A Chat with Lakeridge Health Cardiologist, Dr. Andalib

“It was just the idea of being able to help people.” For Lakeridge Health Cardiologist Dr. Ali Andalib, that was the simple reason behind his motivation to pursue a career in medicine.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Master’s degree, medical school training, and residency in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Andalib moved to Boston, Massachusetts to complete additional training in Interventional Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Harvard Medical School, before returning to Canada.

Upon his return, he completed additional training at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, in Interventional Cardiology, where he remains a clinical associate. He joined Lakeridge Health in 2019 as part of the Cardiac Care team where he provides clinical service. He is also an adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at Queen’s University.

“Cardiology has always been close to my heart,” Dr. Andalib says with a smile when explaining his reasoning for choosing the specialty. “Heart disease is one of the most common chronic conditions worldwide and remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Thankfully, patient care is supported by a large body of ongoing research and with many recent advances in knowledge in this field, in many cases, physicians can see results in their patients relatively quickly.”

When asked what’s kept him at Lakeridge Health, he points to several important elements. “Cardiovascular disease is highly prevalent in this community, and I can provide access to high quality expert cardiac care to many patients here. As well, having good colleagues is extremely important to me and I’m privileged to have great colleagues here at Lakeridge Health, which facilitates coordination of care for patients. I also welcome the opportunity to teach residents and other trainees and help train the next generation of physicians.”

As he looks to the future, Dr. Andalib hopes to be part of expanding the Cardiac Care program within the organization.

“We have a lot of room to grow within the cardiac field at Lakeridge Health,” he noted. “I hope that we can attract physicians with more specialized expertise over the next few years, as well as add more services. With Durham Region expanding, there will definitely be a need to provide more specialized cardiac care and Lakeridge Health will be the perfect environment for it.”