Staff

Meet Our Team

The position leads an echocardiography team that spans four hospital echo labs and 8 to 9 ambulatory cardiology sites. The director collaborates with regional cardiology leadership, hospital-level chiefs, cardiac surgery, structural heart, and advanced heart failure teams.

Regional Cardiology Leadership

Name	Role
Samer S. Najjar, MD (profile)	Regional Chief of Cardiology, Baltimore Region; Chief of Cardiology at Union Memorial, Good Samaritan, and Harbor
Sriram Padmanabhan, MD (profile)	Chief of Cardiology, MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center
Cheryl Lunnen, RN, BS	Vice President, MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute, Baltimore Region
Michelle Frymoyer	Vice President, Operations, Ambulatory Cardiology Practices
Mike Brijbasi	Director of Operations, Baltimore Cardiology

Dr. Najjar is a Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University with subspecialty expertise in advanced heart failure, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support. He oversees cardiology services across the four MedStar Baltimore hospitals plus the system’s ambulatory cardiology practices.

Echo Lab Leadership

Rachel Marcus, MD [profile link to confirm], prior Echo Lab Medical Director, supporting the lab on a per diem basis with remote reading
Rodney, Technical Director of the Echo Lab

The Structural Echocardiographer position at Union Memorial is being recruited concurrently and will be a clinical collaborator on procedural imaging.

Echo-Credentialed Cardiology Faculty

The regional reading group includes approximately 20 non-invasive cardiologists. Echo-credentialed faculty notable in the program include:

Raktim Kumar Ghosh, MD (profile), fellowship-trained cardiologist board certified in echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography. Baltimore magazine Top Doctor 2023, 2024, and 2025. Practices across Union Memorial, Good Samaritan, and Harbor.
Nimesh Shah, MD [profile link to confirm], Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Union Memorial. Board certified in critical care medicine and echocardiography, with expertise in bedside cardiac imaging.
Mrinalini Krishnan, MD (profile), Advanced Heart Failure and Regional Director of Pulmonary Hypertension. Board certified in echocardiography. Practices at Union Memorial and Harbor.
Erika D. Feller, MD [profile link to confirm], Heart Failure and Transplantation Cardiology with secondary focus in Structural Heart Disease Cardiology.

Reading Group by Hospital

Hospital	Selected Cardiology Faculty
Union Memorial	Jafar Alzubi, MD [profile link to confirm]; Ali Salah, MD [profile link to confirm]; Ajaypaul Sukhi, MD [profile link to confirm]; plus the advanced heart failure team listed above
Good Samaritan	Jonathan Altschuler, MD [profile link to confirm]; Ronak Patel, MD [profile link to confirm]; Raymond Young II, MD [profile link to confirm]
Harbor	Mehdi Gheshlaghi, MD [profile link to confirm]; Willie Liang, MD [profile link to confirm]; Kerunne Segametsi Ketlogetswe, MD [profile link to confirm]
Franklin Square	Sriram Padmanabhan, MD (Chief); Mansoor Mozayan, MD, PhD [profile link to confirm]; George Dewey Bittar, MD [profile link to confirm]; Federico Viganego, MD [profile link to confirm]; Jonathan Gardner, MD [profile link to confirm]; Rama Vunnam, MD [profile link to confirm]

Cardiac Surgery and Structural Heart Collaboration

The director coordinates with the cardiac surgery and structural heart teams on procedural imaging and TEE coverage.

Brian T. Bethea, MD (profile), Chief of Cardiac Surgery, MedStar Union Memorial; Regional Chief of Outreach, Baltimore Region
John Chung-Yee Wang, MD (profile), Chief of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Director of the Structural Heart Program at Union Memorial; Medical Director, Interventional Cardiology, Baltimore Region
Antony George Kaliyadan, MD [profile link to confirm], Interventional Cardiology with valvular and structural heart focus
Thomas E. MacGillivray, MD [profile link to confirm], Physician Executive Director of Cardiac Surgery, MedStar Health

Advanced Heart Failure Program

Erika D. Feller, MD, Heart Failure and Transplantation Cardiology
Sandeep M. Jani, MD [profile link to confirm], Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiology, and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology
Mrinalini Krishnan, MD, Advanced Heart Failure; Regional Director of Pulmonary Hypertension

Practice Operations

Mike Brijbasi, Director of Operations, Baltimore Cardiology
Rodney, Technical Director of the Echo Lab