Stent – Save a Life! (SSL) is delighted to welcome Dr Ahmed Vachiat as the new Country Champion for South Africa as he is taking over the STEMI SA Chairmanship from Dr Adriaan Snyders who has enthusiastically fulfilled this role since the country joined the global initiative in 2016.

Ahmed Vachiat is a specialist physician and interventional cardiologist sharing his practice time between Milpark Hospital and Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg, the first private academic hospital in Johannesburg.

He qualified with a Certificate of Cardiology obtained from the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa in 2013, an Interventional Cardiology Fellowship from the University of Cape Town and a Masters of Medicine and PhD from the University of Witwatersrand. His PhD explored “the Histological characteristics and Endothelial function in HIV positive patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes”. Ahmed Vachiat’s wide clinical focus encompasses acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, HIV and the heart but also valvular heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.

President of the Johannesburg branch of the South African Heart Association, Ahmed Vachiat also holds, among others, the positions of Executive Committee member of the South African Society of Cardiology Interventions and Chairman of the Islamic Medical Association in Johannesburg.
He is the author and contributor to many abstracts and articles published in peer-review journals and has taken part as sub-investigator in trials such as the PARADIGM, the SPIRE and the PROMINENT studies.

By pursuing the mission undertaken by Adriaan Snyders, Ahmed Vachiat will strive to further develop STEMI SA activities in accordance with the aim of the SSL global initiative that is to improve the delivery of guideline adherent therapy and patient access to lifesaving indication of primary PCI, therefore reducing mortality and morbidity in AMI patients.

The entire Stent – Save a Life! organisation thanks Dr Adriaan Snyders for his devoted contribution as Country Champion for the past years and wishes Dr Ahmed Vachiat a successful future with STEMI SA and the SSL global initiative.