Dr. Chowdhury H. Ahsan

A native of Bangladesh, Dr. Ahsan received his medical degree from Dhaka Medical College and was awarded the Gold Medal in Medicine. He received the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship and completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology/General Medicine at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom for his research on the ethnic variation of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of calcium channel blockers. Dr. Ahsan completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and did his Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, and Interventional Cardiology. He was awarded the Young Investigators’ Award by the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology in 2001, and American Society of Echocardiography in 2004. He was Associate Professor and the Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center before joining Nevada Heart & Vascular Center. Dr. Ahsan has recently been appointed as Clinical Professor of Medicine by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine (UNLV), and is currently the Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories and Cardiovascular Research at the University Medical Center (UMC). Under his leadership, the Cardiology Fellowship program of UNLV Medicine at University Medical Center, Nevada Heart and Vascular Center and VA Medical Center has been started since July 1, 2014. Dr. Ahsan is the Director of this Cardiology Fellowship Program. This is a significant achievement for the state of Nevada and Las Vegas community to bring academia in Nevada and overall quality of care to the higher level as this is the only cardiology fellowship program in the state.

Dr. Ahsan started work for the community when he was a student. He contributed significantly for the establishment of Shandhani, a voluntary organization of the medical and dental students of Bangladesh to promote blood donation and posthumous eye donation. He became the Secretary General of this organization. He did a collaborative research work between Southampton University, UK and local cardiovascular institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh when he was a student at Southampton. As a cardiologist, he started undertaking the mission of helping and growing a major teaching hospital in cardiovascular care in Bangladesh.

Dr. Ahsan takes special interest in building Cardiovascular Interventional clinics and research programs in developing countries, and has led teams of U.S. Physicians, Technologists and Nurses to exchange work experiences there. He makes these trips on his vacation time and has taken cardiologists, nurses, cardiac cath lab technical personnel, and cardiovascular surgeons to do workshops, lectures, and hands-on training. He has championed the cause of treating acute coronary syndrome patients early and for the better outcomes. He has done workshops, lectures, and symposiums in institutions like National Heart Foundation, Ibrahim Cardiac Center, Dhaka, Bangladesh and has played a key role in transfer of technology in cardiovascular care. His most recent work was a collaborative educational review course in Cardiology at the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has worked promoting public awareness and better outcomes in the developing countries. He is in the editorial board of the journal of World Heart Federation, Global Heart.

Dr. Ahsan has done several community programs to make people aware of cardiovascular care. He has done this in Orange County, California, when he was a faculty at the University of California, and also in Las Vegas. This year, he volunteered to make the seniors aware of cardiovascular care in the initiative taken by Las Vegas.

He was awarded the prestigious Las Vegas HEALS award for his services to the community. He is named in Who’s Who and is also listed in World Leaders in Medicine. He is an Honoree of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society for his leadership and contribution in Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Ahsan has recently been elected the Governor of the Nevada Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.

"Planetary Health Academia is an initiative to bring together all in the healthcare field under one platform with one common goal and that is to advance healthcare in Bangladesh. Many of us are working outside the country but we all yearn to be part of the task to promote healthcare education, research and hands-on training side by side with our friends and colleagues working in the country. Collaborative efforts and togetherness in the healthcare field can make all the difference in terms of better patient outcomes. We all want to see that there is access to healthcare for everyone everywhere, we need to understand that there should be a system of care in place and there should also be an oversight, for accountability in healthcare and it is no less important to make sure the standard of care can be delivered at an affordable cost. PHA is committed to make all the efforts to bring the academic physicians, educators, specialists so that we can see a significant advancement in the healthcare field. PHA is initiating programs for training our young physicians, organizing educational sessions in collaboration with lead physicians of the country and attracting medical students to different career pathways."