Cardiology Faculty

Our faculty are trained and accredited in some of the finest institutions in Europe but have developed a keen understanding of the conditions faced in East Africa and can approach cardiovascular problems in the relevant context for our patients.

Full-Time Faculty

Dr Mohamed Jeilan, DM, MRCP, CCT
Assistant Professor and Section Head of Cardiology

Dr Mohamed Jeilan, the Section Head of Cardiology and the Director of Cardiac Services, completed his medical school training at Southampton General Hospital in 1997 and his cardiology fellowship at Northampton General Hospital in 2003.

Dr Jeilan, a faculty member of Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa since 2012, is a consultant interventional cardiologist and a complex devices specialist. Before arriving in Kenya, he was consultant cardiologist at Northampton General Hospital and honorary consultant cardiologist at the University Hospitals of Leicestershire NHS Trust UK after serving as an interventional cardiologist/clinical researcher at the University of Leicester.

Dr Jeilan has been key in introducing novel life-saving invasive procedures at the hospital including: the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement, the first renal denervation, the first intravascular ultrasound, and the first biodegradable scaffold implant in sub-Saharan Africa.

His expertise lies in cardiac rhythm management, percutaneous coronary intervention, and transcatheter aortic valve procedures. He is the recipient of the Oxford University School of Medicine Clinical Teaching Award.

Dr Jeilan is also a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist​ at The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Read more about him​ HERE​

Publications

1. Jilaihawi H, Jeilan M, Spyt T, Chin D, Logtens E, Kovac J. Early regression of left ventricular wall thickness following percutaneous aortic valve replacement with the CoreValve bioprosthesis. J Invasive Cardiol. 2009 Apr;21(4):151-5; discussion 156-8.

2. Jeilan M, Schmitt M, McCann G, et al. Cardiac Tuberculoma. Circulation. 2008; 117:984-986

3. Jilaihawi H, Chin D, Spyt T, Jeilan M, Vasa-Nicotera M, Bence J, Logtens E, Kovac J. Prosthesis-patient mismatch after transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the Medtronic-Corevalve bioprosthesis. Eur Heart J 2010;31(7):857-64
   

Dr Mzee Ngunga, MBChB, MMed   
Assistant Professor

Dr Mzee Ngunga, the current Cardiology Fellowship Director, graduated with a MBChB degree from the University of Nairobi in 2001 and with an MMed degree from Aga Khan University in 2008. He later pursued a specialized fellowship training in interventional cardiology at the University of Alberta, Canada. 

His research interests include: cardiac arrest, primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, and treatment of coronary artery disease. He is the recent winner of the prestigious Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award from the American Heart Association. He is currently studying cardiac arrest in Kenya and is initiating a registry to study patients with heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, vascular thromboembolism, and atrial fibrillation. 

Dr Ngunga is the assistant secretary of the Kenya Cardiac Society (KCS) and serves as the Chair of the Echocardiography Taskforce at KCS. He is also an active member of the European Society of Cardiology.

Dr Ngunga is also a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist​ at The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Read more about him​ HERE​​

Publications

1. Stambler BS, Ngunga LM. Atrial fibrillation in Sub-Saharan Africa: epidemiology, unmet needs, and treatment options. Int J Gen Med. 2015;8:231-4210.2147/IJGM.S8453.

2. Outcomes of Simple and Complex Coronary Bifurcation Lesions (CBL) Treated with Drug Eluting Stents (DES). Leonard Ngunga, Po Kee Cheung, Shantu Bundhoo, Neil Brass, Benjamin Tyrrell, Raymond Leung, Micha Dorsch, William Hui. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Vol 60 Issue 17 Supp B

3. Ngunga LM, Yonga G, Wachira B, Ezekowitz J. Initial Rhythm and Outcomes for In-hospital Cardiac Arrest in Kenya. Circulation 2017;136:A140.

Dr Mohamed Hasham Varwani, MBChB, MMed, Fellow Cardiology
Senior Instructor

Dr Mohamed Hasham Varwani is a Senior Instructor at Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. Dr Hasham graduated from the University of Nairobi with a MBChB degree in 2008. He earned his MMed degree in Internal Medicine from Aga Khan University in 2016 and completed his fellowship in cardiology in the same university in 2020. 

Dr Hasham is a member of the Kenya Association of Physicians, Kenya Cardiac Society, Pan African Society of Cardiology and Africa Heart Rhythm Association.

His areas of interest are in coronary and structural interventions, cardiac implantable devices, valvular heart disease, sports cardiology and pre-participation screening. In addition, he is also interested in acute coronary syndromes - systems of referral and care and cardiology medical education.