On the evening of June 6, 2025, The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine (THI) celebrated the accomplishments of 12 deserving graduates from its Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship and advanced cardiology subspecialty fellowship programs at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. The annual celebration recognizes the culmination of years of rigorous specialty training undertaken by the graduating physicians and honors their dedication to excellence in patient care.

Joseph G. Rogers, MD, director of The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine, Joanna Molina Razavi, MD, THI Cardiac Society president, and Stephanie Coulter, MD, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program director, welcomed the graduates, their families and the programs’ teaching staff to the ceremony in the Denton A. Cooley Building’s Ansary Atrium.

In keeping with a rich tradition for the program, graduates participated in the THI Cardiac Society pinning ceremony—in which their faculty mentors present the fellows with distinctive Symbol of Excellence lapel pins representing the fellows’ inclusion in an elite group of skilled clinicians who completed their training at THI. The act of pinning also embodies the strong bond that spans generations of THI fellows and their deep connections with the faculty members who were so invested in their personal and professional development. Faculty mentors celebrated each fellow’s journey, highlighting their evolution over the course of three transformative years, from trusted trainee to esteemed colleague.

For graduates of the prestigious Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, this journey included three years of general cardiology training with teaching faculty at Baylor St. Luke’s. Others extended their training further by completing one of THI’s subspecialty fellowships; by an additional year for those pursuing interventional cardiology or advanced heart failure specialization, or by an additional two years for those specializing in cardiac electrophysiology.

In another revered tradition, the Robert J. Hall Teaching Award for excellence in clinical instruction was presented by the third-year cardiology fellows to Neil Strickman, MD. Among his other laudable attributes, the fellowship class praised Dr. Strickman for continually modeling a physician-patient relationship based on trust and respect, and for emphasizing this as a fundamental aspect of providing excellent healthcare. Dr. Strickman has mentored cardiology fellows for over 40 years and was previously recognized with the Hall Award in 2022.

On behalf of the programs’ teaching faculty, Jorge Escobar, MD, alumnus and associate program director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, honored Ramsey Kalil, MD, with the Tauber Outstanding Cardiology Fellow Award. Dr. Kalil distinguished himself during his time at THI by going “above and beyond” in every aspect of his training and clinical care.

The graduates will contribute to the future of cardiovascular care—some through clinical positions across the United States, and others through continuation of their training in advanced cardiology subspecialty programs at THI.

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Cardiovascular Disease/General Cardiology

Program Director, Stephanie Coulter, MD; Associate Program Director, Jorge Escobar, MD

 

Diego Celli, MD
Interventional Cardiology Fellowship, The Texas Heart Institute

Brett Doliner, MD
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship, The Texas Heart Institute

Ramsey Kalil, MD
Interventional Cardiology Fellowship, The Texas Heart Institute

Chelsea Meloche, MD
Atrium Health, Concord, North Carolina

Rayhan Saiani, MD
Yale New Haven Health Heart & Vascular Center, Greenwich, Connecticut

Andrew Sun, MD
Interventional Cardiology Fellowship, The Texas Heart Institute

 

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Interventional Cardiology

Program Director, George Younis, MD; Associate Program Director, Alexander Postalian, MD

 

Kim-Trang Ho, MD
Memorial Cardiology Associates, Houston, Texas

Jason Liu, MD
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Shenandoah, Texas

Saad Rehman, MD
Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute, Columbia, Tennessee

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Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology

Program Director, Mehdi Razavi, MD; Associate Program Director, Mihail Chelu, MD, PhD

 

Anish Badjatiya, MD
Houston Methodist, Sugar Land, Texas

Jordan Gales, MD
Genesis Healthcare System, Zanesville, Ohio

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Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology

Program Director, Andrew Civitello, MD; Associate Program Director, Ajith Nair, MD

 

Sana Riaz, MD
Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

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View Photos From the Celebration