Dr. David Paniagua is an interventional cardiologist who is board-certified in cardiology and interventional cardiology.

Dr. Paniagua earned his medical degree with highest honors at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica.

He completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology in Costa Rica.

During the last semester of the Costa Rican Cardiology Fellowship, he won a scholarship from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to attend the National Cardiovascular Center in Osaka Japan. He then returned to Costa Rica and practiced in affiliation with the University of Costa Rica.  Subsequently he emigrated to the US and repeated training as required.

He completed his Internal Medicine residency and Cardiology fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida, followed by an additional Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas.  He also earned a Master of Science at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr Paniagua was also affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston.  He last held the position of Director of Structural Heart Diasease at the Houston VA Medical Center

Dr Paniagua has trained more than 150 interventional cardiology specialists, and many nurses, medical students, internal medicine residents, cardiology fellows, engineers, and basic scientists about coronary, valvular heart disease, heart pumps and hemodynamics.

Dr. Paniagua is a Fellow of the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Intervention, and of the American College of Cardiology. He has also been a member of multiple medical associations such as the American Heart Association, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Medical Association, the Costa Rican College of Physicians, and American Society of Internal Medicine.

Consumer Research Council of America has named him multiple times as one of America’s Top Physicians yearly, since 2006.

He has been a pioneer in the development of percutaneous heart valve technology, implanting the first retrograde human percutaneous heart valve in 2003.  Twenty years later, this method has become the standard of care to treat severe aortic stenosis, saving the lives of thousands of patients worldwide. His interest in heart valves led him to develop and implant the first human percutaneous dried heart valve in the world in 2012. He holds more than 20 intellectual property patents worldwide. He has participated as Principal Investigator or Co-principal Investigator of several clinical trials that led to the approval of new therapeutics.

Dr. Paniagua has authored several books and book chapters, as well as published many articles on topics that include percutaneous coronary intervention, aortic valve repair and replacement, and acute myocardial infarction. He is fluent in English and Spanish with basic knowledge of French and conversational Japanese.

*This physician is employed by Mount Sinai Medical Center