ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Medicine, Cardiology

Dr. Johanna Contreras was born and educated in Colombia. She completed her medical education at the Universidad Industrial de Santander. During that time, she became very involved in Academia and founded the first peer-reviewed medical journal in Colombia edited by medical students. After receiving numerous awards, Dr. Contreras was provided with the opportunity to complete her undergraduate medical training at the University of Miami. Later on she was recruited by Harvard University to lead a research fellowship program in Molecular Immunology. After publishing in top medical journals, Dr. Contreras decided to pursue further clinical training. She completed an Internal Medicine Residency, a Cardiovascular Fellowship, and a Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Fellowship at Tufts University then an additional Exercise Physiology research at Harvard Medical School. During her training Dr. Contreras played a major role in multiple medical initiatives, among them, the Clinical Translation Program at the Sackler School at Tufts University. In this program, Dr. Contreras supervised several population studies, community-participatory research and community-based healthcare. In 2011, Dr. Contreras moved to New York City and became a full time Cardiology, Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Attending at The Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as Assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. After building one of the largest based-referral practices in NY and becoming a Cardiologist consultant for the community, Dr. Contreras became the director of the Division of Heart Failure at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West. In addition, Dr. Contreras continues to provide care for patients with advanced heart failure, including those patients on mechanical circulatory support and those who undergo heart transplant at The Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also the Medical Director of the recently launched Hispanic Heart Center, a reference center that provides state-of-the-art therapies and interventions for complex cardiac conditions. Dr. Contreras is certified by multiple boards including the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Cardiovascular Disease, National Board of Electrocardiography, Board Cardiac Nuclear Medicine and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the American Society of echocardiography, and a Fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America. Dr. Johanna Paola Contreras strives to promote diversity and healthcare among minority groups. She is determined to eliminate cardiovascular healthcare disparities and improve the access of minority patients to advanced heart failure therapies- including mechanical heart devices and cardiac transplantation. She is an activeclinical investigator in multiple national e international clinical trials. She is an active member of several Hispanic associations such as the Hispanic Federation and a board member of the minority support groups of the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association.