The addition of new faculty members, including two department chiefs and a Hmong physician, will help expand the UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program and enhance health care services to the community.
John Ambrose, MD, recently joined UCSF Fresno as chief of cardiology. Ambrose is a nationally and internationally known expert in the field of coronary artery disease. He is a graduate of New York Medical College and conducted his cardiology training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Most recently, he served as medical director of the Cardiovascular Center at Saint Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in lower Manhattan before relocating to Fresno.
“It is my intention to develop a first-rate academic cardiovascular program in Fresno,” said Ambrose.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease and stroke—the principal components of cardiovascular disease—are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States.
Ambrose also will continue to practice clinical and interventional cardiology.
Conrad Chao, MD, is the recently appointed chief of obstetrics and gynecology at UCSF Fresno. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed his OB/GYN residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He served his fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine and physiology at Loma Linda University and Oregon Health Sciences University.
Chao’s research includes work in basic neuroscience and clinical investigation. His current work focuses on Doppler ultrasound and the clinical management of post-date pregnancy. These studies have the potential to improve the monitoring and outcomes of high-risk pregnancies.
Chao plans to expand the perinatology program by developing a "Regional Center of Excellence" for high-risk pregnancies. This center will provide comprehensive services for women with complications of pregnancy ranging from maternal problems such as pre-term labor, diabetes and high blood pressure to fetal disorders including birth defects and genetic diseases. UCSF Fresno maintains a close working relationship with Community Regional Medical Center, which has the only perinatology program in the Central Valley.
Mouatou Mouanoutoua , MD , also joins the ranks of UCSF Fresno faculty members. Mouanoutoua, a Hmong physician, completed his medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine and his post-graduate training in internal medicine, general cardiology, and interventional cardiology at the University of Wisconsin Medical School-Milwaukee Campus.
The addition of Mouanoutoua is particularly important given the large Hmong population in the Fresno area and few Hmong health care professionals available to serve them. Mouanoutoua decided to move back to Fresno because of family ties and the opportunity to help educate the next generation of physicians in the Valley.
Other outstanding physicians who recently have joined UCSF Fresno as faculty members include:
- Anitha Channabasavaiah , MD , internal medicine department
- Joceylyn B. Craig, MD, obstetrics and gynecology department
- Steven Foster, DO, pediatrics department
- Manon Kwon , MD , emergency department
- Warren Leimbach, II, MD, FACS, neurosurgery department
- Mark Maertins, MD, emergency department
- Abdelrahman A. Nimeri, MD, surgery department
- Richard Townsend, MD, FACS, surgery department
- Ralph Wessel, MD, cardiology department
“The addition of these physicians at UCSF Fresno advances our mission to provide Central San Joaquin Valley residents with high-quality, culturally competent health care while enabling physicians in training the opportunity to work along side the finest faculty,” said Joan Voris, MD, associate dean at UCSF Fresno.
UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program plays a substantial role in providing health care services to San Joaquin Valley residents and training medical professionals in the region. UCSF Fresno has trained one-third of Valley physicians currently practicing in one of the seven specialties in which
UCSF Fresno provides training. UCSF Fresno, which celebrates its 30 th anniversary this year, has graduated approximately 60 physicians every year, totaling more than 2,000 to date. UCSF Fresno faculty and medical residents care for the overwhelming majority of the area’s underserved populations. In addition, UCSF Fresno educates about 200 medical students each year as well as provides academic preparation programs for middle- and high-school students interested in the health professions.
For more information, please visit www.fresno.ucsf.edu
