Electrophysiology Team
California Pacific's Atrial Fibrillation and Arrythmia Center has a world-renown team of cardiac electrophysiology specialists who possess extensive experience in:
All members are board certified and accredited. They have gained substantial expertise in their specialties through their studies at renowned national and international institutions. Steven Hao, M.D., FACC | Richard Hongo, M.D. | Andrea Natale, M.D., FACC, FHRS | Salwa Beheiry, R.N., CCRN
Steven Hao, M.D., FACC
Medical Director, Electrophysiology
Dr. Steven Hao graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and was awarded his Medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1996. His postdoctoral training includes an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the New York Presbyterian Hospital plus two fellowships in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York.
Dr. Hao is board-certified in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology and is a professional member of the American College of Cardiology, the Council of Clinical Cardiology for the American Heart Association, and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology/Heart Rhythm Society. He is also a member and fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC). Dr. Hao was honored with the David E. Rogers Memorial Research Award in 2000, the NASPE Advanced Training Clinical Fellowship Award from 2001-2003, the Hannah and Leonard Blank Research Award in 2003, and was a finalist for the AHA Laennec Society Young Clinician Award as well as, the AHA Electrophysiology Poster Competition in 2002. Dr. Hao is the principal investigator for several multicenter trials in electrophysiology, has lectured nationally and internationally on various topics including catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation and acts as a reviewer for the Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology. His bibliography contains numerous publications and abstracts.
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Richard Hongo, M.D.
Assistant Medical Director, Electrophysiology
Dr. Richard Hongo received his medical degree in 1995 from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He received his postdoctoral fellowship training in cardiology at California Pacific Medical Center, and completed his fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Hongo is a member of the American College of Cardiology, and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He received the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship Award for his research on “Electroanatomic Mapping in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia.” Dr. Hongo is board-certified in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology. His expertise covers the full range of current technology and skills needed for cardiac arrhythmia management, including the implantation of specialized pacemakers for resynchronizing the weakened heart. Dr. Hongo is bilingual in English and Japanese.
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Andrea Natale, M.D., FACC, FHRS
Senior Medical Director, Electrophysiology
Dr. Andrea Natale is a world-recognized leader in arrhythmia management and a pioneer in ablation procedures. A native of Siracusa, Italy, he graduated summa cum laude from the Medical School of the University of Florence, Italy, and summa cum laude from the Catholic University School of Cardiology in Rome, Italy. Dr. Natale received his clinical training in cardiology at Methodist Hospital, Baylor College in Houston and at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. After completing a clinical fellowship in cardiology (electrophysiology) at the University of Western Ontario in 1991, he further trained in cardiology (electrophysiology) at the University of Wisconsin, Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Dr. Natale was head of the cardiovascular physiopathology section at the Italian Air Force’s Aerospace Research Centre and served as director of the electrophysiology laboratory at Duke University and director of the electrophysiology program at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. He also headed the cardiac electrophysiology section of the cardiology department at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.
He served as a professor at a variety of prestigious universities, including Duke University and Stanford University. Dr. Natale has been an invited lecturer at more than 200 symposiums and conferences around the world, and is the author or co-author of hundreds of published articles on pacing and electrophysiology. In addition to serving on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals, he is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation.
In 2005, Dr. Natale received the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute Research award for his project “Cardiac Consequences of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage” from the Cleveland Clinic Bakken Heart-Brain Institute. He also received the Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for Innovation in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Throughout his career, Dr. Natale has found meeting the challenge of curing patients with complex problems to be most rewarding.
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Salwa Beheiry, R.N., CCRN
Director, Electrophysiology Services
Ms. Beheiry graduated from Alexandria University in Egypt with a Bachelor degree in Nursing Sciences. She studied nursing education in England and worked as clinical instructor in England, France, and Kuwait. Prior to joining the Electrophysiology team, she was the manager of the Duke University Electrophysiology program, assisting in the design and staffing of the electrophysiology labs. Ms. Beheiry is involved in many national and international efforts to train and educate physicians and other health professionals in new electrophysiology ablation techniques. She helped many hospitals in the US, Europe and South America start new EP services. Ms. Beheiry has a special interest in atrial fibrillation.
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