SALMAN ASHFAQ
MD FACC FSCAI
Dr. Salman Ashfaq (Dr. Ash) received his medical degree from King Edward Medical University. He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, where he was also selected to be Chief Resident. He completed his fellowship in Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. After completion of his training, Dr. Ashfaq worked as an Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the University of Kansas. He also served as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at the Robert J. Dole Veteran Affairs Medical Center and also was part of a busy private practice. Since 2010, Dr. Ashfaq has served the patients of North Atlanta and Northeast Georgia. Dr. Ashfaq has a special interest in the treatment and eradication of heart attacks. He also has special expertise in Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac and Vascular interventions including angioplasty stents, and atherectomy. Dr. Ashfaq has made several presentations at the American College of Cardiology Scientific sessions and also has authored numerous scientific publications and is a reviewer for renowned Cardiology journals. In addition to his passion for the care of heart patients, Dr. Ashfaq enjoys watching all kinds of sporting events, football, soccer and playing golf. Dr. Ashfaq has been awarded the prestigious Patient Choice Award in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018. He has been voted for Compassionate Doctor Award on numerous occasions. Dr. Ashfaq is also ranked as one of the top rated Cardiologists in Gainesville and Atlanta Metro area based on patient satisfaction surveys on HealthGrades, Vitals.com and WebMD.
SAURABH DHAWAN
MD FACC
Dr. Dhawan received his medical degree at Seth G. S. Medical College. He completed his Internal Medicine Internship at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then went on to complete an Internal Medicine Residency at University of Tennessee in Memphis. He then went on to complete a Post-doctoral Fellowship Vascular Biology and Atherosclerotic Plaque Imaging. He completed his Fellowship in Cardiology, Echocardiography, and Nuclear Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Dhawan is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Vascular Ultrasonography, Nuclear Cardiology and Echocardiography. He also has obtained special training in use and interpretation of Cardiac CT imaging. Dr. Dhawan has made several presentations at various national Cardiology conferences and also has authored numerous scientific publications. He is a member of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Dhawan has lived in the Atlanta Metro area since 2007. He enjoys running and watching cricket. Dr. Dhawan has been awarded the prestigious Patient Choice Award in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. He has also been voted for Compassionate Doctor Award 4 years in a row.
MASIH UDDIN
MD FACC
Dr. Masih Uddin received his medical degree from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India. He completed his Internal Iedicine residency from Coney Island Hospital in New York City in 1992. During that time, he was also selected as Chief Resident. He also received The Virginia Nash award for the outstanding resident of the year 1992. He completed his Cardiology Fellowship from Coney Island Hospital in New York City in 1995. He was also an ER attending physician for one year in the same hospital which was the busiest emergency center in the area including a level one trauma center. He moved to Athens in 1996 and has been a solo practitioner since then with privileges to Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital. Dr. Uddin joined Cardiovascular Clinic of North Georgia in the Summer of 2019 to be closer to his family. He will be practicing at Northside Gwinnett Medical Center and Northeast Georgia Medical Center. He will be seeing patients at the Lawrenceville and Braselton offices. He is Board Certified in Cardiology as well as Nuclear Cardiology. He specializes in Cardiac Catheterization, Stress Tests, including nuclear imaging and also PET Scans and Echocardiography. He is very well loved by his patients and takes great care in explaining to them their conditions. Asides to his cardiology profession, he played cricket in his medical school and was the captain of the team and toured all over India representing his medical school. He also was a playing coach for the UGA cricket team for almost 15 years. He also enjoys playing tennis at a high level.
SYED SHIRAZI
MD FACC
Dr. Syed Shirazi received his medical degree from King Edward Medical College. He then completed his internship at Grant Hospital in Chicago, Illinois and his residency at VAMC-Ohio State University in Dayton, Ohio. Since completing his cardiology fellowship training at Rush Medical School in Chicago, Illinois, he has advanced on with two Fellowships. One was focused on Cardiac catheterization and coronary angioplasty at Duke University VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina and the other in nuclear cardiology at the University of Chicago in Chicago , Illinois. Dr. Shirazi has an extensive background in teaching and academics and has served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Cardiology at Morehouse School of Medicine. Most recently , He worked form many years at the Piedmont Heart Institute. He practices consultative cardiology, cardiac catheterization and nuclear cardiology. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases an d Nuclear Cardiology. Dr. Shirazi is a Fellow of The American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, and a member of the Medical Association of Atlanta. Dr. Shirazi welcomes new patients and accepts most insurance plans. Dr Shirazi regularly volunteers for various International Healthcare Charity programs in his spare time.
VIVAK PATEL
MD
Dr. Patel received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia in 2009 with a degree in Microbiology. He received his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee, Georgia in 2014. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Florida in 2017. He then completed his Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship at the University of Kentucky in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2020 where he was also selected as Chief Fellow. He has also presented several abstract presentations at many national and regional conferences.
Dr. Patel was born and raised in greater Atlanta and currently resides in the area. He enjoys keeping up with all Georgia sports especially Braves baseball and University of Georgia football. He also enjoys traveling to different parts of the world in his spare time.
SALIL PATEL
MD
Dr. Salil Patel received his medical degree from The Ohio State University. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine from Emory University. He did his fellowship in Cardiology and Cardiac MRI at Emory University. He was a clinical instructor at Emory University. He has been practicing cardiology for 20 years and was the Chief of Medicine at Gwinnett Medical Center. He is very excited to join Cardiovascular Clinic of North Georgia. He has made several presentations at the annual conference for the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.
His special interests include preventive cardiology, hypertension, and cholesterol management. He has expertise in echocardiography (including transesophageal echocardiograms), nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT and cardiac MRI.
Dr Patel enjoys spending time with his wife and sons. He has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoys outdoor sports such as snow-skiing. Dr. Patel will be seeing patients at the Johns Creek office location and welcomes new patients.
Ashlyn Smith PA
PA-C
Ashlyn Smith is a nationally certified Physician Assistant who joined our practice in November 2020. She is a Georgia native and received her Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, GA. She later attended Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee, GA to complete her Master of Science in health sciences for physician assistant studies. She is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Ashlyn enjoys providing compassionate medical care, listening to the patients’ stories, and helping patients understand and become actively involved in the treatment process. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, watching sports, and spending time with her family.
Alexandra Duvall
PA-C
Alexandra is a Physician Assistant who has been practicing in northeast Georgia and western North Carolina since 2013. She joined the practice in July 2022. Prior to that her experience has been in family medicine and internal medicine, as well as moonlighting in hospital medicine at several critical access hospitals, nursing home and urgent care. She is a National Health Service Corps Scholar who studied to become a PA at East Carolina University, then moved to the mountains of Georgia, where she has made her home and her career for the last 9 years fulfilling her commitment to practice primary care in a health professional shortage area. Alexandra enjoys running, teaching her children to swim, hiking, yoga, and horseback riding. She grew up on a horse farm in rural North Carolina and remains an avid equestrienne, now sharing her passion for horses with her two children. She is also active in her local community, serving on the Board of Directors for Medlink, a non-profit community health center organization in northeast Georgia. She values evidence-based medication, cardiac disease prevention, lifestyle change and behavior modification and is passionate about improving access to healthcare and reducing health disparities in rural areas.
Sameer Ali
PA-C
Sameer Ali is a nationally certified physician assistant who joined the practice in May 2021. He is a Georgia native who received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Georgia State University. He continued his education in Jacksonville, FL where he completed the physician assistant program at Nova Southeastern University. He is a member of the American Association of Physician Assistants. Sameer has maintained a passion for cardiology since his days as a medical assistant and is always eager to learn and provide the best care. In his spare time, he likes to read, explore new places, learn about different cultures and languages, and spending time with friends and family.
Tooba Anwar
PA-C
Tooba Anwar is a nationally certified Physician Assistant who joined our practice in May 2023. She is a Georgia native and received her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from Georgia Gwinnett College. She received her Master of Science in Health Sciences in Physician Assistant studies from CUNY School of Medicine. She became interested in cardiology during her rotations in PA school. She enjoys interacting with patients and helping patients understand and become actively involved in the treatment process. In her free time she likes to travel, explore the outdoors, try new foods and spend time with friends and family.
Katherine Bond
PA-C
Katherine Bond is a Physician Assistant who joined the practice in August 2023. Prior to that she worked in the urgent care setting for four years both in northeast Georgia and New York City. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and completed her Master’s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. She is a member of the Phi Alpha National Honors Society for Physician Assistants. Katherine enjoys going on medical mission trips in medically underserved parts of the world and has traveled to Ukraine, India, and Eswatini to practice medicine. In her free time, she likes to read mysteries, travel to Disney World, and do anything that involves spending time with her family.