WVU Heart and Vascular Institute expands services in Parkersburg

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute is increasing its services at WVU Medicine’s medical campus in downtown Parkersburg and enhancing its support of the only hospital in the Mid-Ohio Valley to offer open-heart surgery.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Geoffrey Cousins, M.D., began operating at WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center (CCMC) on Jan. 14. Cardiothoracic surgeon Sulaiman Hasan, M.D., will join the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute team in Parkersburg on Jan. 28. Both will see patients at their full-time practices on the CCMC campus and be assistant professors in the WVU School of Medicine Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.

“We are honored that Dr. Cousins and Dr. Hasan have joined the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and the WVU Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery as we continue our mission to enhance high quality comprehensive cardiac and thoracic services for our patients in the Mid-Ohio Valley,” Vinay Badhwar, M.D., executive chair of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, said. “As we continue to expand our care throughout the state and region, it is our hope that patients will be able to access the best possible heart, lung, and vascular services close to home.”

Cousins received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and completed his residency and internship in general surgery at the St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. He is board certified in surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. A native of West Virginia, Cousins is the youngest of 11 children from McDowell County. He has spent the last 20 years practicing in West Virginia.

Hasan received his medical degree at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. He completed his general surgery residency at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Centre – Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a thoracic and cardiovascular surgery residency and fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. He is board certified in surgery and thoracic surgery. He previously worked at Charleston Area Medical Center and helped to start the open-heart surgery program at the former St. Joseph’s Hospital in Parkersburg.

Cousins and Hasan will work alongside Parkersburg Cardiology Associates. This practice of seven cardiologists and five nurse practitioners will continue to care for patients on the CCMC campus in a new state-of-the-art, two-story facility scheduled to open next month.

“The addition of Drs. Cousins and Hasan and their expertise in cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgery, the partnership of Parkersburg Cardiology Associates, and the fact that our integrated Emergency Department is equipped and trained to handle incoming emergent heart cases uniquely position us to provide the full spectrum of cardiac care to our patients,” Steve Altmiller, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center said. “Couple all of that with the expertise of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute in Morgantown, which is pioneering new treatments and technologies that are not available anywhere else in the state. It’s a win-win for us and our patients.”

WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center is the only hospital in the Mid-Ohio Valley region to be recognized each of the past two years by U.S. News & World Report and Healthgrades for the treatment of heart failure. 

For more information on the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, visit www.wvumedicine.org/heart.