Two DOM cardiology faculty join AZ-ACC chapter leadership team

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and Sarver Heart Center now has two representatives in leadership at the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Cardiology over the coming year, including Mathew Hutchinson, MD, FACC, FHRS, who’ll serve as president-elect for the next year.

As of April 1, Talal Moukabary, MD, FACC, also will serve as 2024-25 secretary/treasurer for the chapter.

Two councilor positions for the Greater Tucson Area remain open as well as another councilor at large post, according to Lianna Collinge, CEO for the AZ-ACC chapter. Normally, they are elected positions but, as they are open, the executive committee is looking to fill them soon, she said. Interested parties can reach out to her (lianna@aminc.org) or Dr. Hutchinson (mathewhutchinson@shc.arizona.edu) to apply.

Dr. Hutchinson’s full term as AZ-ACC president starts in April 2025 and will run until April 2028. He is a professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, vice chair of clinical operations for the Department of Medicine, director of cardiac electrophysiology at Banner – University Medicine Tucson and a member of the Sarver Heart Center.

Dr. Hutchinson joined UArizona’s faculty in 2016 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was an associate professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and where he also finished his cardiology and electrophysiology fellowships. He completed his medical degree at St. Louis University School of Medicine and his residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Dr. Moukabary, also an electrophysiologist, joined UArizona’s faculty in 2020. He’s an expert in computer modeling of cardiac arrythmia, imaging in the cardiac electrophysiology lab, and cell-based arrhythmia therapy. He earned his medical degree from Tishreen University School of Medicine in Latakia, Syria, and pursued internal medicine training at Damascus University Hospitals before emigrating to the U.S. He did residency training in Michigan as well as a cardiovascular medicine fellowship at UArizona and electrophysiology fellowship at Penn State University, before returning to UArizona.

The immediate past-president of the AZ-ACC is Kwan S. Lee, MD, FACC, who was a UArizona associate professor and Sarver Heart Center member when he completed his term (2019-2022). Dr. Lee is now at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Drs. Lee and Hutchinson will work with the current AZ-ACC President Wilber Su, MD, FACC, who is on the Cardiology faculty at the UArizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and staff at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, to flesh out the leadership team and goals for the coming year. The current AZ-ACC president also serves as governor to the national ACC leadership team.