Pahrump cardiologist named chair of global cardiovascular society committee

Dr. Chowdhury H. Ahsan, the cardiologist many Pahrump patients know through Nevada Heart & Vascular Center, has been named chair of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions’ International Committee, giving the local doctor a two-year leadership role in a society that shapes interventional heart care around the world.

The committee is designed to foster partnerships with interventional organizations and working groups across countries on professional education, guidelines and leadership. SCAI says it has more than 5,500 members in more than 74 countries, so Ahsan’s appointment places a Pahrump physician inside a network with reach far beyond Nye County. SCAI identified him as committee chair for 2026-28.

For local patients, the most immediate significance is not the title itself but the access and credibility attached to it. Nevada Heart & Vascular Center says it is Nevada’s largest cardiology practice, founded in Las Vegas in 1998, and its Pahrump office is at 1440 E. Calvada Blvd., Suite 700. The local location profile lists 21 physicians across 10 specialty areas, a reminder that specialty care in a rural county often depends on whether large practices keep a real presence close to home.

That matters in Nye County, where the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population at 55,990 and the Pahrump census-designated area at 47,465. The county is older than many parts of Nevada, with 31.6% of residents age 65 and over, and 12.3% of residents under 65 uninsured. The 2025 Nye County health profile lists a heart attack rate of 9.5%, underscoring why cardiology access carries more than symbolic value here.

Ahsan’s career path also explains why the appointment carries weight. He is originally from Bangladesh, earned his medical degree at Dhaka Medical College, received a gold medal in medicine and won a Commonwealth Scholarship. He completed a doctorate in clinical pharmacology and general medicine at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, where his research focused on ethnic variation in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of calcium channel blockers. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 1992 and is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, nuclear cardiology and interventional cardiology.

Beyond Pahrump, Ahsan has served as an associate professor and director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of California Irvine Medical Center and remains active at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine and the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. SCAI’s leadership shift also comes as J. Dawn Abbott takes over as president for 2026-27, following the society’s April 23-25 scientific sessions in Montreal, placing Ahsan’s new role inside a broader cycle of international cardiovascular leadership.