Division of Cardiovascular Diseases:

Sports Cardiology

The Sports Cardiology Program at Scripps Clinic is dedicated to caring for athletes, evaluating and treating heart and cardiovascular conditions to ensure the safe participation and optimal performance in sports activity. The field of Sports Cardiology is a new and rapidly developing field of patient care as our understanding increases about the physiologic and hemodynamic changes that occur with participation in athletic training and sports competition. We assist athletes with specialized medical evaluations to assess cardiac conditions, events, or risks as they affect sports participation and goals. This may include exploring unexplained decline in athletic performance, understanding cardiovascular risk factors and medications, or evaluating abnormal symptoms or testing results. We also provide tailored training recommendations, considering cardiac factors, to optimize sports performance. Our team sees adult athletes as well as adolescent patients aged 15 and older. Our goal is to support athletes with medical advising and assessment, so they may participate in recreational, professional and masters competition sports in the safest possible way.

Areas of particular interest and expertise are noted below:

Christina Adams, MD

  • General Cardiology
  • Women’s Heart Center
  • Sports Cardiology
  • Preventive Cardiology & Cardiac Rehab
  • Integrative Cardiology
  • Executive Health

Jorge A. Gonzalez, MD

  • Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging
  • Cardiac CT
  • Cardiac MRI
  • Aorta Pathologies
  • Aortic Aneurysms
  • Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)

Phong Chi (Stephen) Hu, MD

  • General Cardiology
  • Sports Cardiology
  • Preventive Cardiology
  • Advanced Lipid Management
  • Cardiac CT
  • Valvular Heart Disease
  • Digital Medicine
  • Executive Health

Nicholas Olson, MD

  • Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Management
  • Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias
  • Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation
  • Pacemaker and Defibrillator Therapy

John Rogers, MD, MS

  • Co-Chief of Cardiology, Scripps Clinic
  • Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Management
  • Pacemaker and Defibrillator Therapy
  • General Cardiology
  • Sports Cardiology
  • Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Ajay Srivastava, MD

  • Director of Temporary Mechanical Circulatory Support
  • Heart failure systems of care/population health
  • Heart rhythm devices in heart failure
  • Cardiogenic shock/circulatory support devices
  • Cardiac Amyloidosis
  • Cardio-Oncology
  • Cardiac sarcoidosis

Featured Services

  • Cardiovascular screening and evaluation for sports participation

  • Evaluation of cardiac health as related to changes in sports performance

  • Evaluation of cardiac risk factors

  • Laboratory testing

  • Electrocardiography

  • Advanced Cardiac Imaging Studies including Echocardiogram, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMRI) and Cardiac Computed Tomography (CT), and Coronary Angiography

  • Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

  • Customized training recommendations to optimize athletic performance

  • Specialty Sports Medicine referrals

Our program is currently developing an advanced Sports Cardiology Fellowship subspecialty training program in collaboration with our community partners.

For more information or to apply, please visit the Graduate Medical Education page.