My name is Dr. Juan Aranda and I am a professor of medicine and the chief of cardiovascular medicine at UF Health. I also serve as the vice chair for clinical affairs for the University of Florida Department of Medicine. I am board-certified in cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure/cardiac transplantation, and I possess more than 25 years of experience in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. I became interested in treating heart failure early in my career. At that time, the mechanisms of heart failure were not well understood, and I developed a true commitment to the advancement of medicine to improve outcomes for my heart failure patients.

I was drawn to the field of cardiology because my dad was a cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology and I grew up observing his passion, commitment and dedication to helping his patients. He is my true role model and has been a big contributor to the development of my own passion for helping others. One aspect of being a doctor that I enjoy is the opportunity to develop relationships with my patients – I treat my patients as if they were members of my own family. That is a special bond.

My career has been committed to the education of cardiovascular residents, fellows and physicians throughout the region and in Latin America. I am very proud that for the last 25 years, I have been able to provide education and training opportunities for young Hispanic physicians from Latin America. Having grown up in Puerto Rico, it gives me great pride to expand medical training opportunities for these young doctors and to see them go on to provide excellent care to underserved people in their communities.

As the chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine, other areas of importance to me are advancing cardiology research to improve patient care and providing research opportunities for my faculty members. Current research in our division includes the use of stem cells to improve heart function in heart failure patients, developing artificial intelligence to enhance cardiac imaging and diagnosis, and focusing on improving outcomes for elderly patients undergoing valvular and high-risk cardiac procedures. I am a past governor of the American College of Cardiology and have participated in multiple committees of the American College of Cardiology to improve quality, education and services in the area of cardiovascular disease.

During my time away from work, I enjoy being with my family at the beach, taking early morning weekend runs and walking my dogs around the neighborhood. I find working in my yard and golfing to be activities that are especially peaceful and good for the soul.