Greater Kansas City Echo Society Annual Symposium

Andrew Waters, MD 

Andrew Waters, MD, FACC, RPVI, is a Board-certified non-invasive cardiologist who also specializes in heart failure. He earned his medical degree from Saba University School of Medicine in the Caribbean Netherlands. He went on to complete a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In addition to Board certifications in cardiovascular disease and internal medicine, Dr. Waters also holds specialized certifications in echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT and peripheral vascular disease. Additionally, he is a Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation (RPVI), signifying that he meets the highest standard in vascular ultrasound interpretation.

Dr. Waters is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and he is fluent in Spanish.

Daniel Forsha, MD

Daniel Forsha, MD:

Director, Cardiovascular Imaging Research; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine.

His areas of interest include Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiac Imaging Techniques, Cardiac Mechanics, Cardiac Research, Echocardiography.

He received his medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Aurora, CO.  Completed his Residency in Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center

Durham, NC.  Completed his Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology, Duke University Medical Center. 

Taiyeb  Khumri, MD 

Dr. Taiyeb Khumri was born and raised in Ahmedabad, India. He completed his training in Internal Medicine, Adult Cardiology, Advanced Heart Failure, Cardiac Transplantation, and Cardiac Pacing at University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC). 

He joined Saint Luke's Cardiovascular Consultants in January of 2011. His primary field of interest is heart failure and cardiac transplantation. He holds an academic title with the University of Missouri at Kansas City and works closely with the general cardiology and advanced heart failure fellows training at UMKC.

Yevgeniy Khariton, MD

Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology Fellowship, UMKC/Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, MO 

Sanjaya  Gupta, MD 

Dr. Sanjaya Gupta was born and raised in Missouri and attended medical school at St. Louis University. He completed internal medicine internship and residency at Case Medical Center, in Cleveland and fellowships in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dr. Gupta is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. His primary clinical interests are in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders, including medical therapy, catheter-based ablation procedures and cardiac device implantation including pacemaker, defibrillator and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices. He joined the staff at Saint Luke's Hospital in 2011. 

Sanket Shah, MD

Dr. Shah is a board certified cardiologist with Children’s Mercy hospital specializing in Pediatric cardiology as well as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  He graduated medical school at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, India.  He went on to perform his Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Michigan - CS Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI.

Partho Sengupta, MD

Our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Sengupta is the Henry Rutgers Professor and the Chief of Division of Cardiology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School & University Hospital.

Dr. Sengupta completed his clinical residency and cardiology fellowship from Mayo Clinic Rochester and Arizona respectively. He has over 160 peer-reviewed publications.

Prior to his move in Rutgers , he served as Abinash C Jain Chair and Professor of Cardiology and the Chief of Division of Cardiology and Director of Cardiac Imaging at West Virginia University, Morgantown. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of American College of cardiology: Imaging and has served as a Board of Director for the American Society of Echo and as the Chair of the ASE Telehealth and New Technology Taskforce.

He has won several excellence awards including ASE's Young Investigator Award in 2004, Mayo Clinic Research Award in 2007, Mayo Brother's Distinguished Fellowship Award in 2009, AACIO Young Investigator Award in 2010 and ASE's Rich Popp Award for excellence in Teaching in 2020. He also received ASE's 14th Feigenbaum Lectureship for recognizing his significant contributions to research in the field of echocardiography. He delivered ASE’s first-ever presentation using hologram technology at ASE's 24th Annual Scientific Sessions . His futuristic ideas, investigative skills and international work have been widely acclaimed by major media outlets and he was an invited stage speaker for TEDMED 2016. He has been nominated by the American Medical Association for "Inspiration in Medicine" talk for the year 2017. 

Nitin Madan, MD

Dr. Madan (Children’s Mercy Hospital) is the Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine.  His areas of interest include: Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Imaging Techniques.  He obtained his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, India.  He did his Residency in Pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH and his Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY.  He is certified in Pediatrics & Pediatric Cardiology

Will Gibson, MD

Dr. Gibson is the Surgical Director, Cardiac Transplantation; Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine

His areas of Interest include: Cardiovascular Surgery, Congenital Heart Surgery, Cardiac Surgical Procedures

Dr. Gibson obtained his medical degree:

DO, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences Kansas City, MO

He completed his Residency in General Surgery, University of Kansas Medical Center Kansas City, KS.

Thoracic Surgery, University of Kansas Medical Center Kansas City, KS.

He completed his Fellowship in Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Emory University/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

He is certified in General Surgery, American Board of Surgery and Thoracic Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery

Chris DeZorzi, MD

Dr. DeZorzi is a third year Cardiology Fellow also serving as Chief Fellow.

He attended medical school at Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE.

He performed his Residency at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Awards/Accomplishments: Recipient of the Francois M. Abboud Internal Medicine Resident Award; Winner of moderated poster session at the European Society of Cardiology Congress; President of Medical School Government; Chief Fellow

Angel Lopez-Candales, MD

Dr. Angel Lopez-Candales MD, FACC, FASE is a Cardiovascular Disease specialist in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated with honors from University of Puerto Rico School Of Medicine. He completed his Fellowship at Washington University - Barnes-Jewish Hospital.  Having more than 35 years of diverse experience, especially in Cardiovascular Disease, Congenital Heart Disease, Echocardiography, Non-invasive Cardiology and preventative Cardiology.

Bashar Amr, MD

Dr. Amr received his medical degree from the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, in 2009. In 2016, he completed an internal medicine residency at Southern Illinois University, Springfield, Illinois, and finished his cardiology fellowship in 2019 at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas. 

Timothy Beaver, MD

Dr. Timothy Beaver is a sports cardiologist and the medical director of the adult echocardiography laboratory at The University of Kansas Health System. His specialties include cardiovascular disease, sports cardiology, interventional echocardiography, valvular heart disease and general cardiology. He is an expert in noninvasive, multimodality cardiovascular imaging in young adult competitive athletes. Dr. Beaver is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American Heart Association, the American Society of Echocardiography and the American College of Sports Medicine. Dr. Beaver earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed his residency and a fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine with a sub certification in cardiovascular disease. 

Kristen Billick, BA, RDCS, ACS, FASE

Kristen Billick has been a cardiac sonographer for 18 years. She is currently the Echo

Lab Manager for the Scripps Clinic and Scripps La Jolla Memorial and Green Hospitals Echo Lab in La Jolla, CA,

where she was previously the Echo Lab Educator. Kristen started her career at Rush University Medical Center in

Chicago, IL where she performed adult and pediatric echo. Over the years Kristen has worked in various settings,

to include inpatient academic, outpatient clinic, structural heart, pediatric, research, consulting, and veterinary

imaging. She has been a guest lecturer and has co-authored articles.

Kristen is passionate about quality improvement and assurance, process improvement, and supporting

sonographer education and career growth. She is very involved in the American Society of Echo where she serves

as the Co-Chair of the PR Committee and a Member at Large on the IRT Committee. She is also a recent graduate of

the inaugural ASE Leadership Academy, severed as a Member at Large on the ASE CV Sonographer Council Steering

Committee and the ASE Foundation Annual Appeal Committee. She participates in the ASE Mentor Match program,

participated in the ASE Leadership Academy Task Force for the 2nd cohort, and contributed to the ASE/CCI

Advanced Cardiac Sonographer Registry Review Guide Project Team. Kristen also is very involved in co-organizing

the San Diego Society of Echo and serves on the CCI Advisory Board.