Cardiac Imaging Core Lab

Paul A. Grayburn, MD, FACC, FASE

Medical Director

Paul A. Grayburn is the Director of Cardiology Research at Baylor Scott and White Research Institute, and Director of Noninvasive Cardiology at The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano. He received his M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1981. After an internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at St. Paul Medical Center/UT Southwestern in Dallas, Dr. Grayburn completed his Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology training at the University of Kentucky Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Anthony DeMaria. He, then, served as Chief of Cardiology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and as the Director of the Echocardiography Laboratories for UT Southwestern Medical Center where he advanced to Professor of Medicine. In septiembre 2002, Dr. Grayburn accepted the Paul Thomas Endowed Chair in Cardiology at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Grayburn has coauthored more than 400 articles in medical journals and 10 book chapters. He has participated in several multicenter trials that have changed our understanding and management of cardiovascular diseases. He is an expert in echocardiography and valvular heart diseases, a member of the editorial boards of multiple major scientific journals and currently an Associate Editor of JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, American Journal of Cardiology and Structural Heart Disease. Dr. Grayburn has been awarded the National Institutes of Health R01 and K24 Awards. The K24 grant is awarded for stellar track record of mentoring junior faculty members. Several of his former trainees now hold faculty positions at several institutions, including UCSF, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, UT Southwestern and Mid-America Heart Institute.

Dr. Grayburn's complete bibliography

Anna Sannino, MD, PhD, FASE

Scientific Director

Anna graduated in Medicine from the University Federico II of Naples, Italy in 2009. During her MD school years, Anna started her research pathway with an internship in the Cardiology Department of the University Federico II, under the mentorship of Prof. Giovanni Esposito and Prof. Massimo Chiariello. There, she spent the last 2 years of her MD course, working on basic research topics, focusing on uncoupling proteins and their role on cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction. This basic background has been invaluable for her subsequent growth both as a researcher and as a physician. After MD school, Anna successfully applied to the Cardiovascular Medicine Residency Program of the same University. During her residency years, Anna’s research interests shifted from basic to clinical cardiovascular issues. Anna was indeed fascinated by the capability of non-invasive diagnostic tools, imaging modalities such as ultrasound, CT and magnetic resonance, to detect cardiovascular disease with exceptional accuracy. Anna started working on aortic stenosis form either a pathophysiologic and clinical standpoint. Her passion for valvular heart disease has grown exponentially since then, and by the time she completed her residency program in Cardiovascular Medicine, Anna had already published a few papers on these topics. In 2015, Anna started her PhD and moved to Dallas to work with Paul A. Grayburn at the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Department of Cardiology. Under his mentorship, Anna expanded her knowledge on the patho-physiology of valvular heart disease, with a particular focus on mitral and tricuspid regurgitation. Her years in the US have represented a career lunch for Anna. She has been involved in the Cardiac Imaging Core Lab since the early 2019 and soon appointed as Scientific Director in enero 2020. In the meantime, Anna has also been pursuing her academic career and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiology of the University Federico II of Naples, Italy. Anna is a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography and a Nucleus Member of the Council on Valvular Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology. She is an active reviewer for the most important cardiology peer-reviewed international journals such as Circulation, JACC, JASE, American Journal of Cardiology, European Heart Journal and so forth. Anna serves as well, as Editorial Board Member of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.

Dr. Sannino's complete bibliography

Kristen Chionh, MS, RD, CCRC

Administrative Director

Kris is the Director of Cardiovascular Research at Baylor Scott and White Health. A seasoned Clinical Research professional with over 20 years’ experience in the field, Kris works closely with physician leadership to direct administrative, operational and financial support of the Echo Core Lab.

Kris is a graduate of Indiana University, where she earned her Masters in Applied Health Science. She launched her career in clinical research in 2001 as a research coordinator and quickly rose to the ranks of Supervisor, Manager and Director. She joined Baylor Scott and White Health in 2012 as Research Supervisor for Endocrine Center, where she gained a name for her extraordinary skills in team development, leadership and exceptional abilities in problem solving. Eventually Kris was promoted to the position of Director of the Dallas Clinical Trials Office in 2017, and in 2018, she became the Director of Cardiovascular Research. In her capacity as the Director, she has successfully led several industry-sponsored trials and academic projects.

Marsha Roberts, ACS, RCS, RDCS, FASE

Marsha Roberts graduated from the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Weber State University in 1990. She started her career working for a mobile echo company and was soon hired as a cardiac sonographer for Intermountain Healthcare, eventually becoming the Director of Echo and Vascular Services for all Intermountain hospitals across the state of Utah. In 2010 Marsha moved to Dallas, Texas and started her own consulting business, Inside Echo, LLC. She facilitates IAC accreditation for adult and pediatric echo labs, vascular labs, and vein centers across the nation. Additionally, Marsha works as a core lab research sonographer for Baylor Scott & White at The Heart Hospital in Plano. She loves working with sonographers, physicians and administrators to enhance quality, facilitate accreditation and advance cardiac research.

Marsha is an active member of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), serving on numerous committees. She has been an invited faculty member every year at the ASE Scientific Sessions since 2004, most recently speaking on sonographer career pathways. Marsha has volunteered for Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) since 2002 as a subject matter expert for the Registered Cardiac Sonography (RCS) exam, and is currently serving on CCI’s Executive Committee. In 2020 Marsha received the Weber State University Radiologic Sciences Award for Alumni of the Year.

In her leisure time, Marsha likes to travel with her husband and family. While traveling, they participate in outdoor activities including skiing, hiking, boating and scuba diving. Marsha is also an avid reader and enjoys spending time volunteering in her community.

Shabnam Pate, RDCS, RCS

Shabnam obtained her certification in cardiac ultrasound in 2003 and has stayed innovative and quality driven throughout her career. She joined Baylor as a PRN sonographer and rose quickly to lead the Non-Invasive Lab as its Technical Director. She is currently pursuing her Bachelors degree in both Biology and Business administration at the University of Texas at Dallas. She attends teaching education programs as well as visits different echocardiography labs across the nation to help them improve their contrast echocardiography.

Haji Mohammad, MS, MBBS, RDCS (AE, PE), RVT

Haji Mohammad graduated medical school from Jinnah Sindh Medical University in Karachi, Pakistan back in 1984. Upon graduating medical school, Haji completed an internship in both internal medicine and chest surgery. Haji eventually started his own internal medicine clinic where he treated patients.

After spending time as a physician in Pakistan, Haji decided to make the move to the United States. He started his journey in Longview, TX. Working at Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center, Haji focused on neonatal, pediatric, and adult cardiovascular sonography. He has been able to continue his sonography focus in Baylor Scott & White. He has been a part of the Baylor Scott & White system for nearly 14 years, with The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano since 2014.

Haji carries a Master’s degree in clinical Ultrasound from the University of Melbourne.

Kristie Faust Gomez, BS, ACS, RVT, RT(ARRT), FASE

Kristie Faust-Gomez has been a cardiac sonographer for over 20 years. She is currently the Outpatient Services Imaging department supervisor for Baylor Scott & White-The Heart Hospital in Plano Texas where she oversees cardiac and vascular ultrasound, CT, Cardiac Nuclear Imaging, and diagnostic radiology. Over the years Kristie has worked in various environments such as cardiology practices, outpatient clinics, structural heart centers, research, mobile sonography, and radiology. She has been a guest lecturer and assists in a cardiac sonography education program at her hospital.

Kristie is passionate about her profession focusing her efforts on quality improvement, research, and staff mentorship/education. She has many years of experience as the technical director of accredited echo labs. Kristie leads the imaging aspect of her hospital’s valve center, where they do TAVR, MitraClip and other advanced valve interventions. Kristie has been integral to the program which involves advanced echocardiographic and MDCT studies. She assists an international core laboratory with multiple clinical trials in valvular heart disease. She has initiated, organized, and managed a regional echocardiography symposium and has given lectures for her hospital’s fellows "boot camp." She is a teacher and leader within a large tertiary care healthcare system. Kristie is very involved in and oversees the youth cardiac screening program through her hospital and a non-profit organization to help bring awareness of sudden cardiac arrest in youth athletes. Kristie is also an active member of the American Society of Echocardiography and serves as a committee member.

Minnes Rosier, RDCS, RVT

With a nursing background and a fascination for Cardiology, Minnes began her career in Echocardiography in 1989. She received her cardiac ultrasound training through Presbyterian Healthcare System and a sonography internship at the University of Alabama in 1989. Minnes became a Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer in 1994 through the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. Her interest in Vascular Medicine drove her to cross-train to become a Registered Vascular Technician through ARDMS after a few years. Minnes is currently a multi-modality sonographer, with breadth of knowledge in both cardiac and vascular image analysis.

Preethi Ravindranathan, MS

Project Manager

With a Bachelors degree in Industrial Biotechnology and a Masters in Biotechnology, Preethi joined the research scene in 2008 in UT Southwestern Medical center, Dallas. There she focused on designing and evaluating drugs to treat advanced cancers. After many fruitful years and publications in several top-ranked journals including Cancer Discovery and Nature Communications, she joined Baylor Scott and White Health to manage a biomarker research lab. Here she was opened to the world of clinical research. Intrigued, she joined the Clinical Research team to soak herself in the regulatory and project-management aspects of clinical research. Her flair for project management landed her in the world-class Cardiovascular team in The Heart Hospital Plano. Preethi joined the Echo Core Lab in 2020 and quickly became integral to the team.

Channing Wells, BS

Research Assistant

Channing Wells received her Associates Degree through a Dual Credit program at her high school. She then received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Texas at Arlington, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biochemistry.