Sonia Nimtz is a Nurse Practitioner in General Cardiology. She graduated from UTMB with a bachelor's degree in nursing and then worked as an RN in Cardiology. She later went on to obtain certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners after graduating from UTMB with a master's degree in Nursing. Sonia is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, as well as a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She has a passion for cardiology – working with patients to help them achieve maximum cardiovascular health through positive health behaviors and knowledge of their medications and disease process. She loves to garden, cook, and bake. She and her husband love to travel and enjoy spending time with family.

Dr. Jiwani received his medical degree from Sindh Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan in 1989. He completed his residency in Pediatrics at the Schneider Children's Hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New Hyde Park, New York.

He went on to complete a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology in 1998, as well as a fellowship in Pediatric Echocardiography in 1999 at Schneider Children's Hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. After finishing these fellowships, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor and Attending Pediatric Cardiologist for the Schneider Children's Hospital, the Jacobi Medical Center, and North Central Bronx Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he served until joining UTMB in 2006.

He was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics in September 2012. Dr. Jiwani is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology. He sees patients with acquired and congenital heart diseases from the fetal life throughout adulthood. He enjoys teaching and believes in high quality patient care.

Dr. Haider Al Taii is a dedicated Cardiac Electrophysiologist with diverse experience in the field. He specializes in catheter-based rhythm management and the implantation of cardiovascular devices. Throughout his career, he has participated in multiple clinical outcome studies in medicine and cardiovascular medicine. He has multiple research projects published in national journals. His clinical interests include atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, premature ventricular complexes, ventricular tachycardia, cardiac device implantation, and laser leads extraction of cardiac devices.

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.

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Dr. Tony Tran is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology. His educational background includes a BS in Biology from the University of Houston - Honors College in 1993. While doing his undergraduate studies, he was involved in various research programs, including an undergraduate internship in the Department of Biology at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois as well as a summer research fellowship in the Eukaryotic Transcriptional Regulation Section of the National Cancer Institute in Maryland. He also worked in the Division of Biochemistry at the University of Houston for his Senior Honors Thesis.

Dr. Tran completed his MD at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, during which time he was a research fellow twice in the Biomedical Sciences Exchange Program-Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (BMEP-DAAD) and worked at the Institut Biochimie, Charity Hospital/Humboldt University in 1994 and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in 1997, both in Berlin, Germany.

He completed the Medical Research Investigator Track (MeRIT) clinical investigator pathway in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in 2002, during which time he was involved in basic science research in Dr. Douglas Mann's heart failure laboratory. He also completed his fellowship in Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine 2004.

Dr. Tran's interests include medical student and resident education as well as patient care. His research interests are in diastolic dysfunction and cardiac imaging. Dr. Tran sees patients at University Cardiology Clinic, Mainland Pavilion Center.

Dr. Ashraf Aly is the director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics. He received his M.D. from Cairo University School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt and completed his Pediatric residency at Penn State University, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania and Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from the George Washington University in Washington DC.

Dr. Aly specializes in Pediatric Cardiology and sees patients with possible congenital heart diseases from the fetal life throughout adulthood.

Before joining UTMB in 2003, Dr. Aly was in private practice in Michigan.

Dr. Aly is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology. He is also a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other professional medical and scientific organizations.

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. Joseph Allencherril is a UTMB Cardiologist with a specialization in Clinical & Interventional Cardiology. His clinical interests include coronary artery (CAD) prevention and management, peripheral vascular disease (PVD), hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, valvular and structural heart disease, multi-modality cardiac imaging (echocardiography, cardiovascular CT and nuclear cardiology), and vascular medicine. He is dedicated to the education of medical students, residents, and fellows.