In 1979, Dr. M. Tariq Vakani received his M.B.B.S from Dow Medical College in Pakistan. He has practiced in the U.K., U.S.A., and Canada. He has an interest in primary and secondary prevention of heart disease and heart failure, and coronary heart disease management.
Over the years, he’s achieved multiple professional memberships including the Royal College of Physicians in the U.K. and Canada, the General Medical Council in the U.K., the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and, most recently in 2008, the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Vakani’s research background is solid. He has participated in multiple research studies like the Discovery Trial, the SURGE Registry, and the landmark HOPE trial, which attempted to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in at-risk patients. Dr. Vakani remains active in his mission to educate family doctors about proper cardiac care, regularly giving presentations on related topics such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and primary and secondary prevention of heart disease. He’s also spoken at a wide range of events, such as Novartis Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. and Merck Pharmaceuticals in Canada.
Dr. Asim N. Cheema, MD, PhD, FRCP(C)
Dr. Asim N. Cheema is an experienced general and interventional cardiologist. He graduated from Nishtar Medical College in Pakistan, received a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Toronto and a Master in Health Care Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
He is a diplomat of the American Board in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases and Interventional Cardiology, and holds specialty certifications in Internal Medicine and Cardiology from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. In addition to management of patients with atherosclerotic and valvular heart disease, he specializes in cardiac interventions for complex coronary, valvular and structural heart disease including mitral and aortic valvuloplasty, atrial septal defect/PFO/PDA closure, stenting for aortic coarctation and percutaneous valve implantations for aortic stenosis. He is an associate professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, adjunct professor of Mechanical and Robotic Engineering at Ryerson University and is the director of the Interventional Cardiology fellowship program at St. Michael’s Hospital, university of Toronto.
His main focus of research is adjunctive pharmacology, transradial PCI, transcatheter aortic valve replacement and development of robotic systems for cardiac intervention. He supervises graduate students at the Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto and the Department of Mechanical and Robotic Engineering, Ryerson University.
