St. Michael’s Cardiac Arrhythmia Service – our team

Dr. Ahmad obtained his medical degree from the University of Toronto. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton and his cardiology residency at Queen’s University in Kingston. His training in cardiac electrophysiology was at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, BC. His clinical focus is care of patients with heart rhythm disorders as well as general cardiology. Dr. Ahmad’s current interests also include Continuous Quality Improvement to improve health-care delivery and outcomes as well as postgraduate medical education.

Dr. Angaran is a Cardiac Electrophysiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Toronto. He is the current Director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia program at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Dr. Angaran received his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 2004. He continued training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Toronto, and received certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Internal Medicine in 2008 and Cardiology in 2010. He completed an Electrophysiology Fellowship at the University of Western Ontario in 2012. He then joined the Arrhythmia Service at St. Michael’s Hospital in 2013. He subsequently completed his master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto in 2019.

His clinical and research interests include complex ablation, including atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, device therapies and inherited arrhythmias.

Dr. Paul Dorian is a Staff Cardiac Electrophysiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital. He is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, and a Staff Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.

Dr. Dorian received his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal in 1976. He continued training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Toronto, and received certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Internal Medicine in 1983 and certification in Cardiology in 1984. He completed training in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Toronto in 1982, and received an MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto in 1982. From 1983 to 1985, he completed a fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology at Stanford University Medical Centre in California.

His research interests include basic science research in advanced cardiac life support, and atrial fibrillation, the clinical pharmacology of antiarrhythmic drugs, and clinical research on implanted devices, antiarrhythmic drugs, and quality of life in patients with arrhythmias.

He is a Co-Principal Investigator on the NIH funded Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, and chair of the arrhythmia section of the CaNNECTIN Canadian cardiovascular clinical trials collaborative , and serves on the steering committee of several multicenter clinical trials in arrhythmia care.

Dr. Karen (Kaja) Konieczny is a Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital. She completed medical school, Internal Medicine, and Cardiology Residency at The University of Toronto. She subsequently completed an Electrophysiology Fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital. She is currently pursuing an M.Ed degree in Higher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.

Her clinical interests include both simple and complex ablation, as well as device implantation. Her research focus reflects an interest in medical education at all levels of medical training.

Dr. Victoria Korley graduated from McGill Medical School and completed her three year internal medicine residency at the Royal Victoria Hospital at McGill University. She then pursued her cardiology and electrophysiology clinical and research fellowships at Harvard University in Boston. Upon completion, she joined the staff of St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, as an electrophysiologist in 2001.

Over the years, her academic focus has been teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has developed and continues to administer the cardiology medical curriculum for the second year medical students at the University of Toronto. In addition, she is the director of the cardiology residency program at St. Michael’s Hospital and has been an examiner at the local and national levels. She previously held the role of director of the Electrophysiology Fellowship Program for several years.

Her clinical interests include all aspects of patient care related to arrhythmias including ablation. Clinically, she has a particular expertise in complex implantations of resynchronizations devices for congestive heart failure.

Dr. Iqwal Mangat is Assistant Professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, and is a practicing Cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital.  Dr. Mangat received his MD from the University of Toronto in 1993, and completed his Cardiology training also at the University of Toronto in 1999. He completed training in Adult Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of California, San Francisco in 2001, and was appointed Lecturer at UCSF from July 2001 to June 2002. Dr. Mangat returned to Toronto and joined the Division of Cardiology at St. Michael’s Hospital in October 2002. Dr. Mangat’s clinical and research interests include the following:

• Evaluation and management of patients with syncope, palpitations, risk factors for sudden cardiac death.
• Arrhythmia management including supraventricular and ventricular tachycardias, inherited arrhythmic syndromes including RV dysplasia, long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome.
• Special interest in atrial fibrillation, including novel therapeutic strategies and catheter ablation.
• Spearheaded the development of an Atrial Fibrillation Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital (July 2009) which is a rapid access centre for management of patients with atrial fibrillation, with a focus on patient education.

Dr. Arnold Pinter graduated from the Semmelweis Medical School in Hungary. He received his medicine and cardiology training in Hungary before completing an Electrophysiology Fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital. Currently, he is a staff Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and holds an Assistant Professor position at the University of Toronto.

Medical doctors who are trained and certified cardiologists, now undergoing additional training to become an arrhythmia specialist.

• Dr. George Elkhoury
• Dr. Vinay Garg

A Nurse Practitioner is a registered nurse in the extended class who have additional nursing education and experience to diagnose, order and interpret diagnostic tests, prescribe medications within their specialty.

Jennifer Cruz

Jennifer Cruz is a Nurse Practitioner (NP) in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service and an Adjunct Lecturer within the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at University of Toronto. Along with Dr. Iqwal Mangat, they spearheaded the development of a NP-led atrial fibrillation (AF) clinic within St. Michael’s Hospital in 2009 – the first AF clinic in Ontario.

Jennifer received her bachelor of science in nursing degree at Ryerson University in 1999. She also completed a critical care nursing certificate in 2000 and a cardiology nursing certificate in 2001 at George Brown College. She received her master’s in nursing degree combined with an acute care NP specialty at University of Toronto in 2009. She received her NP certification through the College of Nurses of Ontario in 2009. She currently holds a certification in cardiovascular nursing within the Canadian Nurses Association since 2004.

She has variable clinical experience including: flight nursing via air ambulance, critical care, surgical and pre-operative care, general internal medicine and pacemaker device technology. She participates in the preceptorship/mentorship program of nurses and NP students from varying academic institutions.

Her research interest and quality improvement projects include: knowledge translation initiatives related to AF clinics in Canada, implementation of guideline-based care in clinical practice, development and integration of patient education resources, clinical measures of patient experiences in ambulatory clinics and elective procedures.

She co-led the national patient education initiative for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society with Heart and Stroke Foundation, focusing on AF; and functions as president of the Canadian AF clinic Nursing Alliance (CAFcNA), a sub-specialty interest group within the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society (CHRS).

Registered urses provide clinical care of patients within the arrhythmia service.

First row:

• Michael Brouckaert
• Anne Fry
• David Torres

Second row:

• Denise Rayner
• Mary Jo Dodea

Not pictured:

• Maria Hassan
• Jessica Mcarthur

Technologists are health care professionals who provide technical care of patients within their specialty.

First row:

• Robert Gelaznikas
• Vanessa Giglia

• Janet Edwards
• Julianna Hauer
• Victoria Albert

Not pictured:

• Varun Dawra
• Shima Farzan

A Registered Nurse who educates and schedules patients undergoing device implantation (ICD, pacemaker or ILR).

• Emily Little

Responsible for scheduling ablations and electrical cardioversions.

• Naomi Alphonsus

A group of individuals who provide administrative support within the arrhythmia service.

• Mary Wallace
• Joanna Baily
• Ornella Silvaggio
• Rachel Gonzales

Healthcare professionals who are responsible for the organization, coordination, and overall integrity of a research project.

• Marta Gadacz
• Zana Mariano

Administrative Assistants are individuals who provide administrative support for Staff Physicians or Clinical Leader Manager.

• Liz Pimentel
• Judy Mohammed

Provides clinical leadership and management of clinical team members and directs operational responsibilities within the arrhythmia service.

• Marie Fulcher