Heart Attack & Intervention

Dr. Emmanouil S. Brilakis is Director of the Center for Complex Coronary Interventions at the Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute and Chairman of the Center for Coronary Artery Disease at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

After graduating from Lycée Léonin de Patissia, Dr. Brilakis earned his medical degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. He completed training in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and interventional cardiology at the Mayo Clinic, where he also earned a Master’s in Clinical Research. He later obtained a PhD in Clinical Research from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. From 2004 to 2016, he served as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at the VA North Texas Health Care System and was a faculty member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School from 2004 to 2018.

Dr. Brilakis leads a robust clinical research program focused on chronic total occlusion interventions, prevention and treatment of saphenous vein graft disease, lipid‑lowering therapies, management of procedural complications, intracoronary imaging, optimization of antiplatelet therapy following coronary stenting, and radiation safety in the catheterization laboratory. He has authored or co‑authored more than 600 peer‑reviewed manuscripts and is the author of The Manual of CTO Interventions (now in its third edition) and The Manual of PCI. He also created the Manual of CTO Interventions and Manual of PCI YouTube series.

Dr. Brilakis serves on the board of the Cardiovascular Innovations Foundation, is an Associate Editor for Circulation, and sits on the editorial boards of multiple journals and grant review committees. He is also an active international lecturer and procedural proctor. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), the American Heart Association (FAHA), the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (FSCAI).

Dr. Yader Sandoval is an interventional cardiologist with the Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute, and serves as Co‑Chairman for the Center for Coronary Artery Disease at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. He also holds the position of Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Dr. Sandoval is a physician‑investigator focused on the diagnosis and management of patients with acute and chronic coronary syndromes and complex percutaneous coronary interventions. He has expertise in coronary artery disease, including coronary physiology, coronary imaging, coronary revascularization, and cardiac biomarkers. He has authored more than 300 peer‑reviewed manuscripts, with publications in The Lancet, JAMA, JACC, and Circulation. He served on the Writing Committee for the 2025 AHA/ACC ACS Guidelines and has held leadership roles such as Chair of the SCAI/SCCT Scientific Roundtable on Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography to Guide Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Co‑Chair of the 2024 SCAI Expert Consensus Statement on the Management of Patients with STEMI Referred for Primary PCI. He is also a member of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC C‑CB) Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Bio‑Markers.

Additionally, Dr. Sandoval has served on the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Interventional Section Leadership Council and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Ischemic Heart Disease Council. A dedicated educator, he was selected for the 2022 ACC Emerging Faculty Leadership Academy and previously received the Mayo Clinic Interventional Cardiology Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Sandoval is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (FSCAI), and the European Society of Cardiology (FESC).

Dr. Burke is an interventional cardiologist at the Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute and has been practicing since 1995. For 15 years, Dr. Burke was also the director of cardiovascular emergency services and of cardiovascular operations at the Minneapolis Heart Institute where he also co-directs the Chronic Total Occlusion and Complex High Risk Indicated Procedures (CHIP) Program. Dr. Burke specializes in interventional cardiology, including the treatment of chronically totally occluded arteries and cardiovascular emergencies, particularly myocardial infarctions (heart attacks).

Michaella Alexandrou, MD, joined the MHIF Center of Coronary Artery Disease as the Sens Senior International Scholar in March 2023 from Athens, Greece. She obtained her MD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2022. In her role as an MHIF CCAD Scholar, Michaella will work on various CCAD IIS projects, including REBIRTH, NASA, PROGRESS-CTO, CARE-CTO, PROGRESS Bifurcations, PROGRESS Complications and others.

In 2019, Michaella was awarded the Priscilla M. Clarkson Student Travel Award from the American College of Sports Medicine and presented her work at the Annual Meeting of ACSM in Orlando, Florida. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michaella took an elective placement at the Pathological Clinic of Greece’s main hospital, Sotiria Hospital, answering their call for volunteers. Additionally, she was actively involved in a research group regarding the outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients belonging to racial minorities at Evangelismos Hospital, one of the largest public hospitals in Greece.

As a medical student, Michaella was also an Officer of Human Rights and Peace on the Hellenic Medical Students International Committee, and obtained a Stavros Niarchos Foundation scholarship for a Minor in International and European Affairs at the American College of Greece in Athens, through which she was able to explore her interests in vital questions about power, human rights, war and peace.

Pedro E.P. Carvalho, MD joined the Center of Coronary Artery Disease as MHIF's inaugural Raymond Ames and Barbara Thorndike International Scholar. In his role, Dr. Carvalho will support expansion of CCAD research to the areas of intracoronary imaging, coronary physiology, microvascular disease and CT guided PCI, in addition to the existing body of research studies.

Originally from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Pedro graduated from medical school in December 2023 and received his MD from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. During medical school, he worked as a research assistant at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, contributing to research groups focused on improving outcomes in patients with rheumatic heart disease.

Pedro has published both as first and contributing author systematic review and meta-analysis projects in leading cardiology journals such as JACC, IJC and CCI, as well as presented at ACC Latin America, European Society of Cardiology, and other local congresses in Brazil. Additionally, he has experience as an instructor for statistical methods in meta-analysis through an online course attended by students from more than 40 countries.

Dr. Goessl is the Director of Transcatheter Valve Therapies at Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute, having joined in 2016 from Dean Clinic, Madison WI where his was the director of the structural heart disease program and a clinical adjunct assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He was previously an assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Goessl has authored, or co-authored, more than 100 published manuscripts and book chapters, and is a national and international speaker in the areas of valvular and coronary heart disease.

Dr. Goessl’s special interest is structural heart interventions, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR), MitraClip, transcatheter tricuspid valve repair, left atrial appendage closure (Watchman), ASD/PFO closure and other similar therapies.

Olga joined our team as a Research Associate in October 2021, and now supports the CCAD team as a Clinical Research Coordinator l. In her role, she works on various CCAD IIS projects, including REBIRTH, PROGRESS-CTO, PROGRESS Bifurcations, PROGRESS Complications and more.

Prior to MHIF, Olga spent four years as a research analyst at the Minnesota Department of Health. More recently, she was part of an ad-hoc team that interviewed and monitored healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19, led a team of interviewers and conducted quality checks of the database. Olga has a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, and is looking forward to expanding her experience in cardiovascular research and pursuing graduate school in the future.

Coco serves as a Clinical Research Manager on the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation’s Center for Coronary Artery Disease team, bringing over 10 years of clinical research experience, most recently in the oncology space. She has a strong track record in clinical operations and a creative spirit, paired with a passion for leadership that informs her approach to work. Her expertise in regulatory compliance, budgeting, quality assurance, and team mentorship will be significant assets as the team continues making a difference together.

Coco is highly skilled at building strong partnerships, driving collaboration, and supporting and inspiring those around her. She studied public health and biology and received her BA in biology from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Rangan joined the MHIF team as program director for the Center for Coronary Artery Disease (CCAD) in October 2018. Dr. Rangan focuses on expanding and enabling the vision of the CCAD Science Center developing MHIF’s investigator-initiated research portfolio of studies and funding, and mentoring the CCAD international scholars. Dr. Rangan is also the global director for the PROGRESS-CTO global multi-center registry on chronic total occlusions, which is a significant and expansive endeavor involving more than 50 participating centers globally, and includes >7000 CTO PCI procedures. Also, as a program director, Dr. Rangan serves on the MHIF Blueprint leadership group dedicated to enabling MHIF’s growth and strategies.

Dr. Rangan is originally from Bangalore, India, and received her dental degree at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, VS Dental College and Hospital. Drawn by the opportunity to pursue a career in clinical research, she completed her Master of Public Health in Clinical Research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health. Subsequently, Dr. Rangan built a strong background in clinical research in dentistry, rheumatology and cardiology primarily within the VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTCHS) and University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW)Medical School. She began working with Dr. Emmanouil Brilakis in 2007 at UTSW and VANTHCS in progressive roles including director of research operations and faculty associate, leading to principal investigator on the LAVA registry and national coordinator on several trials, including the VA CSP#571 Drug-Eluting Stents in Saphenous Vein Graft Angioplasty (DIVA) trial, the Crossboss First Trial, ASAP-SVG Trial, among other projects, funded by VA, NIH, industry and philanthropy.  Dr. Rangan’s research expertise has been in saphenous vein graft disease, chronic total occlusions, intravascular imaging and investigational drug and device trials.

Dr. Rangan has also served as a board member and reviewer on the VA North Texas Health Care System Institutional Review Board between 2012 to 2018 and received the VA’s Outstanding Cardiology Research Achievement Award in 2013. She is well published and has been recognized as a leader in research administration and implementation.

Dimitrios (Dimitri) Strepkos, MD joined the Center of Coronary Artery Disease as an International Research Scholar. In his role, Dimitri will work on various CCAD IIS projects, including REBIRTH, NASA, PROGRESS-CTO, CARE-CTO, PROGRESS Bifurcations, PROGRESS Complications, among others.

Dr. Strepkos was born and raised in Athens, Greece where he obtained his MD with honors from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2022. When he graduated from high school, he received the Eurobank scholarship award for his exemplary academic performance by scoring the highest in the Greek University entrance exams. During his time in medical school, Dr. Strepkos was heavily involved in basic science research and published a number of articles before graduating. He also developed a special interest in cardiology and devoted the summer of his 5th year of medical school to working with the 1st Department of Cardiology in the Hippokrateion University Hospital of Athens. 

Dr. Strepkos has also devoted two months in elective rotations in the Cardiology Department of the Johns Hopkins University Hospital. After he finished medical school, he worked as an Internal Medicine resident in the Thriassio General Hospital of Elefsina for 1.5 years.

Dr. Jay Traverse is a senior consulting cardiologist at Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute and the director of research at MHIF. His special interests include interventional cardiology, stem cell therapy, biomaterials, and ischemia/reperfusion injury. He is also an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

Theodoros (Theo) Vichos, MD joined the MHIF Center for Coronary Artery Disease team as the inaugural Fleischhacker Family Scholar. In this role, he supports a broad range of coronary and complex coronary disease research and education efforts, including investigator-initiated studies such as the OPEN-SAFE Registry, the PROGRESS Registries, and The REBIRTH Trial.

Originally from Athens, Greece, Dr. Vichos earned his medical degree from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. He developed an early interest in clinical research, later pursuing postdoctoral training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, where he investigated immune dysregulation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Dr. Vichos has authored 10 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and Arthritis & Rheumatology. A computational biology enthusiast, he brings a strong translational research background to his work in interventional cardiology at MHIF.

The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Center for Coronary Artery Disease welcomes Nick Williford, MD as the Frank J. and Eleanor Maslowski Charitable Trust CHIP-CTO Fellow as of July 1, 2025.

Dr. Williford joins us from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, where he completed his training in interventional cardiology. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and between his third and fourth years of medical school, Nick was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) research fellow, studying molecular mechanisms of hypertension. He then completed his internal medicine residency with distinction in research at the University of Iowa and subsequently completed cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology, and structural heart interventions fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis. During his training, Nick received multiple clinical excellence and teaching awards. 

Throughout his medical training, Nick has been actively involved in research, with peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. In addition to internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology, and structural heart interventions, Dr. Williford is trained in echocardiography and cardiac CT.