), pediatrics (Boston Children’s Hospital), and cardiovascular medicine (Stanford Hospital), and he is board certified in all three specialties. His research is focused on 1) understanding complex disease genetics in diverse populations, 2) integrating monogenic and polygenic risk with clinical risk, 3) large-scale phenotyping using the electronic health record. His clinical practice focuses on identifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease with the goal of promoting health and longevity through evidence-based personalized treatment. He is interested in developing family-centric approaches for the treatment of adults and children carrying high genetic risk for disease.
ClickWell Program Manager, Medicine - Med/Cardiovascular Medicine
Administrative Staff
Ying "Tina" Shen
Associate to Drs. Rodriguez, and Khandelwal
Alyse Khoury
Associate to Dr. Haeffele
Michelle Zhen Huang
Associate to Dr. Palaniappan