New Regional Medical Leadership Assures Consistency of Care at Inova

Inova Schar Heart and Vascular (ISHV) recently promoted four physicians to system-wide oversight roles, responsible for evaluating and overseeing safety, quality and efficiency to assure consistency in patient care. This change is part of ISHV’s continued efforts to improve and sustain positive outcomes for a growing number of cardiovascular patients.

“Working closely with their counterparts at other Inova facilities and across various services and medical specialties, these physician leaders are working to optimize and standardize best practices,” said Dr. Christopher M. O’Connor, President of ISHV. “This coordinated approach further supports our drive to excellence across all Inova facilities.”

The four physicians serve as the regional medical directors within ISHV’s system-wide service line, covering cardiovascular services across all five Inova hospitals. Working together with the ISHV Senior Directors of Nursing Services, Marina Ocasio, MSN, and Sharri Robinson, MSN, this leadership team ensures a seamless system of people-centered, high reliability and high value cardiovascular care.

Regional Directors

Regional Medical Director Saquib Chaudhri, MD, MBA, is board certified in internal medicine and has an MBA in healthcare management. He is a cardiac hospitalist and former Medical Director of the Progressive Coronary Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. Dr. Chaudhri  joined Inova in 2016 and has been part of the ISHV leadership team since 2020.

Regional Critical Care Director Hala Moukhachen, MD, FCCP, joined Inova in 2018. She has led the cardiac critical care team since then as the Co-Medical Director of the Cardiac ICU at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Cardiopulmonary Services and Chairman of Medicine at HCA.

Regional Cardiology Director Shashank Desai, MD, MBA, is an advanced heart failure/transplant cardiologist, Director of Inova Thoracic Transplant, and Director of IHVI Strategy and Growth. He has been at Inova since 2006.

ISHV Senior Director of Nursing Services Marina Ocasio, MSN, RN, CNL, NE-BC oversees ISHV’s critical care departments and procedural departments including the invasive and non-invasive cardiovascular labs, interventional radiology and interventional cardiovascular admission and recovery. She has been with Inova since 2011 and has served in several unit leadership roles.

ISHV Senior Director of Nursing Services Sharri Robinson, MSN, RN, RN-BC has responsibility for overseeing five cardiac, telemetry and pulmonary nursing units and Cardiac Rehabilitation. She holds a board certification for Cardiac Vascular Nursing, has been with Inova since 2004 and has held a variety of nursing and leadership roles.

Updated April 2024