Meet Our Physicians

The Harden Memorial Heart Program team includes world class physicians using the state-of-the-art technologies to deliver exceptional patient care.

Meet Our Heart Specialists

Timothy Albert, MD, FACC
Dr. Albert is a cardiologist sub-specializing in cardiovascular imaging and preventive cardiology.  He has trained at the University of California (San Francisco), University of Washington (Seattle), and Duke University where he completed an adult cardiology fellowship and advanced training in cardiac imaging.  Dr. Albert has been the primary author or co-author of more than a dozen review articles, book chapters, and original scientific publications in the area of cardiac imaging, and has spoken on topics related to cardiac MRI and CT both nationally and internationally.  His professional interests are in the use of advanced cardiac imaging for early coronary artery disease detection (prevention), myocardial infarct imaging, and in the development and implementation of new cardiovascular imaging services and image management systems.

Dr. Albert currently holds the position of Clinical Cardiologist with Central Coast Cardiology in Salinas and is an Assistant Consulting Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Duke University.  He currently sees general cardiology patients, patients interested in preventive cardiology evaluations, and patients with unique cardiac imaging needs.

Vincent DeFilippi, MD, FACS
Dr. DeFilippi is the Medical Director of the Stanford Cardiac Surgery Program at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. He has performed more than 3,000 open heart procedures and has received numerous awards and recognition during his career, including being selected as a Top Doc in the state by New Jersey Monthly magazine and being listed among America's Top Surgeons. In recent years, Dr. DeFilippi has consistently attained high cardiac surgical survival rates for coronary artery bypass graft surgery despite a highly acute population, performing many of these without the use of a heart lung machine. These results demonstrate Dr. DeFilippi's commitment to excellence in cardiac surgery and his determination to attain the highest standards of care and outcomes for some of our most acutely ill patients. Dr. DeFilippi is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford. He and his family are full time residents of Monterey County.

Dr. DeFilippi is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he completed his undergraduate studies. Upon completing his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. DeFilippi went on to complete his general surgery residency and research fellowship at The University of Chicago / Pritzker School of Medicine. After earning his appointment as chief surgical resident, he completed his cardiac and thoracic surgery training at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and Memorial- Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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Joseph Garvin, MD
Dr. Garvin received his MD degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at St. Louis University Hospital. A Harvard University-Thorndike Heart Cath Lab fellow, Dr. Garvin completed his training at Boston City Hospital. He served as chief of cardiology at Silas B. Hays Hospital at Fort Ord from 1964 to 1966. He is board certified in internal medicine with a subspecialty in cardiology. Dr. Garvin is a member of the Critical Care Committee at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and Monterey County Medical Society. He has resided and had an active medical practice in Salinas since 1966.

Richard Gerber, MD, FACC
A graduate of Emory University, Atlanta, Dr. Gerber received his MD degree from the Chicago Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine through New York University at the New York Veterans Administration Medical Center. From 1989 to 1990, Dr. Gerber was chief medical resident at the New York Veterans Administration Medical Center in New York City. From 1990 to 1993, he completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease, PTCA and coronary intervention. Dr. Gerber is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and in 1993, he was named an Eli Lilly Critical Care Scholar. He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography and the Monterey County Medical Society. Dr. Gerber is an attending physician at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

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Jerry Ginsburg, MD, FACC
Board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, critical care, geriatrics and rheumatology, Dr. Ginsburg is the former chief of the Departments of Medicine and Cardiology at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, he holds a MD degree from the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency through the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center and a fellowship in cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. In private practice in Salinas as an invasive cardiologist and rheumatologist since 1987, Dr. Ginsburg is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and a fellow with the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Rheumatology, the American College of Physicians and the Clinical Council of the American Heart Association. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the Monterey County Medical Society.

Harlan Grogin, MD, FACC
Graduating magna cum laude with honors in chemistry from Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, Dr. Grogin received his MD degree from New York University School of Medicine in 1985. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis. He was a cardiology fellow at Stanford University Medical Center and a fellow in electrophysiology at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1991, Dr. Grogin received a Hewlett Packard Cardiology Fellow Award for Excellence in Clinical Cardiology. Prior to coming to Salinas in 1995, he was an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut. He is a member of the clinical faculty at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Upon joining the staff at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital he led the development of the electrophysiology program. He is a member of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. Due to his clinical expertise, Dr. Grogin participates in the Heart Center's clinical training program as a teaching physician on pacemaker and ICD implant techniques and he is a participant in clinical trials involving electrophysiology.

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Stanley Hwang, MD, FACC, FRCP, JD
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University with a degree in physics, Dr. Hwang earned a law degree from Yale University Law School before entering the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He completed an internship and a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Hwang's professional experience includes work in the Adult Cardiology Clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles and research in heart failure in the laboratories of Alan Maisel, MD at the University of California, San Diego Division of Cardiology. He is an attending cardiologist at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and has a private practice. He is board certified in cardiovascular disease and is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Taylor I. Liu, MD, PhD
Dr. Liu earned his medical degree and a PhD in neurosciences from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency, general cardiology fellowship and cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Liu is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Immediately prior to joining the medical staff and Electrophysiology Program of Salinas Valley Memorial and Central Coast Cardiology in 2008, Dr. Liu was a hospitalist with Neighborhood Healthcare in Escondido, California. Among many awards, he is the recipient of the 2007 Shulman Award for Excellence in Cardiology Research from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Liu led research projects and has authored or coauthored articles and abstracts primarily in the area of cardiac electrophysiology.

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Thomas Mustoe, MD, FACC
An honors graduate in biochemical sciences from Harvard University, Mustoe attended medical school at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He completed an internship at Barnes Hospital/ Washington University at St. Louis and a residency at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, where he also was chief resident in internal medicine. Mustoe completed a fellowship in cardiology at Stanford University Medical Center. An attending cardiologist and internist at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Dr. Mustoe is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and holds a subspecialty certification in cardiovascular disease and in interventional cardiology. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Mustoe has a private medical practice in Salinas.

Christopher C. Oh, MD
Dr. Oh earned his MD degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1995 and completed an internal medicine internship at Oregon's Legacy Portland Hospitals. Following an internal medicine residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center, he completed a cardiovascular disease fellowship at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco. During a cardiovascular disease fellowship at Loma Linda University Medical Center, he was honored as chief cardiology fellow. Prior to joining the staff of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and a private cardiology practice in Salinas in 2002, Dr. Oh was director of the cardiovascular laboratory and a staff cardiologist at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center, Loma Linda, California. Dr. Oh is board certified by the American Board of Internal Cardiovascular Subspecialties, the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Board of Nuclear Cardiology.

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John Schatz, MD, FACC, FSCAI
A graduate of Bates College in Maine and Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, Dr. Schatz completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia. He completed a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Jefferson Medical College and Hospital, also in Philadelphia. Dr. Schatz is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and an assistant professor of ambulatory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He was an assistant attending physician at Harlem Hospital in New York City, served as a clinical cardiologist at Silas B. Hays Army Hospital, and was a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, New York City. Dr. Schatz is a member of the staff at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and is the Chief of Cardiology at Natividad Medical Center. He is board certified in interventional cardiology.

Pir Shah, MD, FACC
Dr. Shah completed fellowships in interventional cardiology and regular cardiology at Stanford University School of Medicine and at Sequoia Hospital, Redwood City, after receiving his undergraduate and graduate training in Pakistan. He completed an internship in medicine/surgery at Khyber Teaching and Government Lady Reading Hospitals in Pakistan. He also served as a chief medical resident at VA Hines/Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois. Dr. Shah is the recipient of a Hewlett Packard Award of Clinical Excellence and an "Evelyn L. Neizer" Fellowship Award from the Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Shah served as a medical officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the 1981 war between Russia and Afghanistan. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine subspecialty of cardiovascular disease and the American Board of Interventional Cardiology, and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He is also a clinical assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) at Stanford University Medical Center. He has had a private practice in Monterey County since 1993.

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Robert Wlodarczyk, DO
Dr. Wlodarczyk earned degrees in zoology and microbiology before entering the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine where he also completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiovascular disease. Prior to medical school, Wlodarczyk was a bacteriologist with the City of Chicago Department of Public Health and a virologist with the Municipal Contagious Disease Hospital in Chicago. In 1985, Wlodarczyk established a private practice in internal medicine and cardiology in Chicago and was the director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at South Chicago Community Hospital. On the staff of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital since 1994, Wlodarczyk is a member of the American Osteopathic Association, the North American Society for Pacing and Electrophysiology, the International Society of Endovascular Surgeons, the Monterey County Medical Society and the California Medical Association. In addition to English, Wlodarczyk is fluent in Polish and Spanish.

Wendel Yee, MD, MSc, PhD, FACC
Prior to entering medical school at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Yee was trained in molecular and developmental genetics. He served as a research assistant and lecturer in developmental genetics at UC Davis, specializing in avian development. In 1982, Yee received a medical doctorate from that university and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed a fellowship in general cardiology at Stanford University Medical Center and another in coronary angioplasty with Valley Cardiovascular Consultants & Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Dr. Yee is the recipient of the Lemmon Company Award for Medical Scholastics and the Heineman Prize for Pulmonary Medicine, as well as two William James Foundation Fellowships. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi and a fellow in the American Heart Association's Council on Clinical Cardiology and the American College of Cardiology. He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases. His private medical practice is in Salinas.

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Patrik Zetterlund, MD, FACC
Dr. Zetterlund earned a medical doctorate from the American University of the Caribbean in Montserrat after completing undergraduate study in biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis, followed by a fellowship in cardiology at Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center, San Francisco and a fellowship in interventional cardiology at Sequoia Hospital, Redwood City. Dr. Zetterlund helped establish the clinical research program at the Heart Center and has been a principal investigator in more than 30 clinical trials for coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease including carotid stenting. He also directs a clinical training program for visiting physicians from around the country on hands-on vascular treatments in the cath labs. Dr. Zetterlund is a diplomate of the American Board of Cardiovascular Disease and the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association. Zetterlund has been in private medical practice in Salinas since 1994.

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