Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology
South Shore University Hospital
Co-director, Arrhythmia Center, Northwell Cardiovascular Institute
Northwell Health
Associate Professor of Cardiology
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra / Northwell

Jason Chinitz, MD joined Northwell Health as a Cardiologist specializing in Cardiac Electrophysiology in 2015. He has been the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at South Shore University Hospital since 2017, and is an Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Chinitz specializes in the management of patients with heart rhythm disorders, with a focus on catheter-based interventional procedures for patients with atrial fibrillation. Before joining Northwell, he graduated medical school from the University of Pennsylvania, completed fellowships in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Disease and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mt Sinai Hospital, respectively, and Internal Medicine Residency at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and Heart Rhythm Society.

David J. Callans is Associate Director of the Arrhythmia Service at the University of
Pennsylvania Health System and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine. He attended college at the University of Chicago and medical school at Johns Hopkins University. His residency and fellowships in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology were performed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is married to Melissa Callans, a nurse practitioner in electrophysiology and mother to twin 19 year old daughters Morgan and Mckenna. In addition, he is the proud father of two children from a prior marriage: Lauren (30) who is currently a medical resident at Cornell and Chris (34) who is a promising young computer scientist.

Dr. Callans’ research interests include complex ablation and mechanisms of ventricular
tachycardia. He recently finished the seventh edition of the classic Josephson textbook Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology: Techniques and Interpretations.

Dr. Jonathan L. Halperin is the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Educated at Columbia University and Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Halperin joined the Mount Sinai faculty in 1980 and played a key role in the formation of the Cardiovascular Institute. He is currently Vice Chair for Education in Cardiology for the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and Mount Sinai Health System, Director of the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program at the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, and Chair of the Committee on Faculty Appointments, Promotions and Tenure for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

He was the principal cardiologist responsible for the design and execution of the Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF) clinical trials, which helped develop antithrombotic strategies to prevent stroke among the millions of people with atrial fibrillation. He was a leader of trials that evaluated the first direct oral anticoagulants for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation and is currently engaged in trials developing improved therapeutic approaches in a wide array of cardiovascular disease states. He served on writing panels issuing clinical practice guidelines for management of patients with various cardiovascular disorders, including
atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular disease and stroke, was Chair of the ACC/AHA Task Force on Practice Guidelines, Chair of the ACC/AHA/ACP Task Force on Clinical Competence and Training, Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Past-President of the Society for Vascular Medicine and the New York City Affiliate of the American Heart Association.

Widely recognized as an academic clinician, Dr. Halperin has been a role model for trainees in internal medicine and cardiology and recipient of Mount Sinai’s most distinguished teaching awards. He has been identified repeatedly in both regional and national publications for providing high quality patient care, and engages in an active clinical practice, emphasizing traditional bedside skills and judicious application of modern cardiovascular technology.

Sunil Kapur, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and staff Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Mass General Brigham. Dr. Kapur specializes in the management of patients with heart rhythm disorders, with a focus on catheter-based interventional procedures for patients with atrial fibrillation as well as novel cardiac implantable device procedures. Before joining the faculty, he graduated medical school from Northwestern University and completed residency in Internal Medicine and  fellowships in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Disease and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. 

Dr Tedrow is an academic invasive clinical cardiac electrophysiologist with clinical expertise in complex catheter ablation, particularly ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT). She is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. There, she is Clinical Director of the Ventricular Arrhythmias Program. She is an expert in the use of novel technologies to address hard-to-reach intramural substrate for ventricular arrhythmias, currently a major source of VT ablation failure. In addition, Dr. Tedrow directs the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology (CCEP) fellowship program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is the Vice Chair of the Education Council of the Heart Rhythm Society. She is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology’s Electrophysiology Journal.

Dr. John N. Catanzaro currently serves Mather Hospital as their inaugural Chairman of Cardiology and Medical Director of the Electrophysiology lab. He served as the John “Jack” Rose Endowed Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Science and Chief of Cardiology at East Carolina University Health and has a combined decade of ACGME leadership experience starting and serving as Program Director of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology fellowships at University of Florida and ECU Health.

He completed his Doctor of Medicine with distinction in research at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, followed by an internal medicine residency and cardiovascular disease fellowship at North Shore University Hospital and a clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also holds an MBA from the University of Florida. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society European Heart Rhythm Society and European Society of Cardiology. Dr. Catanzaro is actively involved with the Heart Rhythm Society’s Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Prevention Task Force and has served in leadership roles including as vice chair of their Quality Improvement Committee. Internationally recognized for his work, Dr. Catanzaro has delivered invited presentations and chaired panels in the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, England,Romania and more. He also performed recorded procedures for the Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions and remains active with a research career focused on procedural safety and outcomes for emerging technology.

Laurence M. Epstein, MD

Professor of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Professor, Bioelectric Medicine, Feinstein Institute of Medical Research

System Director of Electrophysiology, Northwell Health, New York.

Laurence Epstein, MD is the System Director of Electrophysiology for Northwell Health, Professor of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and Professor, Bioelectric Medicine, Feinstein Institute of Medical Research. Previously Dr. Epstein was the Chief of the Arrhythmia Service of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Epstein’s career has spanned the era of modern clinical cardiac electrophysiology, and he has played a critical role in the development of many of its important advances. His research interests have included new ablative techniques, the development and use of intracardiac echocardiography, physiologic pacing, leadless pacing and new techniques for removing chronic transvenous leads.

Dr. Epstein received his BA in Biology from Carleton College in 1980 and a medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1985. This was followed by an internal medicine residency and a research fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology at University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF). He completed his Cardiology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and then a clinical electrophysiology fellowship and at UCSF. In 1992 he joined the faculty of UCSF and in 1994 moved to Boston to help Dr. Mark Josephson build an electrophysiology program at the Beth Israel Hospital. In 2000 Dr. Epstein became the Chief of the Arrhythmia Service of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in 2014 was promoted to Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 2017 he was recruited to be the first System Director of Electrophysiology for Northwell Health, the largest healthcare system in New York.

Much of invasive cardiac electrophysiology did not exist as recently 30 years ago. Dr. Epstein has had the opportunity to contribute to and help shape the field as it has evolved. He was involved in the development of a variety of catheter-based treatments for cardiac arrhythmias including the development of, and the first to report a curative procedure to treat AVNRT; the treatment for inappropriate sinus tachycardia; a transseptal approach for left atrial catheter ablation, and the use of intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) to guide ablation procedures. Dr. Epstein is considered one of the world experts performing transvenous lead extraction and has brought this skill to several countries around the world (for example he performed the first ever laser extraction in China). In his current role as system director of a 23-hospital network, Dr. Epstein is defining and instituting how to best manage arrhythmias across a large population and identifying barriers to care such as health care disparities. This includes novel approaches to patient monitoring and the use of large data sets and AI predictive modeling to move from treatment to prevention of disease.

Dr. Epstein is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications, multiple guidance documents and book chapters. He has trained over 100 fellows, many of the current and coming generation of cardiac electrophysiologists, including past presidents of the Heart Rhythm Society, EP program directors and Chiefs of Cardiology. Dr. Epstein is a sought-after speaker and educator and has been invited to give hundreds of lectured across the country and around the world.

James Gabriels, MD, FACC, is an electrophysiologist at North Shore University Hospital where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

Dr. Gabriels completed an internal medicine residency, chief residency in internal medicine and cardiology fellowship at Northwell Health. He served as a chief cardiology fellow. He then completed his electrophysiology fellowship at New York Presbyterian Weil Cornell. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology, echocardiography and electrophysiology.

Dr. Gabriels’ clinical expertise includes device implantation with a focus on conduction system pacing and leadless pacing. He also has a focus on catheter ablation with attention to complex atrial arrhythmias and ventricular tachycardia. His research endeavors include 56 peer-reviewed publications, including 22 as the primary author.

I have always been driven by a passion for learning and a commitment to education. My journey began during residency, where I was honored as the Resident of the Year and assumed leadership roles as Chief Resident and Chief Fellow in Cardiology.

My Electrophysiology fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provided invaluable training under the tutelage of Mark Josephson, Alfred Buxton, and Peter Zimetbaum. I translated this advanced knowledge after returning to Northwell into teaching, earning the Teacher of the Year award in my first year as an attending and actively contributing to medical school EKG instruction.
Over the years, I established myself as a high-volume EP operator and fostered strong community relationships with referring physicians. My dedication to academic advancement continued with research mentorship for Cardiology fellows and IM residents, resulting in consistent presentations at national meetings and numerous peer-reviewed publications,including a collaborative book chapter.

I was honored with the opportunity to become Director of the Electrophysiology service at LIJ hospital in 2022. In this role, we have successfully enhanced efficiency and driven volume growth. I have also developed my leadership skills to build a unified and efficient department for the satisfaction of our patients.

My future goals involve expanding my national and international presence through presentations at ACC and HRS, while continuing my passion for research and education. I believe it is crucial to continue the pursuit of the perpetual learner and enhance my professional development. I eagerly anticipate the opportunities ahead to innovate and contribute to the field.

Director of Electrophysiology at Peconic Bay Medical Center.

Previously Served as Director of Electrophysiology at North Shore Manhasset from 1995 to 2017. Completed Electrophysiology training at Philadelphia Heart Institute and Cardiology fellowship at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital. Diplomate ABIM in Internal medicine, Cardiology and Electrophysiology. Completed medical school at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.

I am a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist with broad experience in clinical care, medical education, translational investigation, and multicenter clinical research in cardiovascular medicine. My academic and clinical career has spanned more than two decades and has included leadership roles in cardiovascular education, fellowship training, electrophysiology, and departmental administration at Columbia University, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and currently Northwell Health/Peconic Bay Medical Center, where I serve as Chairman of Cardiology.

My research has focused on cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, electrophysiologic mechanisms of ventricular and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, device therapy, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, structural heart disease, and cardiovascular disparities. I have served as principal investigator or site lead for industry-sponsored and multicenter clinical trials involving atrial fibrillation, STEMI detection, heart failure, wearable defibrillator technology, and cardiovascular therapeutics. I have also contributed extensively to trainee and faculty development through leadership of cardiovascular board review, electrophysiology and ECG conferences, and fellowship education.

My background is uniquely interdisciplinary, with formal training in both engineering and medicine. I earned BS, MS, and EngScD degrees in Chemical Engineering from Columbia
University prior to receiving my MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. This dual training has informed my longstanding interest in mechanistic and
translational cardiovascular investigation.

My expertise is in cardiovascular medicine, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, advanced heart failure, device-based therapies, and outcomes research; my experience in leading clinical education and mentoring trainees; and my sustained record of peer-reviewed scholarship, invited presentations, and collaborative clinical investigation.

Dr. Marcin Kowalski is the Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology Lab and Associate Director of the Cardiology Fellowship Program at Staten Island University Hospital in Staten Island, New York.  He received his medical degree from New York Medical College, completed his electrophysiology fellowship from the Medical College of Virginia and his Physician Executive Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee.

Paul C. Maccaro, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and a board-certified clinical cardiac electrophysiologist with over 28 years of continuous service within the Northwell Health system. Since 1999, he has served as Director of the Arrhythmia Service and Electrophysiology Laboratory at Huntington Hospital, where he built and leads a high-quality electrophysiology program.

Dr. Maccaro earned his medical degree from the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn and completed his internal medicine residency, cardiology fellowship, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at North Shore University Hospital. He holds fellowships in the Heart Rhythm Society, the American College of Cardiology, and the American College of Physicians.

A dedicated institutional leader, Dr. Maccaro currently serves as Chair of the Medical Board and Vice-Chair of Cardiology at Huntington Hospital, having previously served as President of the Medical Staff. He has chaired the Northwell Health Institutional Review Board since 2014. Nationally, he has chaired multiple Clinical Events Committees for Medtronic, contributing to the evaluation of novel cardiac device technologies.

Dr. Maccaro is committed to medical education, teaching EKG interpretation to medical students at the Zucker School of Medicine and serving as a preceptor for cardiology fellows.

Dr. Stavros Mountantonakis graduated summa cum laude from the University of Thessaly in Greece. After serving as a Medical Officer in the Greek Airforce he migrated to the US to pursue his career in Cardiology. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Cleveland Clinic, his Cardiology Fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center, and his Cardiac Electrophysiology training at the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to earn his Masters of Business Administration from Hofstra University in 2017.

He is currently the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. In 2017 he founded the Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Program for Northwell Health and serves as the System Program Director. He created the Northwell Electrophysiology Didactic Lecture Series which features experts from around the country to foster discussion, sharing of knowledge, and continuing education for all members of the interdisciplinary team across a large Health System. In his capacity as a Professor of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, he serves as a mentor to a wide array of students, residents, fellows, and allied health professionals.

He serves as the System Director of Electrophysiology Research and was selected as Principal Investigator of the Year for Northwell in 2020. He is recognized nationally for his clinical expertise in complex ablation procedures for ventricular arrhythmias and particularly for PVC ablation, PVC cardiomyopathy, malignant PVCs. Through his research and expertise in the use of non-invasive electroanatomical mapping, he became a national proctor for the use of the technology. He is an active principal investigator on over 20 sponsored and federally funded clinical trials, as well as grant-funded physician-initiated trials. He serves on the advisory board for numerous IDE ablation clinical trials with Biosense Webster, Medtronic and Biotronik. He serves on the editorial board for multiple high Impact peer-reviewed journals. He serves on the American College of Cardiology Electrophysiology Section Leadership Council, as well as the Heart Rhythm Society CCEP Program Directors Council.

Bio Coming Soon!

Dr. Nicholas T. Skipitaris is a practicing clinical cardiac electrophysiologist. He is presently the Western Regional Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology for Northwell Health and practices at the Heart Rhythm Center at Lenox Hill Heart and Lung in New York City. He is assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University / Northwell Health. Previously, he was the Medical Director of Electrophysiology Operations and assistant professor of medicine and cardiology at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Religion and received his M.D. degree from the Dartmouth-Brown Program in Medicine. More recently, he received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital Center / NYU Medical Center and completed fellowships in cardiology and electrophysiology at the NYU Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society and the American College of Cardiology and a member of the Hellenic Medical Society of New York.

Dr. Skipitaris has expertise in ablative and device therapy for the treatment of cardiac rhythm disturbances and is actively involved in research in those areas. He is currently involved in researching new strategies to treat atrial fibrillation and the use of non-invasive mapping of complex arrhythmias. He also has a particular interest in the prevention of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and believes that increasing community awareness, making AEDs more accessible and teaching CPR/AED use to the public is particularly important to make an impact in this area. He has organized numerous SCA awareness programs, large scale CPR/AED training events and has been involved in the education and SCA screening of thousands of people in the New York area. He is a recipient of the American Heart Association’s Lifesaver Award, and the 2014 Dominic A. Murray 21 Memorial Foundation HeartSaver 2014 award, recognizing his work in this area. He has been named “Top Doctor” in his field since 2018.

David Steckman MD, FHRS is a practicing cardiac electrophysiologist and currently the Electrophysiology Lab Director and Vassar Hospital-Northwell in Poughkeepsie, NY. He trained in medicine at NYU where he was chief resident as well. He completed his cardiology and electrophysiology training at the University of Colorado in Denver, CO. He has authored several papers on arrhythmia management and cardiac sarcoidosis. He specializes in advanced ablation techniques and currently has a busy clinical electrophysiology practice in upstate NY

Andrzej Szczepanek finished his undergraduate degree in Biology at SUNY Stony Brook and after graduating in 2005 attended  PA school at LIU Brooklyn graduating in July of 2008. He began is career in medicine in Cardiology  at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn where he fell in love with the field of Cardiac Electrophysiology. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yisachar Greenberg and Dr. Felix Yang he gained further knowledge and experience within his field and participated in the shared experience of the EP lab assisting in complex procedures, system extractions, ablations, and device implantations. He also assisted the EP labs at NY Methodist Hospital on a part time basis. In 2016 he joined Dr. Jason Chinitz at the now South Shore University Hospital as the EP lab started to expand its capabilities and complexity of its procedures. During his time at South Shore, he has witnessed the hospital grow and reach University status. During his time the EP program now offers a full complement of complex EP procedures to the community and the surrounding regions and affiliated hospitals. He was recently promoted and in November 2023 became the ACP Supervisor of the EP program at South Shore University Hospital.

Julie Thomas earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University in 2000. She then graduated from the Physician Assistant Program at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY in 2004. After working a year as a Medicine PA at Morristown Medical Center upon graduation, she began her career in Electrophysiology at Montefiore Medical Center where she worked on the inpatient team for 12 years. In February 2018, she joined the Electrophysiology inpatient team at North Shore University Hospital and a year later, became the EP Advanced Clinical Provider Supervisor overseeing both the inpatient and outpatient teams.

Outside of her clinical and administrative responsibilities at North Shore University Hospital, she is also involved in the Heart Rhythm Society, currently Vice Chair of the AP council as well as on the HRS Program Committee. In addition, she is a member of the IBHRE Pacing test writing committee.

Catherine R. Weinberg, MD, MBA, is the System Director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease at Northwell Health and the Director of High-Risk Cardiovascular Obstetrics at Lenox Hill Hospital. Dr. Weinberg has dedicated her career to the care of adults living with congenital heart disease and women facing complex cardiovascular challenges during pregnancy. In her leadership roles, Dr. Weinberg drives program growth and innovation, builds multidisciplinary care teams, advances research in cardiovascular outcomes and health equity, and champions patient education through initiatives while empowering both patients and providers to deliver high-quality care.