Meet Our Dedicated Team of Experts

The Vascular Imaging Core Laboratory (VasCore) team consists of fully certified physicians, technologists and nurses, along with quality officers with a vast knowledge of regulatory guidelines—all committed to navigating you to a successful approval. Our highly experienced and consistent team will ensure smooth, efficient and accurate evaluations.

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Ido Weinberg, MD, MSc, MHA, FSVM, RPVI
Medical Director of VasCore

Dr. Weinberg is a Harvard Medical School associate professor. He received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine training at the Hadassah Hebrew University School of Medicine in Israel. He completed his Vascular Medicine Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Weinberg is board certified in vascular medicine (American Board of Vascular Medicine) and is a Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation (RPVI). He is an executive board member and treasurer of the Society for Vascular Medicine. He is active clinically in patient care as part of the Fireman Vascular Center at Mass General where he is director of the Clinical Vascular Medicine Fellowship and co-medical director of the Anticoagulation Management Services.

His ongoing research focuses on manifestations of arterial disease and venous thromboembolic disease with interest in inferior vena cava filters and pulmonary embolism. As a result, Dr. Weinberg has authored numerous manuscripts on these topics. Dr. Weinberg is also founder and editor-in-chief of Angiologist.com, the only online portal for vascular medicine.

Affiliations and Accreditations

• Mass General/Harvard Medical School
• Society for Vascular Medicine

Michael R. Jaff, DO
Founder of VasCore

Michael R. Jaff, DO, is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the founder and medical director of VasCore.

Corinne Payette-Raftery, BS, RVT, RPhs
Technical Director

As technical director of VasCore, Corinne oversees trial design, document preparation and clinical center training. Shas 15 years of experience as a registered vascular technologist.  Her prior positions include clinical supervisor of the vascular laboratory at Newton-Wellesley Hospital of Mass General Brigham, technical director of the Newton-Wellesley location of the Vascular Care Group, technical director of the vascular laboratory at Atrius Health (formerly Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates) and senior vascular technologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital vascular laboratory.  She has extensive experience in carotid, venous, peripheral arterial, transcranial Doppler, aorta, temporal artery, mesenteric and renal artery ultrasound.  

She is a Registered Vascular Technologist through the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) and a Registered Phlebology Sonographer (RPhS) through Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI). 

Corinne was awarded the Partners In Excellence Individual Award during her time at the Massachusetts General Hospital vascular lab.

Gail L. Hadley, RN, RVT, FSVU
DUS Technical Advisor

As technical advisor of VasCore, Gail oversees trial designs, document preparation and clinical center training. Having started her career as a critical care coronary nurse, Gail developed an interest in vascular disease. In 1978 she began her training at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a vascular technologist and then earned the RVT credential in 1983. Gail then became technical director of the Vascular Lab at Columbus Hospital, an affiliate of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. In 1998 Gail wanted to promote quality and standards for noninvasive vascular testing and took the position as technical director of the Intersocietal Commission of Accreditation for Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL). Gail brought her vast experience to VasCore in 1999, when she became the technical director.

Not only has Gail co-authored many papers in the field of vascular technology, she has also received recognition for her work by the Society of Vascular Ultrasound and was inducted as a “Fellow in the Society of Vascular Ultrasound.” She also served as the vice-chair for the American Registry of Diagnostic Sonographers (ARDMS) from 2010-2012.

Affiliations and Accreditations

• ARDMS subject matter expert (2001-2006)
• ARDMS board member (2006-2012); vice-chair (2010-2012)
• SDMS — Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers Past CMC (Conference Management Committee) chair to Vascular Track at annual conference (2006 – 2011)
• FSVU — Fellow Society of Vascular Ultrasound

Kei Yamada, MD
Director of Intravascular Imaging

Dr. Yamada is an instructor in interventional radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego and completed his diagnostic radiology training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Following his training in diagnostic radiology, he completed his vascular interventional radiology fellowship at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto, California gaining extensive training in both vascular and non-vascular diagnostic/therapeutic procedures. Prior to joining as faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital he served as faculty at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Dr. Yamada is board certified in Vascular Interventional Radiology as well as Diagnostic Radiology. He is active clinically in patient care as part of the Massachusetts General Radiology Department and participates nationally in the Society of Interventional Radiology. 

His ongoing research focuses on complex hepatobiliary and portovenous interventions as well as quality improvement in the field of interventional radiology.

Affiliations and Accreditations

• Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
• Society of Interventional Radiology

Nilay Patel, MD
Director of Coronary Intravascular Imaging

Dr. Nilay Patel is an interventional and structural cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School.

He is passionate about the interventional management of patients with complex coronary artery disease and a broad spectrum of structural heart disease.  He utilizes cutting-edge tools to perform percutaneous coronary intervention, transcatheter valve replacement and repairs as well as transcatheter closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO), atrial septal defects (ASD) and paravalvular leaks.  He is a member of the multidisciplinary Heart Valve Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Patel obtained his BA from Brown University followed by his MD from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.  Dr. Patel then completed his internal medicine residency and chief medical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School.  Thereafter, he completed fellowships in general cardiology, interventional cardiology and structural heart disease at Massachusetts General Hospital.  He currently serves as the Associate Program Director for the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship. 

Dr. Patel's research interests center around novel device therapy and clinical outcomes following transcatheter valve therapies.  He has authored recent publications in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JAMA Cardiology, Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Affiliations

• MGH/Harvard Medical School

Justin Thompson, MBA
Administrative Manager

Justin has worked within Massachusetts General Hospital collectively since 2009 having joined VasCore originally in 2015 as an administrative coordinator. After earning his MBA from Southern New Hampshire University in the spring of 2020 and working in Grant Research, Justin is now the administrative Manager where he manages daily office workflow along with operational, financial, and legal aspects of VasCore.

 

Sandra M. Croteau, RN, RVT
Technical Staff Interpreter

As a technical interpreter at VasCore, Sandy provides technical support and independent image analysis. She has 23 years of experience in performing diagnostic vascular ultrasonography at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Vascular Laboratory. From physiologic testing in PAD, and duplex ultrasonography in cerebrovascular, to aortic, renal and mesenteric, arterial and venous vascular beds, Sandy has expertise in performing the full range of vascular testing. In 2004, she was awarded the Star Achievement award from the Mass General Department of Surgery.

Sandy received her nursing degree from St. Vincent’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1980. From 1984 to 1989, she worked as a staff nurse in the vascular surgical intensive care unit at Mass General and then earned her BSN degree from Fitchburg State College. In 1993, Sandy gained the credential of RVT through the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS).

Victoria B. Sova, RN, RVT
Technical Staff Interpreter

Throughout the course of each trial, Victoria provides independent ultrasound analysis and support to sites and sponsors, as one of our technical staff interpreters. She has nearly 25 years’ experience in diagnostic ultrasound and has earned the Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT) credential from the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS).

Prior to VasCore, Victoria was a senior sonographer for the Vascular Diagnostic Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. Before entering the field of vascular technology, she was a Mass General staff nurse for the Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care Unit that specializes in care of patients with vascular disorders.

Kathryn Lane, LPN, RVT
Technical Staff Interpreter

Kathryn has 19 years of experience as a registered vascular technologist. She earned her credentials from the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS). Before joining VasCore, Kathryn was a senior vascular technologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. While at the diagnostic vascular lab Kathryn performed several different modalities of vascular ultrasound exams, including carotids, renal, mesenteric and upper and lower extremity venous and arterial exams.

Justin McNeil
Project Team Lead

Since 2006, Justin McNeil has worked various jobs in Partners Healthcare Systems (now Mass General Brigham) as a part-time employee. In 2009, he joined VasCore in a part-time role. After 3 years of experience, Justin officially became part of the VasCore team as an administrative assistant in spring of 2012. He has attended the University of Massachusetts Boston for some schooling and plans on furthering his education in the upcoming years.

Ritu Shrestha
Staff Assistant

Ritu is a staff assistant at VasCore. After completing her bachelor’s degree in management in information systems at the University of Massachusetts, she became a member of Partners Healthcare (now Mass General Brigham) in 2011, and subsequently joined VasCore in March 2012. Concentrating on providing accurate, timely and customer-focused service, Ritu intends to pursue her master’s degree to advance her expertise as a dedicated VasCore employee.

Luis Cintron
Staff Assistant

Luis joined VasCore as a staff assistant in September 2014. He has worked various jobs in the Partners Healthcare System (now Mass General Brigham) since 2009, including research animal specialist with the Center for Comparative Medicine. As a veteran of the United States Navy, Luis has explored a multitude of working environments. He has also attended the University of Phoenix for some schooling and plans on furthering his education in the upcoming years.

Brian Chung
Staff Assistant

Brian Chung joined VasCore as a staff assistant in March of 2016 with a great passion in research regarding development of medications. He is an aspiring bio-technician who recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He plans on pursuing his master’s in biotechnology in the near future. During his free time, he enjoys outdoor activities such as rock climbing, archery and skiing.

Catherine Galpin
Staff Assistant

Catherine joined VasCore as a staff assistant in August 2019. With her bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Long Beach, Catherine is focused on achieving the highest level of customer service. She plans to continue her detail-orientated work to ensure VasCore’s high quality service for all clients.