The division with the most fellowship training programs kicked off the department’s graduation season from the second floor of the Hilton Garden Inn in Iowa City. Graduates, faculty, staff, and family and friends of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine filled the room as well as their plates from the many options on the buffet.
After an hour, Ferhaan Ahmad, MD, PhD, program director of the cardiovascular disease fellowship program took the podium to serve as emcee for the evening. Ahmad made brief remarks congratulating all the graduates and welcoming their family and friends on this important occasion. He then invited a series of faculty members to present a variety of awards, given annually and named for noteworthy individuals who have had outsized impacts on the division.
After Tami Kluth, RN, received the Pesek Humanitarian Award from Christopher Benson, MD, she also received a bouquet of flowers from Pat Suskaranjit, MD, MS, in honor of Kuth’s retirement and to thank her for her many years of irreplaceable service to the division. He presented a similar bouquet to VA clinic manager Diane Baker, whom many of the fellows credited with their successful first-year transition.
Then the graduates themselves received their due accolades with a moment to thank family, faculty, and staff for their support through the years of training.
The last diploma handed out meant a conclusion to the formal events of the evening. Then it was time for group photos and then a reconvene on the top floor of the hotel for some after-event community.
Congratulations to this year’s graduates and thanks to Cari Harland and her team for organizing the successful event.
Cardiovascular Disease
Adil Hassan, MD
Matthew Jergenson, MD
Boniface Malangu, MD, MS
Mohammed Mhanna, MD, MPH
William Parker, MD
Jared Robl, MD
Sinan Sayood, MD, MSEE
Interventional Cardiology
Milan Ravishankar, MD
Farhad Sami, MBBS
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
Carlos Varas, DO
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology
Krishna Gajula, MBBS
Advanced Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging
Mubariz Hassan, MBBS