04/10/2008

LibertyHealth Names Dr. Abed Director of Cardiology

JERSEY CITY - Dr. Mary T. Abed has been named Director of the Division of Cardiology for LibertyHealth System Inc., overseeing all angioplasty, catheterizations, diagnostics, emergency medicine and telemetry for cardiac patients at Jersey City Medical Center / Wilzig Hospital and Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. Abed will continue her private practice, Total Cardiology Care with its main office in Jersey City. As Director of Cardiology, she will be based at Jersey City Medical Center and will see to the administration of the division, its teaching programs and strategic planning, and work closely with the cardiac surgery department.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. To provide the best cardiac care, Jersey City Medical Center has become the major cardiac hospital in the Hudson County region. It provides angioplasty, cardiac surgery and a full range of diagnostic and treatment options. It also is teaching hospital with residency programs in multiple specialties.

“Jersey City Medical Center and the Meadowlands Hospital provide excellent cardiology care. My goal is to see that the quality care we provide continues to improve,” said Dr. Abed. “Jersey City Medical Center, in particular, should be recognized as the region’s premiere cardiology center. I want people to leave here and brag to their neighbors about the excellent care they received.”

Jersey City Medical Center provides more than 2,200 cardiac catheterizations each year. Using its 64-slide CT scanner, the hospital also can perform cardiac CT angiography for emergency patients to rule out coronary blockages.

It is one of a few area hospitals that provide primary angioplasty to open arteries with a balloon or stent for emergency patients suffering a heart attack. Primary angioplasty requires that cardiologists be available 24 hours a day to perform the procedure.

“Primary angioplasty is just one way that we are committed to the patient experience and the highest quality of care. Mary shares our commitment to quality and I look forward to working with her to make our cardiology programs the best in the world,” said Joseph Scott, President and CEO, LibertyHealth System Inc.

Dr. Abed is a graduate of the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship at NYU Medical Center in New York.

LibertyHealth also named Dr. Raashan Williams, who works with Dr. Abed at Total Cardiology Care, as the new Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at Jersey City Medical Center. Dr. Williams is a graduate of the Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia and completed his residency in internal medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center. He returned to Temple for his cardiology fellowship and completed an interventional cardiology fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center.

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