I am an interventional cardiologist and have been at Duke for about 25 years. The less-invasive treatment strategies and techniques that we’ve learned have been a source of great excitement over the past 20 years. We started back then with patients who had congenital heart disease and traditionally needed open surgery, and we’re now able to help many patients with congenital defects without open surgery. We’ve moved into an era where valvular heart disease has excellent treatments from an interventional point of view. I like all cardiac interventions, but my particular interest is in what people call structural interventions, which is helping people with structural or congenital heart disease. When you see me or someone else in interventional cardiology at Duke, you’re seeing multiple providers, even though they may be in the background. We work as a team and provide only the best for patients. Dr. Kevin is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Aortic Valve Stenosis, Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Foramen Ovale, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), and Aortic Valve Replacement.

John Vavalle is an Interventional Cardiologist and a Cardiologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Vavalle is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Aortic Valve Stenosis, Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Mitral Stenosis, Aortic Valve Replacement, and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). Dr. Vavalle is currently accepting new patients.

I specialize in treating heart valve disease (affecting the mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valves) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). My clinical focus emphasizes minimally invasive approaches, particularly transcatheter procedures for valve disorders. Dr. Wang is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Sengers Syndrome, Subvalvular Aortic Stenosis, Heart Valve Repair, and Aortic Valve Replacement.

I fell in love with cardiology early in my medical training when I saw a patient in the emergency department who came in with a heart attack. The cardiology team swooped down and took him away to a procedure room, and in less than 45 minutes the heart attack had been stopped, and the patient was asking if he could go home. I'm so happy to be on that team now. I have extensive experience in minimally invasive procedures to treat people with a myriad of cardiac conditions. Most commonly, you can find me in the cardiac catheterization laboratory opening blockages in the arteries that feed the heart to treat angina or stop heart attacks. In the hospital, I also see patients with other acute cardiac conditions. In the office, I see patients with the entire range of heart problems. I'm excited to be joining Duke because I'll also be able to get back to doing research aimed at improving our understanding and management of patients with heart disease at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. In addition, I love to teach and learn, and there is no better place than Duke to stoke the intellectual curiosity that brought me to medicine in the first place. Dr. Pride is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Necrosis, Aortic Valve Stenosis, Aortic Valve Replacement, and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR).

Although I enjoy caring for all cardiac patients, my special interests include patients born with heart defects and now adults, pregnancy with heart disease, and valvular heart disease. In addition, I am interested in keeping people healthy and avoiding heart disease as much as possible. Dr. Upadhya is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. Her top areas of expertise are Hypertensive Heart Disease, Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF), Heart Failure, Pacemaker Implantation, and Atherectomy.

My goal as a cardiologist is to understand my patients as people so that I can provide them with information important for making their own decisions about how to prevent disease and promote health. Using this approach, I enjoy taking care of patients interested in preventing heart attacks, patients who have suffered heart attacks, patients with cholesterol and blood pressure disorders, and patients with heart failure. Dr. Freedman is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Angina, Atherosclerosis, Atrial Fibrillation, Pulmonary Edema, and Atherectomy.

Andres Pineda is a Cardiologist in Morrisville, North Carolina. Dr. Pineda has been practicing medicine for over 20 years and is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Pediatric Myocarditis, Hypertensive Heart Disease, Angina, Atherectomy, and Angioplasty.

Although I enjoy taking care of all cardiac patients, my special interests include adult congenital heart disease (patients who were born with heart defects who are now adults), and pregnancy and cardiac disease. Dr. Ward is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. Her top areas of expertise are Atrioventricular Septal Defect, Partial Atrioventricular Canal, Endocardial Cushion Defect, and Tetralogy of Fallot.

My role in cardiology at Duke has been in the prevention and management of advanced cardiovascular disease symptoms in my patients. In the area of prevention, I specialized in cholesterol treatment and specifically in the management of statin medications especially for those individuals who feel they are intolerant. My practice also has a focus on patients with difficult-to-control hypertension, hypertension medication intolerance, difficult-to-manage congestive heart failure, and problems with heart failure medications. My newest role in the clinic is as the director of Outpatient Services for our practice. Our practice-based goals are to make sure everyone who sees a Duke cardiologist leaves on the best therapy for their disease based on current evidence and the individual's ability to tolerate and benefit from that treatment. Dr. Blazing is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Heart Failure, Pulmonary Edema, Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF), Cardiac Ablation, and Pacemaker Implantation.

Jonathan Stiber is a Cardiologist in Morrisville, North Carolina. Dr. Stiber has been practicing medicine for over 29 years and is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Atrial Fibrillation, Pulmonary Edema, Heart Failure, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiac Ablation.

Michael Sketch is a Cardiologist in Morrisville, North Carolina. Dr. Sketch has been practicing medicine for over 42 years and is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Coronary Heart Disease, Angina, Heart Attack, Thrombectomy, and Heart Bypass Surgery.

I have always been fascinated by medicine and combining science with the art. I fell in love with cardiology after witnessing one of my family members struggle with heart disease. It was then that I decided to dedicate my life to helping prevent heart disease and help patients with coronary artery disease achieve an acceptable quality of life. As my career progressed, I became interested in complex coronary interventions, including CTOs (chronic total occlusions of coronary vessels). Patients with chronically clogged heart arteries are often told nothing can be done or worse, nothing should be done. They are relegated to living with debilitating symptoms of shortness of breath, chest pain, and fatigue. I believe we owe it to our patients to continue to work and find ways for them to feel better and improve their quality of life. This is the foundation for which we based the Duke Chronic Total Occlusion and Complex Coronary artery disease program. Our hope is that through collaboration and innovation we can help patients with advanced heart disease live relatively symptom-free. In my time away from work, I love spending time and traveling with my wife and two children. Dr. Othman is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Heart Attack, Angina, Coronary Heart Disease, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), and Heart Bypass Surgery.

As a fellowship trained adult congenital heart disease specialist and Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Center at Duke, I take care of a wide spectrum of heart problems, spanning from simple shunt lesions like patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, to more complicated disorders, like tetralogy of Fallot, Ebstein anomaly, transposition of the great arteries and single ventricles. I collaborate with my colleagues in adult and pediatric medicine to provide comprehensive health services including complex cardiac interventions like catheter-based pulmonary valve implantation, closure of aortopulmonary collaterals and coarctation stenting. I am also skilled at the non-invasive and invasive assessment of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Congenital heart disease is my passion and I strive to educate my patients, their doctors and our fabulous trainees in order to improve everyone's awareness of these challenging conditions. My spare time is spent mostly at home with my wife and 2 teenage boys. I enjoy participating in and watching all types of major sports and also enjoy traveling. Dr. Krasuski is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Foramen Ovale, Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), Heart Transplant, and Thrombectomy.

I am a physician assistant at the outpatient cardiology clinic and have been in this position more than 15 years. I’m from Pennsylvania originally and initially had a job doing HIV research here at Duke. I discovered I enjoyed spending time in clinic more than research, so that led me to pursue the physicians assistant program. I enjoy helping patients and figuring out what they need—not only medically, but also socially. This includes supporting patients who need help paying for their medication or understanding their treatments and treatment options. Working through these issues can be very rewarding when patients come back and are clearly doing better. When patients thank me for helping them achieve or move closer to their health goals, I feel very happy. I have three young girls, so I spend a lot of time with them and outdoors. Dr. Povsic is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. Her top areas of expertise are Angina, Glucocorticoid-Remediable Aldosteronism, Hypertension, and Coronary Heart Disease.

Jonathan Piccini is a Cardiologist and a Cardiac Electrophysiologist in Morrisville, North Carolina. Dr. Piccini has been practicing medicine for over 24 years and is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Atrial Fibrillation, Ventricular Fibrillation, Ventricular Tachycardia, Cardiac Ablation, and Pacemaker Implantation.

I take care of patients with a variety of cardiology issues. Most commonly, I see patients with coronary artery disease, people who have had a heart attack, or those who have risk factors for heart disease and wish to seek preventative strategies. There is also a spectrum of patients, including those with congestive heart failure and heart rhythm problems, that I take care of as well. I try to be very patient and family-centric when interacting with patients. It is very important for me to connect with my patients and figure out what their priorities are and then match them with the treatments and technologies Duke Health has to offer. I understand what it is like to be on the other end of difficult news about heart disease and that helps me relate to patients and their families. Dr. Harrison is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Apoplexy, Atherectomy, and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI).

I am an interventional cardiologist and researcher who has been at Duke for nearly 20 years. I enjoy being at Duke because of the “family” I get to work with every day. When we are able to make a patient feel better through teamwork; it’s a great feeling. I chose cardiology as my specialty because of the chance to make a difference in someone’s life in real time. When someone is having a heart attack, they are relying on you to come to their aid quickly. At that moment, I get to apply science to save a life, while learning more about what we can do to help improve people’s lives in the future. In that way, medicine also gives me the chance to learn from my patients and apply what I find to benefit the greater good. I find that whole process is exciting. When I am not at work, I enjoy spending time with my school-aged children. Dr. Patel is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Peripheral Artery Disease, Atherosclerosis, Coronary Heart Disease, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), and Angioplasty.

I usually take care of two types of patients. One is patients with coronary artery disease who have blockages in the heart arteries. The other is peripheral artery disease with blockages in the leg arteries. I treat patients both in the clinic and in the hospital. In the hospital, I provide treatment opening these blockages with balloons and stents. Duke is unique because of its ability to provide innovative treatments to patients. A lot of places around the state and country can provide standard of care, and I think Duke does a really good job of offering that. But the thing that really sets Duke apart is the ability to go one step further and provide new treatments that may provide benefits that others can’t offer. I met a patient early in my training who really had no options for treatment. She had a blockage in a leg artery that we could not open with a balloon and stent. We injected her with cells under a research protocol, and she really experienced a tremendous benefit. We thought it would be short-lasting but we saw her back a couple of months ago and she’s still doing well. That really solidified my interest in doing research on these novel, innovative treatments to our patients. Dr. Schuyler is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Angina, Arterial Insufficiency, Peripheral Artery Disease, Arterial Embolism, and Atherectomy.

I am a pediatric cardiologist that specializes in pediatric cardiac imaging, fetal/prenatal cardiology and general outpatient cardiology. One of the privileges of my job is diagnosing children prenatally with congenital heart disease, identifying delivery and treatment plans, forming lasting relationships with their parents and later watching that child grow and flourish over time. I was born and raised in North Carolina, and I am happy to finally be back where I started. I currently live in Chapel Hill with my husband, who is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at UNC Health Care, and our two young daughters. In my time away from work, I enjoy yoga, Netflix and University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill basketball. Dr. Park is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. Her top areas of expertise are Aortic Valve Stenosis, Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Heart Murmurs, Patent Ductus Arteriosus, and Aortic Valve Replacement.

Christian Gring is a Cardiologist in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dr. Gring is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis. His top areas of expertise are Necrosis, Aortic Valve Stenosis, Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Arrhythmias, and Pacemaker Implantation. Dr. Gring is currently accepting new patients.