FACULTY - Gold Coast Cardiology

Professor Jayasinghe is Medical Director of the Cardiology Department – Gold Coast University Hospital, Professor of Cardiology Griffith University, Clinical Professor of Medicine Macquarie University Sydney, and adjunct Professor of Medicine Bond University Gold Coast.

He has extensive experience as an Interventional cardiologist and is an academic researcher in field of Cardiology worldwide having published articles in different medical magazines/ journals.

Dr. Rihal graduated from the University of Manitoba Medical School and completed his post graduate training at Mayo Clinic.

Following his first faculty position at McMaster University he returned to Mayo in 1995, where he has served in several leadership roles including directing the cardiac catheterization laboratory and chairing the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Since 2016 Dr. Rihal has chaired the Personnel Committee in Rochester and has been on the forefront of developing and instituting institutional approaches to sexual and other harassment.

In 2021 he joined the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors and Trustees and now chairs the Institutional People and Culture Committee, which is charged with development and implementation of people, workforce, and cultural strategies in support of Mayo’s strategic plan.

After completing his studies in medicine at the University of Sydney, Dr Suku Thambar undertook training in
cardiology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. He then completed a two-year interventional cardiology fellowship
at Rhode Island Hospital in the United States.

In 2000 Dr Thambar was employed as the Senior Staff Specialist Cardiologist at Hunter New England Area
Health, Newcastle, NSW. He holds a conjoint appointment of Senior Staff Interventional Cardiologist at the
John Hunter Hospital, and Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle. He is also a
Visiting Interventional Cardiologist at the outlying Tamworth Base Hospital.

Dr. Huie Lin is a cardiologist who cares for patients born with heart defects, providing lifelong treatment and support from the time they enter young adulthood. He specializes in the latest therapeutic methods, including transcatheter procedures and other surgical innovations, to ensure his patients maintain the highest possible quality of life.

Dr. Lin earned his Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics doctorate from the University of Virginia. He earned his medical degree at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School, followed by a fellowship in cardiology and a fellowship in interventional cardiology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, part of Washington University Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in advanced structural and congenital interventional cardiology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, also part of Washington University Medical Center. He went on to become Founding Director of the Accredited Adult Congenital Heart Comprehensive Care Center at Houston Methodist. Today, he is Director of the Adult Congenital Interventional Cardiology program at University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Navin Kapur joined Abiomed, part of Johnson & Johnson, in 2025 as chief medical and scientific officer, bringing extensive expertise in the field of cardiology and a commitment to advancing healthcare innovation.

Prior to joining Abiomed, Dr. Kapur was a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where he established himself as one of the most accomplished practitioners, scientists, and trialists in the field of cardiology. He is the founder of the Cardiogenic Shock Working Group, board-certified in interventional cardiology and advanced heart failure, and globally recognized as a leading expert in acute mechanical circulatory support, cardiogenic shock, the science of cardiac unloading and the biological response of Impella® heart pumps.

Dr. Kapur’s clinical expertise includes advanced invasive hemodynamics, complex coronary intervention, mechanical circulatory support, and interventional therapies for advanced heart failure patients. He is the founding director of the Robert Kung combined Interventional Heart Failure fellowship program and served on multiple committees with organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Failure Society of America, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. He is an elected member of prestigious academic groups including the Association of University Cardiologists and the American Society of Clinical Investigators.

At Tufts University School of Medicine, he was the executive director of the Cardiovascular Center for Research and Innovation. As director of the Interventional Research Laboratories at Tufts Medical, Dr. Kapur conducted translational research addressing acute and chronic heart failure, and cardioprotective mechanisms during acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Kapur is the inventor of numerous patents and has extensive experience with device development. His leading hypothesis on mechanically unloading the heart has the potential to shift paradigms in acute heart attack therapy, aiming to mitigate ischemic heart failure and promote adaptive cardiac remodeling.

Additionally, as director of the Cardiac Biology Research Center within the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Kapur’s laboratory focused on molecular mechanisms of maladaptive cardiac remodeling, particularly regarding the transforming growth factor beta (TGFb) signaling pathway. His work highlighted the role of the TGFb receptors endoglin and bone morphogenetic protein-9, demonstrating potential therapeutic strategies for improving survival and reducing adverse cardiac remodeling in heart failure and pulmonary hypertension.

Rajiv Gulati, M.D., Ph.D. is a consultant cardiologist with a subspecialty interest in interventional cardiology. Areas of clinical expertise include:

– Evaluation and management of complex coronary artery disease
– Interventional management of chronic total occlusions
– Coronary physiology and imaging
– Spontaneous coronary artery dissection
– Catheter-based management of peripheral arterial disease
– Catheter-based treatment of aortic stenosis (TAVR)

In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Gulati is active in research and education, providing mentorship to residents and fellows. His research interests include coronary intervention, clinical outcomes research, myocardial infarction epidemiology, vascular biology, nonatherosclerotic coronary artery disease and spontaneous coronary artery dissection. He has authored numerous articles in high-impact scientific journals and carries the rank of Professor of Medicine.

The laboratory of Atta Behfar, M.D., Ph.D., uses state-of-the-art technologies developed at Mayo Clinic to understand heart disease at its most elemental level. With this understanding, Dr. Behfar and his colleagues are doing cardiovascular regeneration research with the aim of developing novel therapies to prevent and cure chronic heart conditions.
Specifically, the group led by Dr. Behfar focuses on development and use of both stem cells and protein-based therapies to reverse injury caused by lack of blood flow to the heart.
Goals include:
• Development and application of a ready-to-use protein-based technology to protect the heart at the time of infarction
• Application of highly reparative cardiopoietic stem cell technology to a broad range of heart failure conditions
Focus areas
• Phase III clinical testing of cardiopoietic stem cells in patients with end-stage heart failure
• First-in-human, or Phase Ib, testing of cardiopoietic stem cells in the setting of heart surgery:
o Valvular heart disease with low ejection fraction
o Ischemic and nonischemic heart disease requiring left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation
o Ischemic heart disease requiring coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG)
• Development and validation of a rapid diagnostic panel to identify patients at highest risk of heart failure following a heart attack
• Optimization and preclinical testing of protein delivery to the heart following infarction

Dr BDr. Burkhoff obtained Doctor of Philosophy and Medical degrees from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed a fellowship in Cardiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Burkhoff then moved to
Columbia University in the City of New York where he established and ran the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory through 2003 and then took the position of Director of the Jack Skirball Center for
Cardiovascular Research of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) through 2005.

His focus shifted to development and research of medical devices in his capacity as Medical Director of several startup companies involved in diagnostics and therapies for heart failure. Dr. Burkhoff then returned to CRF as Director of Heart Failure, Hemodynamics and Mechanical Circulatory Support Research. In this capacity he also directs CRF’s educational program called “TEACH” (Training and Education in Advanced Cardiovascular Hemodynamics).

Dr. Burkhoff’s interest include cardiovascular modeling and research in basic and clinical aspects of ventricular mechanics, cardiovascular monitoring, heart failure, device and pharmacologic treatments for heart failure, including left ventricular assist devices. He is also author of Harvi, an interactive simulation-based application available on the world wide web for teaching and researching many aspects of ventricular mechanics and hemodynamics.

Professor Nayyar is a cardiac electrophysiologist trained in the management of adult cardiac rhythm disorders. His expertise includes interventional therapy for complex and simple cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac device implants, sudden death preventive treatments for heart-failure and inherited heart rhythm disorders. He holds proficiency in catheter-based advance ablation strategies for ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation, as well as cardiac resynchronization therapy.

He regularly performs endocardial and epicardial mapping procedures, including specialised novel therapeutic tools. He trained at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, University of Adelaide, where he also completed his doctoral research in ventricular tachycardia mapping procedures. He gained further experience in the entire spectrum of cardiac electrophysiology and computational therapeutics at the Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, before returning to Australia.

His research articles have been published in notable international journals. He is employed with the Queensland Health at the Gold Coast University Hospital in the Gold Coast and consults at the St Vincent Private Northside and Northwest Private Hospitals in Brisbane. He has admitting rights at the Gold Coast University Hospital, St Vincent Private Northside Hospital, and Gold Coast Private Hospital.

Dr de Villiers is a globally renowned clinician-researcher who provides cutting-edge treatments for stroke and neurovascular conditions (conditions that affect the blood supply in the brain or spinal cord) for patients on the Gold Coast. She is also an Associate Professor at Bond University School of Medicine and is involved in teaching medical students, allied health professionals, radiology trainees and other medical specialists from Australia and overseas.

As a clinician, Dr de Villiers together with her colleague Dr Hal Rice has established the Gold Coast University Hospital Interventional Neuroradiology Service as an internationally recognised leading centre for providing advanced, research-based treatment for patients with severe and life-threatening conditions such as brain aneurysms and stroke.

She is also co-founder of the NeuTex Image-guided Therapy Surgical and Robotics Training Centre in the Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct, and an Associate Professor at Griffith University Medical School and Bond University School of Medicine. In 2023 Laetitia was awarded Gold Coast Woman in Business of the Year.

Affiliated with the Cardiovascular Institute of Los Robles Health System.

Professor Saibal Kar, MD, FACC, FSCAI, is a board-certified interventional cardiologist in Thousand Oaks, CA. He serves as the Director of Structural Heart Disease Interventions and Clinical Research at Los Robles Health System. An astute clinician and teacher with a special expertise in interventions for structural heart disease, he is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In his present position he directs important clinical trials involving structural heart disease interventions in the hospital, and at a national level. Dr. Kar focuses his research on coronary restenosis, device development, and the advancement of percutaneous techniques in the treatment of structural heart disease.

He is recognized internationally for his research and clinical experience in transcatheter mitral valve repair, as well as transcatheter treatment options for prevention of cardioembolic stroke. In the preclinical lab, he has helped develop novel drug-eluting stents that are currently being used in clinical practice. Dr. Kar’s work has been published in more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and textbooks. He has delivered more than 200 lectures in national and international conferences all around the globe. He serves as a reviewer for a number of preeminent cardiology journals and is on the editorial board of several journals as well. He is a fellow and active member of the American College of Cardiology, Society of Coronary Angiography and Intervention, and the Cardiac Society of India. Dr. Kar is gifted operator and teacher and mentor for several cardiologists all around the World.

He has taught physicians all around the World to perform transcatheter mitral valve repair, left atrial appendage occlusion and several other structural heart disease procedures. Dr. Kar earned his medical degree from Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College in Kolkata, India. Following his internship, he completed his residency in medicine and his fellowship in cardiology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India. He was also an interventional cardiology fellow at the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. In the United States, Dr. Kar repeated his residency in medicine at the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital and completed his cardiology and interventional cardiology fellowship at Cedars-Sinai.

Dr Tony Vo is a staff specialist cardiologist at Gold Coast University Hospital. He performs both coronary and structural interventional with a special interest in PFO and ASD procedures. Dr Vo earned his medical degree from the University of Melbourne
and completed his cardiology training at various Australian teaching hospitals including Royal North Shore Hospital, Ryde Hospital, Launceston General Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital before settling into sunny Queensland and undertaking his Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
He will be going to the United States later this year for further education and training in PFO/ASD closures. He is actively involved in teaching has been recognised and been invited on numerous occasions by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CVRF) to be the Australian ambassador for major internationally recognised interventional cardiology meetings
(TCTAP, AP Valves and Structural Heart and Complex PCI).

Professor Stephen Worthley is a globally renown interventional cardiologist with a particular focus on valve replacements.
He regularly teaches and trains cardiology fellow students in a variety of interventional procedures as well as being active in research with over 230 published papers.

Stephen graduated from Medicine at the Adelaide University. His training included his Cardiology fellowship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, his PhD at the Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York, and post-doctoral fellowship at Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne.

Prof Kuljit Singh is a senior staff specialist cardiologist at the Gold Coast University Hospital . He is a coronary and structural interventional cardiologist.
Kuljit completed his PhD in Cardiology at university of Adelaide with a research medal and interventioanl cardiology fellowship at the Ottawa Heart Institute.

Prof. Martin W. Bergmann is Chief Physician of Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Asklepios Hospital Altona in Hamburg. A Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, he is internationally recognised for his expertise in interventional cardiology, structural heart disease (including TAVI, LAA closure, and inter-atrial shunts), and invasive imaging.

His research focuses on heart failure, cardiac regeneration, and molecular signal transduction, and he has authored more than 227 scientific publications. With over 25 years of clinical and academic experience, Prof. Bergmann is a leader in advancing innovative cardiovascular therapies.

Associate Professor Dr Astin Lee is a consultant and interventional cardiologist with a clinic in Wollongong.

Associate Professor Lee graduated from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1997.

He completed his cardiology training in 2004 and an interventional fellowship at Westmead Hospital in 2005.

Associate Professor Lee holds Fellowships from:

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand
The American College of Cardiology
The European Society of Cardiology
The Royal College of Physicians (London)
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention.
He is currently the Director of Cardiology at Wollongong and Shellharbour Hospitals. He is also the Head of Cardiac Services in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District overseeing the delivery of cardiac services from Bulli to Milton-Ulladulla.

He is a Clinical Associate Professor of the School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong.

Dr Julie Humphries completed an Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. She has a particular interest in heart failure, with a focus on diastolic heart failure.

Dr Humphries has interests in the management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, diseases of the ascending aorta including Marfan syndrome and bicuspid aortic valve aortopathy, and common adult congenital heart diseases, such as bicuspid aortic valve, mitral valve prolapse, ASD and Ebsteins anomaly.

She is locally and internationally recognised for imaging in LAA appendage occlusion procedures and is involved in the structural heart program at The Prince Charles Hospital.

Dr Humphries completed her cardiology training at The Prince Charles Hospital before heading to the USA. She initially trained as an exercise physiologist, has an extensive background in cardiovascular disease and was once the Director of the Wesley Hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program.

Dr Humphries practices at Greenslopes Private Hospital, and does consulting work at Maryborough and Hervey Bay.

Ben registered as a Cardiologist in 2009, having completed advanced training at the Princess Alexandra and The Prince Charles Hospitals.

In 2011 Ben completed a two-year fellowship in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Canada. During this time, Ben performed Atrial Fibrillation/SVT ablations and complex device implantations and extractions.

Ben’s special interests include atrial fibrillation, heart rhythm disorders, ablation of arrhythmias and implantation and management of pacemakers and defibrillators.

Dr Sylvio Provenzano (MD, MSc, FRACS) is a cardiothoracic surgeonand a TAVI implanter, with special interests in structural heartdisease, complex cardiac operations and ECMO support.
Dr Provenzano extensively collaborates with cardiologists andintensivists at the GCUH, in research and clinical practice.
Dr Provenzano has a strong background in congenital and valvulardisease, including endocarditis. He has studied and trained in Brazil,USA, Germany and Australia.
Dr Provenzano holds a position of senior specialist at the GoldCoast University and visits the GC Private Hospitals.

Dr Naim Mridha is a Staff Specialist Interventional Cardiologist with appointments across Gold Coast University Hospital, Tweed Valley Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital and a Senior Lecturer with Griffith University. Interested in the integration of coronary physiology and intracoronary imaging in contemporary PCI. Completing MPhil assessing changes in coronary physiology with transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Sue Martin is currently Nurse Unit Manager of the Coronary Care / Cardiac Inpatient Unit at Gold Coast University Hospital. Sue is an expert cardiac nurse, skilled in contemporary senior clinical and managerial positions. After graduating as a Registered Nurse from Kingston University and St George’s Hospital – Joint Faculty of Health Care Sciences, London, Sue worked in the Cardiothoracic Centre at Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Trust in central London for 4 years. After returning to Brisbane she became a Clinical Nurse and Clinical Nurse Teacher at The Prince Charles Hospital in CCU before moving to the Gold Coast in 2014. With a strong clinical background in Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Sue provides nursing leadership, proactively manages and co-ordinates clinical practice. As an experienced clinician, Sue operationalised the CARDiAC Rapid Access Services from concept in 2023 as Clinical Nurse Consultant. Sue has been nominated for the Amy Enderlin Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Award. Sue’s team was acknowledged for their contribution to the GCH Magnet Submission and have been finalists in the Golden Gala Awards for Compassion. In 2024, Sue received a scholarship through the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation in recognition of continued professional development.

Dr María Gabriela Matta is a cardiologist specialising in advanced cardiovascular imaging, currently Echocardiography Fellow at Gold Coast University Hospital and Robina Hospital, and Clinical Research Associate at FASTA University, Argentina.

She has over 15 years of clinical experience with expertise in transthoracic, stress, and transoesophageal echocardiography, as well as cardiac MRI. Dr Matta has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and contributes to international registries including GAELp(a).

Her academic interests focus on structural and valvular heart disease and multimodality imaging, with a strong commitment to education, research, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Professor Figtree completed MBBS (Hons I) at Sydney University, followed by DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship from 1999-2002; and clinical cardiology training at Royal North Shore Hospital, 2005-9. Her research is inspired by her work as an interventional cardiologist treating acute heart attacks at Royal North Shore Hospital.
Professor Figtree led the world-first report of an increasing proportion of heart attack patients without Standard Modifiable Risk Factors (coined “SMuRFs”), and their excess early mortality (Lancet 2021) that has spawned a new focus of global research collaboration. This includes the establishment of a multi-centre prospective cohort study and biobank with investment from a diverse range of government, industry and health partners (BioHEART, ACTRN12617000869370) focused on discovering new mechanisms and biomarkers.
She is the founding CMO for the spin out company ProKardia and CSO for CAD Frontiers Pty Ltd. She is involved in guiding the introduction of new clinical pathways into practice through her role Chairing the Heart Foundation Clinical Issues Committee. She is co-author on an international Position Statement on Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (2015), as well as the Lancet Commission for Women and Cardiovascular Disease (2020-21)

Dr Sader has significant experience in Complex Coronary and Structural Heart Disease Interventions including Intracardiac ECHO guided ASD closure and TAVI. Dr Sader obtained his Medical Degree and PhD at The University of Sydney, completed his cardiology training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Interventional Fellowship in Coronary, Structural Heart and Peripheral Interventions at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Nick completed his undergraduate education at the University of Newcastle in 1998 and completed cardiology training at the John Hunter Hospital in 2005. Dr Collins then completed Fellowships in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Interventional Cardiology at the Toronto General Hospital/University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Particular interests include congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, peri-operative cardiology assessment and interventional cardiology, focusing on complex coronary and interatrial interventions, including atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale closure.

Dr Collins is currently Director of the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory at the John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, Australia and conjoint Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle. Nick has been involved in education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as research projects, focusing on congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension and interventional cardiology.

Dr Jain is an academic interventional cardiologist with appointments at RPA and MQ Health. His interests include complex coronary and structural heart interventions and interventions for heart failure.

After completing his Cardiology training at St Vincents Hospital, he undertook a PhD for which he won the UNSW Dean’s Award and St Vincent’s Clinical School Prizes for Outstanding Thesis. He then undertook interventional cardiology fellowships at St Vincent’s followed by Tufts Medical Centre, Boston, where he gained experience with a range of cutting-edge technologies.

His career vision is to introduce these devices to Australia to enable treatment for the most critically unwell heart patients.

Dr Laila Khan is a Staff Specialist Cardiologist at The Canberra Hospital and at National Capital Private Hospital who specialises in Echocardiography and provides consultations on patients with a variety of clinical cardiac issues including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, hyperlipidaemia, and preventative care. Her particular interest lies in Echocardiography/stress echocardiography and transoesophageal echocardiography.

Dr Khan graduated from James Cook University in Townsville. She completed her basic physician training and then went on to complete her Cardiology Advanced Training at the prestigious Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane which is the largest quarternary Cardiac Centre in Australia. She went onto complete an Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship at Gold Coast University Hospital where she was the inaugural Echocardiography Fellow and won the 14th Echo Hong Kong Young Cardiologists/Fellow Echo case competition in 2023.

Dr Khan has a great interest in Perioperative Medicine having completed a Masters of Medicine at Monash University in 2022.

Dr Khan performs perioperative TOE in preparation for Mitral TEER and Tricuspid TEER procedures and is involved in structural interventions including PFO/ASD closures and LAAO procedures in Canberra.

Dr Khan is a supervisor for basic physician trainees and Cardiology Advanced Trainees as they rotate through the Cardiac Imaging Rotation at Canberra Hospital. She is also the supervisor for the Cardiac Imaging Fellowship at Canberra Hospital.

Dr Khan is part of Faculty for the FRACP Cardiology Course conducted in Melbourne.

Dr Khan recently appeared on Echo Guru in the Echo Chamber in April 2025 which is an accredited Education platform delivered by world-class experts in Echocardiography.

Michael Vallely is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at Macquarie University and is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon at St George Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He has previously held academic surgery positions as Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Professor of Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Clinical Professor of Surgery at The University of Sydney. He is an Australian trained academic cardiothoracic surgeon with a PhD from The University of Sydney.

He is co-founder and Non-Executive Director of Cordis Asset Management, a global medical technology investment fund and co-founder of Sydney Heart Valve a company developing novel mitral valve technologies. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group in Australia and has served as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey and Co in New York.

Professor Vallely has over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and several published book chapters. He has presented widely at national and international meetings. He has developed and participated in several first in man procedures and first in man trials and is the senior author on publications that have contributed to changes in international coronary artery surgery treatment guidelines.

His academic and clinical interests are in elderly, complex and high-risk patients, including the application of anaortic off-pump, all-arterial CABG, minimal access, structural heart and transcatheter techniques. Other interests include value-based healthcare, integrated healthcare, medical technology investing and the development of medical technology devices.

Dr Brennan graduated from Melbourne University with an MD in 2015 before undertaking his medical training and then cardiology training at St Vincents, Austin and Peninsula Hospitals in Victoria. He then did a PCI fellowship at the PA hospital in Brisbane, and a second year at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He now holds public appointments at the Mater Hospital and Tweed Valley Hospital as an Interventional Cardiologist.

Dr Ammar Zaka is a Basic Physician Trainee at Gold Coast University Hospital. Alongside full-time clinical training, he has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has presented at both international and national meetings. He is currently undertaking a PhD focused on emerging risk stratification methods in interventional and structural cardiology.

The goal of Gold Coast Heart Surgery is to provide safe and best practice cardiothoracic care. Our Centre of Excellence in Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery was established to drive best outcome in surgery as part of an all encompassing Centre of Excellence in Surgery at John Flynn Hospital.
Our desire for excellence is driven by ongoing education, peer-to-peer audit, multidisciplinary co-operation, teaching, college examinations and research.
We have a dedication to minimally invasive surgery in aortic surgery, mitral valve repair and thoroscopic lung and tumour resection. Our TAVR (percutaneous aortic valve replacement) programme involves a multidisciplinary team of cardiologists, rehabilitation with surgeons to provide most appropriate aortic valve replacement strategy for every patient.
Mitral repair and replacement has been provided by traditional open approach but our focus is upon minimally invasive (keyhole) and percutaneous (via the femoral vein) Mitraclip methods.
Chest surgery in our practice for lung and mediastinal pathology is almost exclusively via thoroscopic (VATS/keyhole) approach. Our multidisciplinary team of respiratory physicians, radiologists, radiation specialists and oncologists determine best plan for each patient with chest conditions especially lung cancer. Recovery is far less painful and faster with a VATS approach.
I maintain a commitment to self-education and that for our team, visiting university students and junior doctors. I sponsor members of the team to attend national and international conferences. I was convenor for the ANZCTS national scientific conference on the Gold Coast. I am a committed member of the RACS Academy of Surgical Educators and participate in College of Surgeons Physiology and Standard Setting Examination Comittees. Myself and the team regularly travel to other units at home and abroad to maintain and improve our service. We have students and other specialists regularly view our surgical team in action.
I maintain a strong interest in research and innovation which began first as a research degree in neurophysiology looking at real time processing of visual information in rabbit retina. As a member of the International Asia-Pacific Medical Advisory Board for Medtronic I have the privilege to contribute opinion on latest medical device development and implementation. My latest scientific research was to be involved in artificial heart development at the MERF centre.

Specialising in Interventional Cardiology, Dr Michael Greenwood obtained his medical degree from the University of Queensland and then furthered his studies at Victoria Hospital on Vancouver Island, Canada, for his interventional training.

Dr Greenwood has extensive experience in general and interventional cardiology and performs coronary angiography, angioplasty and stenting as well as transoesophageal echocardiograms and other non-invasive cardiac investigations.

Dr Arun Dahiya is a staff Cardiologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital as well as Logan hospital. He has previously worked as staff cardiologist at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for 8 years from 2012-2018. He completed his cardiology training at Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2009.He returned to Brisbane from USA in 2012 after completing his two-year advanced cardiovascular imaging fellowship at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, USA. He is also a senior Lecturer at both University of Queensland and Griffith University and is routinely teaching medical students.
He is an invited speaker at national and international conferences and has authored several journal articles as well as book chapters. Apart from general cardiology, he is best known for his work in pulmonary hypertension, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathies including pericardial diseases. He has been recipient of research awards and is on the reviewer panel for major cardiology journals including Circulation. He is the one of the few cardiologists in the country with multimodality cardiac imaging skills and US board certification. He has highest level of training in Echocardiography, Cardiac CT and Cardiac MRI and is training advanced trainees in multimodality imaging. In 2013 he successfully commenced world-class cardiac MRI and cardiac CT services at Logan Hospital.
His motto is to always put his patients first and believes in providing patients with excellent evidence-based care. He is constantly learning and keeping apprised of the latest advances in the field of medicine.
He has admitting rights at private and public hospitals.

Dr Simon Kang is an Interventional and General Cardiologist, who became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) in 2019.

He graduated from the University of Sydney in 2010 and went onto complete his cardiology training at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Gold Coast University Hospital. He undertook two years of fellowship in Perth at the Royal Perth Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital specialising in coronary intervention. He was awarded the prestigious Chien Foundation Scholarship and undertook a 12-month fellowship at the National Heart Centre of Singapore.

Dr Kang has trained extensively in complex coronary intervention, treating patients with complex bifurcation disease, left main coronary intervention, bypass graft disease and chronic total occlusion CTO using advanced interventional techniques such as rotational/orbital atherectomy, intravascular lithotripsy and invasive coronary imaging such as Intravascular Ultrasound and Optical Coherence Tomography.

Dr Kang has special interest in complex, high-risk coronary intervention including CTO intervention as well as coronary physiology, diagnosis and management of both acute and stable coronary artery disease. He is also a Staff Specialist Cardiologist of Gold Coast University Hospital and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Queensland and is actively involved in teaching junior doctors and medical students.

Dr Lai commenced practice at the Gold Coast Heart Centre in January 2012. He attended The Southport School (TSS) and graduated from the University of Queensland Medical School.  His cardiology training was undertaken at The Prince Charles Hospital, Townsville and the Gold Coast Hospital. In 2009 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and in 2012, as a Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (FCSANZ).

Advancing his cardiac experience at the prestigious McMaster University in Canada, Dr Lai completed a two-year fellowship in Interventional Cardiology and Cardiac CT Angiography. He performed over 3000 invasive Coronary Angiographies and over 1300 percutaneous coronary interventions, including complex procedures such as chronic total occlusion intervention, rotational atherectomy, left main coronary artery intervention, Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) assessment and Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) measurement.  He was also trained in PFO closure, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) assessment and percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty.  He is a co-author of multiple clinical research papers and is also actively involved with medical students training and education.

Dr Lai visits inpatients at John Flynn Private Hospital daily and consults regularly from the Gold Coast Heart Centre at Tugun, Southport and Hope Island. Patients can expect a 24-hour emergency interventional cardiac care for acute myocardial infarction.  He is committed to providing the highest cardiology care and is a multilingual medical practitioner, fluent in English, Chinese Mandarin and Taiwanese.

Dr Will Peverill is a cardiologist who has undertaken further training in interventional cardiology, specialising in complex coronary intervention and structural heart procedures. He was born and raised on the Gold Coast and attended medical school at Bond University before pursuing training in Brisbane. He trained at both The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital as well as Princess Alexandra Hospital where he undertook a fellowship in percutaneous coronary intervention. Following this he undertook an overseas fellowship at the London Health Sciences Centre in Canada  where he performed over 1500 coronary interventions as well as a range of structural procedures.

Dr Peverill practices in complex procedures including chronic total occlusion stenting, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and percutaneous mitral valve repair. He believes in holistic patient care developing advances stroke prevention strategies with your neurologist including PFO and ASD closure as well as left atrial appendage occlusion. He has a keen interest in advanced heart failure therapies including the use of the MitraClip device.

He has returned to the Gold Coast a passionate advocate for the patients of his home town and eager to bring his international expertise to the clinical excellence exemplified by the structural heart team at The Cardiac Centre.

Honorary Adjunct Prof Atifur Rahmanis an accomplished Interventional Cardiologist with an impressive career spanning several prestigious institutions. He began his medical journey as a trainee registrar at Gold Coast Hospital in 2000 and later worked at Mater Hospital. In 2002, he passed Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP) examination while serving at Royal Brisbane Hospital.

His pursuit of excellence led him to complete postgraduate training and fellowship in interventional cardiology at Canberra Hospital in 2005. Since January 2006, he has been a consultant interventional cardiologist and currently holds the role of Clinical Director of the Coronary Care Unit at Gold Coast University Hospital. His expertise extends to his role as an Honorary Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Health Science and Medicine at Bond University.

Professor Rahman is not only dedicated to clinical practice but also actively involved in academia. He served as the Director of Advanced Training for the Royal Australian College of Physicians and takes on the responsibility of being the Educational Supervisor for trainee registrars at GCUH.

A prolific author, Professor Rahman has published several books and textbook chapters, making significant contributions to the field of cardiology. Notably, he co-authored “Problem-Based Cardiology Cases,” a globally distributed publication in collaboration with renowned author Dr. Simon O’Connor, demonstrating his commitment to evidence-based teaching.

His research involvement is impressive, with over 60 journal articles to his name and participation in more than 20 clinical trials. As Principal Investigator, he leads studies focused on significant issues such as diabetes-related cardiovascular events, outcomes in acute coronary syndrome, and lipid management.

In addition to his contributions to medical science, Professor Rahman actively takes up leadership roles within the healthcare community. He has held positions like Acting Clinical Director, specialist medical service, Clinical Director of the Coronary Care Unit, and Chair of Cardiology Mortality at Gold Coast Health. Furthermore, he is an essential member of committees, including the Clinical Trials Advisory Committee, Queensland Cardiac Outcomes Registry interventional cardiology committee, and the Queensland Cardiac Clinical Network Steering Committee.

Beyond Queensland Health, Professor Rahman is actively involved with the Royal Australasian College of Physician and related organizations. He serves as an “ACCREDITOR” for the college and has been engaged in numerous leadership roles, such as Director of Advance Training and National Examining Panel Member.

Overall, Professor Rahman’s dedication to advancing interventional cardiology, academic excellence, and leadership in healthcare highlights his commitment to improving patient outcomes and advancing medical knowledge.

Professor Greg Scalia is a Gold Medal graduate of the University of Queensland, 1987. He was the first dedicated echocardiologist to join Advara HeartCare, having completed a two year cardiac imaging fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, USA in 1996.

Professor Scalia is a nationally respected expert in echocardiography, undertaking a busy schedule of lecturing and teaching in Australia, the United States and South East Asia. He has been co-director of the Echo Australia program since its inception in 2002.

Professor Scalia has been awarded fellowships in the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Echocardiography. He was awarded a Master of Medical Science by the University of Queensland in 1999 for original research into cardiac diastolic function.

He has been Associate Professor of Medicine at his alumni, the University of Queensland since 2004 and became a Professor in 2018. Professor Scalia is the Director of Echocardiography at The Prince Charles Hospital. Professor Scalia has published over three hundred papers, abstracts and book chapters in peer-reviewed major journals.

Professor Scalia is based at Advara HeartCare’s consulting and testing centres at the Wesley hospital. He has a particular interest in patients with valvular heart disease.

Dr Bong is a senior staff specialist in Intensive Care Medicine and ECMO consultant in the Gold Coast University Hospital. His clinical interests are mechanical circulatory support, trauma and cardiothoracic critical care.

Dr Bong has a keen interest in the utility of ECMO in trauma and refractory cardiac arrest and is a key member of the Gold Coast University Hospitals Mobile ECMO team.

Dr Karen Phillips is a Cardiac Electrophysiologist in private practice in Brisbane. She is a Clinician and Researcher. She heads the Brisbane AF Clinic which is  dedicated  to the comprehensive management of atrial fibrillation. The clinic is based at Greenslopes Private Hospital, Brisbane – the largest private hospital in Australia.

She has emerged as an expert and one of the leaders of Atrial Fibrillation Interventional procedures in Australia, including performing Catheter Ablation for AF and implantation of Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Devices for stroke prevention. She has a strong publication record, presents regularly at national and international conferences, is actively involved in clinical trials and has been a vocal patient advocate for new therapies for atrial fibrillation.

Prof Hayward is a Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist and Director of the MCS Research Laboratory at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Conjoint Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, and Faculty member at Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Sydney Australia.

Research interests include the haemodynamics of cardiac failure and advanced heart failure management with particular interest in mechanical support devices

Dr Sebastian graduated from the University of Melbourne and completed Cardiology training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before undertaking an Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the Alfred Hospital Melbourne. This was followed by a two-year Interventional Cardiology Research Fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Hospital Los Angeles incorporating pre-clinical and clinical research and device development.

He returned to Australia and played a pivotal role the evolution of a regional PCI service at University Hospital Geelong, including involvement with multi-centre clinical trials and interventional cardiology registries. In 2023 he moved to Northern NSW to develop Cardiology services at the new Tweed Valley Hospital. He is also an Honorary Cardiologist at Gold Coast University Hospital and Senior Lecturer at Griffith University.

Dr. Lau completed medical training at the University of Queensland and completed advanced Cardiology training at the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital and the Prince Charles Hospitals in Brisbane. She has completed a two year Echocardiography and Structural Fellowship at the Prince Charles Hospital.

She is currently a senior Staff specialist at the Prince Charles Hospital,  visits St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside and St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Brisbane. She is a structural echocardiologist with advanced skills in valvular heart disease and heart failure interventional imaging.

She has provided procedural imaging for national and international device trials and is an proctor for M and T TEER imaging. Additionally, she has an active role in teaching and is a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland.

Dr Jawad Mazher is a highly qualified interventional cardiologist working at Lismore Base Hospital. He is completing his PHD in cardiac MRI at Royal North Shore Hospital.

Dr Kang-Teng Lim joined the Gold Coast Heart Centre in June 2008 as a consultant cardiologist with clinical experience in electrophysiology.

Dr Lim graduated from Melbourne University in 1997. He continued in Melbourne, completing his basic and advanced cardiology training, and was admitted as a fellow of the RACP in 2004. Dr Lim completed his fellowship training in electrophysiology and pacing at the Royal Perth Hospital in 2006. He undertook further training in Bordeaux, France, under the supervision of prominent electrophysiologist Professor Michel Haïssaguerre, who pioneered catheter ablation therapy and atrial fibrillation ablation. Dr Lim has been involved in numerous peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters during his time in Bordeaux.

Dr Lim’s main interests consist of catheter ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias as well as the implantation of cardiac electronic devices (pacemakers, defibrillators and loop recorders). He has extensive experience in general cardiology and also performs coronary angiography, transoesophageal echocardiograms and other non-invasive cardiac investigations.

He is a member of the Gold Coast Heart Centre cardiac education team and is actively involved with the provision of education to medical students from both Bond University and Griffith University.

Dr Lim has admitting rights to John Flynn Hospital, Pindara Private Hospital & Gold Coast Private Hospital.  He has consults from the Gold Coast Heart Centre rooms in the John Flynn Medical Centre and the  Pindara Specialist Suites.

Dr Johanne Neill is a practicing public Cardiologist with subspecialty training in multimodality Cardiac Imaging. She has advanced credentialing in Cardiac MRI and Cardiac CT. She has completed two fellowships – Cardiac CT and Nuclear Cardiology with stress PETCT (University College Hospital London) and Cardiac MRI and CT (Prince Charles Hospital Brisbane).

Dr Neill has reported and taught Cardiac MRI and CT since 2012 in the Prince Charles Hospital. She has a wealth of experience in stress studies having completed a fellowship in nuclear stress perfusion in London and has reported many stress Cardiac MRI in the Prince Charles Hospital. The wide range of pathology she manages in her busy clinical cardiology role in Queensland Health, lends an understanding of clinical nuance and management dilemmas. Her focus is always to best answer the clinical question with the most appropriate test at the best possible quality for each patient.