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Dr. George Carayannopoulos was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and completed all of his academic and medical training in the University of Texas educational system. After completion of his Cardiac Electrophysiology training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, he was selected as one of six cardiologists to care for all of the international athletes and staff residing in the Olympic Village for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Upon the completion of the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Dr. Carayannopoulos moved to Long Island, New York where he started Heart Rhythm Consultants of New York a practice created to address the cardiac electrophysiology needs of the community on Long Island.

During his time in New York he held the position of Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York – Stony Brook University Hospital. He also served in several leadership positions including Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital, Vice-chair of Suffolk County H.E.A.R.T. (a task force he created in conjunction with the Suffolk County Health Commissioner to raise the awareness of heart disease in the community), Co-Founder of Suffolk County Life Savers (support group for at risk patients and survivors of Sudden Cardiac Arrest), and Vice President of the New York Hellenic Medical Society.

He is actively involved in the Heart Rhythm Society and has served on its Reimbursement and Regulatory Committee for six years. He is an international speaker and gives many lectures annually on Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Syncope, Congestive Heart Failure, and Medical Practice Building. In June 2010 he received Greek America Magazine's 40 most influential young Greek-Americans award. Dr. Carayannopoulos and his wife are active members in the Greek Orthodox community, and they enjoy living on Galveston Island.

Dr. Cai completed his residency in internal medicine at Geisinger Medical Center in Pennsylvania. Then he completed his fellowship in cardiology at UTMB and The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston. Dr. Cai joined UTMB Angleton Danbury Campus as an Assistant Professor and medical director in 2014.

Dr. Cai's professional interests include cardiac imaging, clinical cardiology, medical education, and quality improvement in cardiac care. He is board certified in cardiovascular diseases, internal medicine, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT, and vascular ultrasound. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Cai has been involved in multiple clinical studies and research projects. He has published extensively and serves as a reviewer for a number of medical journals.

Dr. Cai serves cardiac and vascular patients including those with any established cardiovascular diseases. He also provides risk factor management and preoperative evaluation.

Dr. Jose Iturrizaga was born and raised in Lima, Peru where he attended Medical School at Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal. He then moved to the US in 2007 to pursue his passion for medicine by training in Chicago, Birmingham, and New York. Dr. Iturrizaga specializes in Advanced Heart Failure, Transplant and Pulmonary Hypertension. He ensures his patients are fully knowledgeable about their heart condition, and takes time with each patient and family to answer their questions. Dr. Iturrizaga's goal is to maintain the best quality of life for each and every patient. He loves to read, cook and play soccer, and enjoys spending time with his family.

Dr. Prasad is working as a clinical cardiologist for UTMB. He is currently focused on developing cardiology practice in Angleton, TX area.

Dr. Prasad is strongly inclined towards preventive cardiology and thus guides his patients and their families to lead a healthy lifestyle. He believes in risk factor modification by providing patient centered comprehensive cardiovascular treatment options and focused education.

Dr. Prasad graduated from both Internal Medicine & Cardiology fellowship programs from Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, PA. During his training, he was awarded with “Resident of the year 2010” and “Teaching cardiology fellow of the year” continuously all three years in a row (2012 to 2015).

Dr. Khalife is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the UTMB Division of Cardiology. His educational background includes Heart Failure/Transplant Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Heart Institute and Cardiology Fellowship at UTMB. He is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular disease, Heart Failure and transplantation, Echocardiography, and Nuclear Cardiology. He was awarded the title of Master of the American Academy of Cardiology in 2010.

Dr. Khalife is currently the Director of the Heart Failure/Transplant and Left Ventricular Assist Device Program at UTMB. He is interested in invasive cardiology, invasive heart failure and transplant as well as cardiology imaging. He has multiple ongoing research projects and many publications.

After postdoctoral training, Dr. Sewani served as Director of Clinical Electrophysiology at Sparks Health System in Fort Smith, AR from 2008-2010. He began his academic career in 2010 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at The University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR. Thereafter, he was promoted to Associate Director of the Electrophysiology Fellowship Program in 2013.

Dr. Sewani joined UTMB faculty in 2017 as Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Director of Atrial Fibrillation Arrhythmia Program, in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology. Dr. Sewani is Associate Director of the General Cardiology Fellowship program at UTMB and actively participate in fellowship education. Among his honors, he was nominated by cardiology graduating fellows for the 2019 Jose Esquival-Avila Outstanding Teacher Award. Dr. Sewani's clinical skills consist of: Ablation and Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia (using cryo balloon and radiofrequency ablation). Implantation and Management of Cardiac Rhythm devices. Implantation of Left atrial appendage closure devices (Watchman) Trans-thoracic, trans-esophageal and Intra-cardiac echocardiography.

Dr. Gilani specializes in cardiology and practices in the Clinical Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

Dr. Gilani earned his MBBS degree from Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan (1996). He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL. (2002) and a fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (2008). Prior to coming to UTMB, Dr. Gilani completed a fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at the Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA.

Dr. Alwash graduated from the University of Baghdad, College of Medicine. He completed Internal Medicine Residency in Atlanta, Georgia in 2015, and was also recognized and awarded as an Outstanding Resident. Thereafter, Dr. Alwash completed his fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX.

Dr. Alwash joined UTMB faculty in 2019 as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, and Interventional Cardiology. He is Board certified in internal medicine and Cardiology, as well as Adult Echocardiography and Nuclear medicine. His fields of interests are coronary and peripheral arterial disease, structural heart disease, and general cardiology.

Dr. Amer Abdulla is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at UTMB. He obtained a bachelor of science with honors in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a master of science in translational medicine from the joint UC Berkeley – UCSF bioengineering department. He developed an interest in the use of technology to optimize healthcare. During his master program, he cofounded Gauss Surgical and helped develop the Triton, a device that improves the accuracy of intraoperative blood loss using computer vision.

Although his experiences in engineering were deeply rewarding, he wanted a career with the human interaction that medicine affords. Dr. Abdulla received his MD from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Abdulla then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He was drawn to the field of cardiology because of its fascinating physiology and its many evidence-based therapies that save lives and improve quality of life. He pursued fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Dr. Abdulla is a general cardiologist with a special interest in multimodality imaging, preventive cardiology, invasive cardiology, medical education, and quality improvement. He is board certified in Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology, and Internal Medicine. He has authored and coauthored several manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and presented at many conferences on the topics of cardiac imaging, preventive cardiology, and quality improvement in healthcare.

Dr. Abdulla enjoys educating his patients about their disease so they can make well-informed decisions about their health. He is a strong advocate for prevention and a healthy lifestyle. He finds deep satisfaction in helping his patients achieve better quality of life. Dr. Abdulla sees patients at the UTMB Clear Lake Campus. He is fluent in Arabic. In his free time, Dr. Abdulla enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, cooking, running, swimming, hiking, and traveling.

Dr. Rangasetty completed his fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. He joined UTMB as Assistant Professor of Medicine in Interventional Cardiology in 2011. Dr. Rangasetty has focused on all aspects of interventional cardiology here at UTMB. As Associate Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Jennie Sealy Hospital, he has contributed significantly to the establishment of trans-radial, complex coronary and structural interventions. He has worked closely with cardiac surgeons and other interventional cardiologists to establish a TAVR program.

Dr. Rangasetty is the Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program, and enjoys mentoring and coaching interventional fellows. Dr. Rangasetty is passionate about his career and loves spending his time in the catheterization laboratory. His intervention skill set consists of: complex coronary lesions (CHIP), transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR), Left atrial appendage closure with watchman device, atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale (PFO) closures, balloon aortic valvuloplasty, mitral valvuloplasty, percutaneous pulmonary valvuloplasty, cardiomems, and paravalvular leak closures. He also performs carotid, renal, iliac and SFA interventions.