Dr Dominic completed his medical degree at the University of Melbourne, followed by specialist training in Cardiology in Melbourne. He undertook further sub-specialist training in electrophysiology and cardiac devices, including pacemakers and defibrillators. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP).

Dr Dominic holds an honorary clinical lecturer position at the University of Melbourne. He has received a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) postgraduate scholarship and a Heart Foundation PhD scholarship.

His clinical focus includes pacing techniques and the use of cardiac devices in the management of heart blocks and cardiomyopathies.

Dr Dominic provides consultations aimed at supporting patient understanding of heart health and works with patients to develop management plans that consider their individual needs.

Chris Lim has trained in all aspects of cardiology with an interest in PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention), angioplasty and stenting. He completed his training in Melbourne and then completed a further three-year post-graduate training fellowship in Oxford, United Kingdom.

Chris is one of the Melbourne pioneers of radial artery access procedures - using the wrist artery instead of the femoral artery in the groin - which offers superior patient comfort and procedure safety.

He has an ongoing interest in research and has authored multiple publications in international peer-reviewed journals, stemming from his interests in periprocedural myocardial injury and the latest interventional techniques. Chris is also active in teaching and educating junior cardiologists, as part of his tertiary teaching hospital appointments, and Supervisor for the Cardiology Resident training programme at Epworth Eastern Hospital.

Han obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree from the University of Melbourne and completed his Cardiology training at the Austin Hospital, before undertaking training in the area of cardiac electrophysiology and device implantations. Han’s PhD thesis was onin stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF).

His overseas advanced cardiac electrophysiology fellowship, saw him train train with Professor Michel Haissaguerre in Bordeaux, France, a pioneer in the technique of catheter ablation for AF.
Han has extensive experience in catheter ablation for complex arrhythmias, including the latest ablation techniques for AF, supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia, as well as pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantations.

Han is a recipient of the NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) Medical Postgraduate Scholarship for his PhD, and the Parmley Prize from the American College of Cardiology in 2012. He was also a Finalist in the American Heart Association Samuel Levine Young Investigator Award in 2014 and a recipient of the NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Early Career Fellowship. Han has a strong track record of peer-reviewed journal publications in major international cardiology journals in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiology .His research areas focus on catheter ablation for AF, stroke prevention in AF and sudden cardiac death.

Qualifications
• MBBS (University of Melbourne)
• PhD
• FRACP
• FESC
• Postgraduate Advanced Electrophysiology Fellowship: Bordeaux, France

Dr Nilesh Mehta is a senior cardiologist and Director of Northside cardiology. He has been working at Northern Hospital for last 13 years as a cardiologist with a focus in interventional cardiology.

Nilesh completed his basic medical and cardiology training at Mumbai University, India. He completed Interventional Cardiology fellowship from St Vincent’s Health and was awarded FRACP from Melbourne University in 2007.  He has clinical interest in complex coronary interventions- chronic total occlusion and Rotablator angioplasty for heavily calcified blockages. He also has keen interest in preventive cardiology, and echocardiography.

Nilesh is actively involved in teaching and mentoring cardiology registrars and advanced trainees.

Nilesh enjoys running, surfing and competing in triathlons.

Dr Larry Ponnuthurai is the Deputy Director of Cardiology at Northern Hospital and leads the Interventional Unit and Coronary Care Unit.

He completed his specialist cardiology training at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, followed by fellowships in echocardiography at Monash Medical Centre and The Austin Hospital, and interventional cardiology at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

His clinical expertise includes interventional cardiology (angioplasty and stenting for coronary artery disease), cardiac imaging (transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography), heart failure management, and cardiac risk assessment (stress tests and CT coronary angiography).

Dr Ponnuthurai practices in both public and private sectors, consulting at Northern Private Hospital. He performs coronary angiography and stenting using femoral and radial artery access, incorporating advanced imaging techniques such as IVUS, OCT, and FFR.

He is involved in the education of cardiology trainees and medical students and has participated in developing outpatient care guidelines for the Department of Health & Human Services.

Dr Ponnuthurai performs cardiological procedures using established clinical protocols and techniques. He provides consultations that include taking patient history and addressing symptoms and concerns as part of the clinical assessment.

Qualifications
•Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB Royal College of Surgeons 1993)
•Diploma of Diagnostic Ultrasound (DDU 2005)
•Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP 2002)
•Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (FCSANZ 2014)

Dr Rifly Rafiudeen is a Cardiologist with interest in all areas of cardiology, in particular coronary artery disease, chest pain, cardiovascular risk assessment and management, lipid management, valvular heart disease, arrhythmia, and cardiomyopathy.

He has extensive experience in performing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) i.e. ‘stenting’. This includes the use of intra-coronary imaging modalities such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), as well as calcium modification with rotational atherectomy (Rotablator), and recently developed modalities such as ‘shockwave’ intravascular lithotripsy (IVL).

He also performs coronary angiography, right heart studies, fractional flow reserve (FFR), and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR). He performs most procedures via radial (wrist) access.

After receiving the state Chief Minister’s Award for Most Outstanding Student and Australian Government Australian Students Prize for Excellence through schooling, Dr Rafiudeen obtained his medical degree (MBBS Hons) in 2010 from the University of Melbourne, with multiple Dean’s Honours List awards. He completed his Advanced Cardiology training at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Western/Sunshine Hospitals in Melbourne.

He was awarded prestigious Research Scholarships by the University of Melbourne and Northern Health Foundation, and completed his PhD at Northern Hospital, looking at different mechanisms of heart attacks and ways to prevent them. He continues to hold public appointments as an Interventional Cardiologist and in the Chest Pain Evaluation Unit at Northern Hospital.

Dr Rafiudeen has published widely in peer reviewed medical journals, both nationally and internationally. He is actively involved with ongoing research both locally and as part of multiple international multi-centre collaborative research trials. He is heavily involved in teaching medical students from the University of Melbourne as a Clinical Lecturer.

Qualifications:

• Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP)
• Member of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) - UniMelb
• Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS Hons, UniMelb)
• Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSc, UniMelb)

Dr John Ramzy is a general cardiologist with a clinical interest in interventional cardiology including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and adult congenital heart disease. After graduating from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medical Science, John trained in five of Melbourne’s leading cardiology units including St. Vincent’s Hospital, The University Hospital Geelong, Box Hill Hospital, The Alfred Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital. Through this broad experience he has a wide skill set including management of valvular heart disease, advanced heart failure, arrhythmias and complex coronary artery disease.

He then completed a two year interventional cardiology fellowship at Monash Heart, Melbourne’s largest provider of cardiac services, where he focused on percutaneous coronary and structural heart disease intervention. John then undertook a fellowship in Structural/Adult Congenital Heart Disease Intervention at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto, Canada.

John's clinical focus is in percutaneous interventions for valvular heart disease, congenital cardiac defects and heart failure. This includes expertise in procedures such as: TAVI, Mitra-Clip, Tri-Clip, mitral valve-in-valve and valve-in-ring replacement, left atrial appendage occlusion, PFO, ASD, PDA and VSD device closure, coarctation stenting, pulmonary valve replacement, paravalvular leak device closure, percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty, pulmonary vein balloon dilation and stenting, cardiomems implants, atrial flow regulator device implantation and coiling/device occlusion of arteriovenous malformations, fistulas and collaterals. He is also trained in the invasive haemodynamic assessment and percutaneous interventions for patients with complex congenital heart disease.

John has expertise in the treatment of coronary artery disease including the provision of high quality, safe diagnostic angiography and percutaneous intervention using radial access and the full range of tools to provide the finest results for his patients. This includes expertise in the use of technologies such as fractional flow reserve (FFR), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) and a range of tools to treat calcified lesions. John enjoys forming terrific therapeutic relationships with his patients and spending time ensuring that patient’s and families feel empowered in their care.

Research interests

• Research into percutaneous alternatives for treatment of cardiac defects usually treated with surgery.

Dr Sharma completed his cardiology training at the Northern Hospital. He then under took a one year fellowship in intervention cardiology followed by a second fellowship in cardiac imaging at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Dr Sharma has extensive experience in cardiology including general cardiology, valvular heart disease and all aspects of echocardiography (trans thoracic, transoesophageal, 3D/4 D, contrast and stress echocardiography). He has an interest in heart failure.
Dr Sharma currently holds a public appointment at the Northern Hospital consulting in heart failure and imaging (echo).
His academic interest includes the supervision and training of advanced trainees in cardiology.
Dr Sharma has also participated in research at the Northern Hospital and is a co-investigator in multinational trials.

Qualifications
• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of surgery (MBBS)
• Fellow of the Cardiac society of Australia and New Zealand (FCSANZ)
• Fellow of the Royal college of Physicians (FRACP)

Dr Gautam Vaddadi is a cardiologist with expertise in a broad range of non-invasive cardiology. Dr Vaddadi’s interests include general cardiology, heart failure, syncope, postural hypotension, echocardiography and stress echocardiography.

He graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1999 and was awarded a Bachelor of Medical Science for research at the Baker Heart Research Institute. He completed basic physician training at Austin Health in 2003 and undertook advanced training in cardiology, heart failure and transplantation at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne from 2004 to 2006.

Gautam progressed his post graduate studies investigating the mechanisms of syncope (low blood pressure and fainting) from 2006 to 2009. This work resulted in several high profile peer reviewed research publications in leading cardiovascular journals. Dr Vaddadi was awarded the Ralph Reader Prize by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand in 2008 for his research investigating syncope.

Public Hospital appointments include The Alfred Hospital and Northern Hospital. As Head of Heart Failure Services at Northern Health, he has been instrumental in building heart failure services in the Northern region of Melbourne, and actively engaged in a project, funded by the Department of Health, to investigate heart failure services in primary care.

Qualifications
• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) (University of Melbourne)
• Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSci) (University of Melbourne)
• Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP- Cardiology) (Royal
Australian College of Physicians)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Monash University, BakerIDI Heart and
Diabetes Institute)
• Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (Cardiac Society of
Australia and New Zealand)