Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellows

Dr. Hugo De Larochellière obtained his MD degree and completed his internal medicine residency at Laval University, Quebec City, Canada. During this time, he got involved in research on the impact of blood disorders on the clinical outcomes of cardiology procedures and developed his interest in teaching as a member of a peer-learning committee and as editor of a collaborative textbook on clinical reasoning. This led him to receive the Dean’s Award for Faculty involvement. He completed his general cardiology fellowship at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute in Quebec City, Canada, where he was named chief resident for two years and continued to teach residents and medical students on a daily basis. He led research projects regarding the safety of exclusive remote monitoring of ICD during the COVID-19 pandemic and regarding late recovery markers of patients with tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy undergoing catheter ablation for atrial flutter. He received the Research Excellence Award from the Department of Medicine for this work. Apart from medicine, Dr. De Larochellière enjoys all kinds of outdoor activities, and sports, especially hockey and golf. He is very enthusiastic to pursue his training as a cardiac electrophysiology fellow at Stanford University!  

Dr. Ibrahim El Masri is from Beirut, Lebanon. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology at the American University of Beirut and his Medical Degree from the University of Balamand. He came to the United States in 2016 where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University at Buffalo. He then continued his medical career in the field of Cardiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he served as Chief Cardiology Fellow.

One of his interests in Cardiac Electrophysiology was understanding the pathophysiology behind Atrial Fibrillation. His research training studied how the disease can be better managed based on a patient’s cultural background in hopes to create new ways for treating arrhythmias.

He is excited about his upcoming experience at Stanford and diving into the world of electrophysiology. With his training at Stanford and the advancements of the Tech Industry, he looks forward to the journey of seeing first hand of how the world of medicine and technology will intertwine to create newer devices in detecting and treating patients with arrhythmias.

Dr. Chikezie K. Alvarez grew up in the beautiful island country of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. He obtained his MD degree at St. George’s University, Grenada, graduating Cum Laude. He subsequently pursued internal medicine residency training at Jersey Shore University, St Francis Medical Center, Trenton, NJ, where he served as a 3rd-year chief medical resident. During his training, he spent time on the board of the IRB, assessing various research project proposals regarding whether they were beneficial to and fit the needs of the community. This was the impetus that sparked his interest in clinical research. He subsequently pursued general cardiology fellowship training at the University of Connecticut/Hartford Hospital, where he served as the chief cardiology fellow. During his training, he led several projects including a prospective pilot study evaluating a novel "Burst" exercise treadmill test (ETT) protocol compared to the standard ETT for the evaluation of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with hypertrophy cardiomyopathy. Upon completion of his fellowship training, he was elected to become a member of the University of Connecticut chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society. Outside of work, Dr Alvarez is an avid soccer enthusiast, enjoys playing table tennis, listening to music, traveling, dinning at restaurants, and exploring various cuisines. He is very excited to pursue training as a cardiac electrophysiology fellow at Stanford University.

Dr. Ramya Vajapey grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Northeast Ohio Medical University via accelerated BS/MD combined track.  She went on to complete her internal medicine residency and general cardiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. During her time at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Vajapey served as Clinical Instructor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine while taking part in multiple research endeavors.  During fellowship she was involved in clinical research related to spectral characteristics of paced QRS complex in predicting left bundle pacing, and Impella assisted VT ablation outcomes for high-risk patients with advanced heart failure. Dr. Vajapey also has a special interest in multimodality imaging therefore obtained her board certification in Echocardiography as well as Nuclear Cardiology. In her free time, Dr. Vajapey enjoys hiking at national parks, white water rafting and traveling with her family and friends. 

Dr. Ahmed Yassin obtained his medical degree from Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan. He obtained a postgraduate certificate in Advanced Surgical Practice from Cardiff University, United Kingdom. He moved to the US in 2016, and joined the Mayo Clinic, Rochester as a research trainee. He finished his Internal medicine residency and Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center. During his training, he participated in numerous research projects focusing on variety of cardiovascular topics, especially the outcomes of various medical conditions on patients admitted with cardiac diseases. He has more than 65 published scientific papers in peer reviewed journals. He is inspired to advance cardiovascular science, and to develop affordable methods to treat arrhythmias in underdeveloped countries. Some areas of his interests are cardiac pacing, excitation of the human heart, Sudden Cardiac Death, genetic basis of cardiac arrhythmias, pathophysiology and treatment of Atrial Fibrillation, invasive arrhythmias analysis and treatment, development of unconventional device therapies for heart failure and dyssynchrony, and the interaction between cardiac imaging and electrophysiology. He is very excited to continue his career as a Cardiac Electrophysiology fellow at Stanford University.