Heart Team Providers

Echocardiography:

Stefanie Cheang, MD
Minghua Hao, MD
Thomas Kimball, MD
Shannon Powell, DO
Steffan Sernich, MD
Song-Gui Yang, MD

Electrophysiology:
Kelly Gajewski, MD
Scott Macicek, MD

Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy:
Tamara Bradford, MD

Cardiac Critical Care:
Melvin Almodovar, MD
Parvin Dorostkar, MD
Raymond Morales, MD
Aurelio Reyes, MD
Amira Soliman, MD
Jason Turner, MD

Adult Congenital Heart Disease:
Scott Macicek, MD

Fetal Cardiology:
Stefanie Cheang, MD
Minghua Hao, MD
Shannon Powell, DO
Song-Gui Yang, MD

Pediatric Coronary Artery Disease:
Thomas Kimball, MD
Rebecca Wallace, PsyD

Pulmonary Hypertension:
Mandy Nasworthy, MD
Melvin Almondovar, MD

General Cardiology:
James Krulisky, MD
Mandy Nasworthy, MD

Preventative Cardiology:
Thomas Kimball, MD
Mary Rossi, MD

Cardiothoracic Surgery:
Timothy Pettitt, MD

Farshad Anvari, MD

Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants:
Jaron Allen, DNP, PNP-AC
Elayna Bailey, PNP-AC
Miriam Becnel, PA-C
Stephanie Bush, NP
Jacquelyn Brady, PA-C
Sarah Lass, DNP, PNP-AC
Jill Leblanc, CPNP-AC
Patrick Nelson, PA-C
Ashley Penn, CPNP-AC
Melanee Hart, PA-C
Kasey Woodson, PA-C
Megan Dussouy, FNP-C

Anesthesiologists:
Brandon Black, MD
Christopher Broussard, MD
Patrick McCarty, MD
Tyler Nix, MD
James Spaeth, MD

Heart Team Leadership

Thomas R. Kimball, MD

Co-Director, The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans

Dr. Thomas Kimball is the Director of the Heart Center and Division Chief of Cardiology at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. A native of Oakland, California, he received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University. Dr. Kimball attended medical school at New York University followed by a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. He completed a cardiology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and remained at that institution as an attending cardiologist for 34 years.

Dr. Kimball is currently the Nelson K Ordway Professor of Pediatrics at the LSU Health Center, and is board-certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology. His clinical interests include non-invasive cardiac imaging and pediatric coronary artery disease (Kawasaki Disease and congenital anomalies of the coronaries). His research interests relate to the cardiovascular effects of obesity and decreasing patients lost to follow-up rates. Dr. Kimball values the physician/patient relationship because it is career-defining to see his patients who were once critically ill babies develop into healthy husbands/wives, college graduates and elite athletes.

Melvin Almodóvar, MD

Director, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care
Co-Director, The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans

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Dr. Almodóvar joined the Children’s Hospital New Orleans Heart Center team in 2023. He most recently served as the George E. Batchelor Chair in Pediatric Cardiology, Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, and Co-Director of the Children’s Heart Center at the University of Miami and Jackson Health System. He attended medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his residency in pediatrics and fellowships in pediatric cardiology and cardiac intensive care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Almodóvar has held leadership positions at Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Johns Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the management of complex congenital heart disease, has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications and book chapters, and has mentored many trainees and junior faculty now practicing in or leading cardiac intensive care units across the country.​