Dr. Jose Alvarez-Cardona joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology as an Assistant Professor in July, 2020.
Dr. Alvarez-Cardona was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Virginia in 2007 and completed medical school at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine graduating Magna cum Laude in 2011. He was inducted as a third-year medical student to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He then completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2014, followed by fellowship training in Cardiovascular Disease (2017) and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology (2018) at the University of Florida. He was briefly in private practice between 2018 and 2019, after which he moved to St. Louis to complete a fellowship in cardio-oncology. He has enjoyed being part of this novel field of medicine [cardio-oncology] and serves as an Attending Physician in the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology inpatient team.
He is particularly interested in patients who require durable mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation. I also specialize in the care of oncology patients with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions and those who develop cardiovascular complications from cancer treatment. Dr. Alvarez-Cardona has been participating in the Teaching Physician Pathway and serves as a member of the International Cardio-Oncology Society Education and Training Advisory Committee. Some of his responsibilities have included collaborating in the design of a certification exam for cardio-oncologists around the world and participating in monthly webinars. He is also actively involved in the creation of a council perspective document that aims to recognize cardio-oncology as a subspecialty and delineate training requirements in this novel field.
His research interests include the following: • Characterization of patients with left ventricular assist devices and heart transplant recipients who develop cancer and require high-risk treatment • Identification of new diagnostic tools and treatment options for patients with cardiac amyloidosis • Cardio-protective strategies in patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing bone marrow transplantation.