Three Cardiologists Join UA Sarver Heart Center and PCMS

The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center added three cardiologists to its faculty this summer. All provide patient care at Banner – University Medical Centers in Tucson. They are also new members of the Pima County Medical Society.

Sophia Airhart, MD, and Khadijah Breathett, MD, MS, joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, Division of Cardiology as assistant professors and heart failure specialists with the Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation Team at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson. Satinder Singh, MD, joined the UA Sarver Heart Center as assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology. Board certified in internal medicine and board eligible in cardiology, he primarily sees patients at Banner – University Medical Center South.

“As heart failure specialists, Drs. Airhart and Breathett enhance our ability to provide highly personalized care to patients in our growing advanced heart disease and transplantation program. Dr. Singh, who was a chief fellow in our own Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program, has demonstrated his skills as a cardiologist caring for patients with all forms of heart disease,” said Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and chief of cardiology.

Dr. Airhart is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and echocardiography, and board eligible in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. Her clinical interests include hemodynamics in pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure, as well as the use of mechanical circulatory support devices in management of cardiogenic shock and advanced heart failure. Her research interests include exploring the genetic predisposition to pulmonary vascular disease in patients with pulmonary hypertension, and developing novel therapy to address mitochondrial dysfunction in systolic heart failure.

Dr. Airhart received her bachelor of arts in philosophy from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. Following medical school at Oregon Health & Science University, Dr. Airhart completed her internal medicine residency at Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. She completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., and an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology fellowship at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Penn. She has authored a number of original research publications as well as several book chapters on cardiomyopathy.

Dr.  Breathett is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. In addition, Dr. Breathett has received additional research training and a Master’s of Science degree in cardiovascular outcomes research. Dr. Breathett’s clinical interests include heart failure, cardiac transplantation, and mechanical circulatory devices. Her research interests include reducing racial/ethnic and gender disparities in advanced heart failure and preventing these populations from developing advanced heart failure.

Dr. Breathett received her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., majoring in biomedical engineering. After receiving her medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Dr. Breathett completed her internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. She completed a cardiovascular disease fellowship and an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology fellowship at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. During the past two years, Dr. Breathett completed a National Institutes of Health T32 Cardiovascular/Obesity Outcomes Fellowship, and was a fellow in the American Heart Association Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Outcomes Research Fellowship for Strategically Focused Research Network at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora. Dr. Breathett has conducted outcomes studies, observational population studies, and community interventions focused on reducing racial/ethnic and gender disparities in cardiovascular disease.

A 2017 graduate and chief fellow of the UA College of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program, Dr. Singh completed medical school and his internal medicine residency at University of California Davis School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, Dr. Singh, who has a master of science in computer science from Stanford University, worked as a software engineer from 1989-2007 at technology startups and established companies, including Apple, Sun Microsystems, Network Appliance, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent.