25 cardiology leadership appointments to know from Q1

Health systems, cardiology practices and medtech companies were active in adding cardiovascular leadership during the first quarter of the year.

Here are 25 cardiology leadership appointments to know, as reported by Becker’s in the first quarter of 2026: 

1. Lexington, Ky.-based UK HealthCare named Vedant Gupta, MD, director of the Gill Heart & Vascular Institute.
2. Roxana Mehran, MD, assumed the role of president of the American College of Cardiology.
3. Chicago-based University of Illinois College of Medicine appointed Adhir Shroff, MD, as interim chief of the division of cardiology.
4. San Francisco-based Braveheart Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company, appointed Emil deGoma, MD, as its chief medical officer.
5. Atlantis-based HCA Florida JFK Hospital named Cristian Baeza, MD, medical director of the Heart and Vascular Institute.
6. Field Medical, a medtech company improving care for complex cardiac arrhythmias, appointed Mark Turco, MD, as CEO.
7. Los Angeles -based Cedars Sinai appointed Susan Cheng, MD, as chair of the department of cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute.
8. New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst appointed Jonathan Marmur, MD, as chair of cardiology.
9. Little Rock, Ark.-based University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences appointed Srikanth Vallurupalli, MD, as director of the division of cardiovascular medicine.
10. Providence-based Rhode Island Hospital, part of Brown University Health, appointed Mark Cunningham, MD, as chief of cardiac surgery.
11. Jerry Estep, MD, division chair of Cardiovascular Medicine for Cleveland Clinic Florida, was named the inaugural endowed chair holder for the new Eric and Lois Zorn Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine.
12. Kevin Kwaku, MD, PhD, was appointed president of the Association of Black Cardiologists. 
13. New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center appointed three cardiac leaders.
14. University of California San Francisco named Johannes Kratz, MD, as the inaugural chief for the division of thoracic surgery. 
15. Vinay Badhwar, MD, executive chair of Morgantown, W. Va.-based WVU Medicine’s Heart and Vascular Institute, was appointed president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
16. Joseph Wu, MD, was named president of the American Association of University Cardiologists.
17. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Holy Cross Health expanded its cardiothoracic surgery program with the addition of two new physician leaders.
18.  Ameya Kulkarni, MD, was appointed as executive medical director of the Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. 
19. The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology named Jamieson Bourque, MD, as its president for 2026. 
20. Washington, D.C.-based Children’s National tapped Lillian Su, MD, as chief of cardiac critical care.
21. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center tapped Larry Markham, MD, to serve as director of its division of pediatric cardiology and co-director of the Pediatric Heart Institute at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital.
22. Coral Gables, Fla.-based Baptist Health South Florida appointed Marcos Nores, MD, as medical director for the Christine E. Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute at Boca Raton (Fla.) Regional Hospital.

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