February 14, 2007                                                 

SIU Med School Pediatric Cardiologist Now Sees Patients in

Effingham

Dr. Ramzi Nicolas, a specialist in pediatric and fetal cardiology, is now seeing patients on the third Tuesday of each month at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, 503 N. Maple, Effingham.  Nicolas is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield and one of the new pediatric specialists recruited as part of St. John’s Children’s Hospital (SJCH), a joint endeavor of SIU and St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.  He serves as director of SJCH’s pediatric cardiology.

The pediatric cardiac services Nicolas provides at St. Anthony’s are part of the hospital’s Heart Care Services.  Treatment options for children are comprehensive, including fetal echocardiography, holter and event monitors, and cardiac, medical and vascular sonography.  Complex cases are referred to St. John’s Children’s Hospital in Springfield.

Nicolas is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology by the American Board of Pediatrics.  Before joining SIU’s faculty in 2005, he completed a one-year pediatric interventional cardiology fellowship (2005) and a three-year pediatric cardiology fellowship at St. Louis Children’s Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. (2004).

He completed his pediatric residency at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse, N.Y. (2001).  He earned both his medical and bachelor’s degrees at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon (1998, 1994).  Nicolas’ research interests include using tissue doppler imaging technique to diagnose noninvasively heart problems in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease.

Nicolas can be contacted via the Heart Care Services at St. Anthony’s Hospital, 217-347-1232, or his SIU office in Springfield, 217-545-0654 or 1-800-DIAL SIU (1-800-342-5748).

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