Joel A. Garcia-Fernandez, MD - Cardiology - Interventional

Dr. Joel Garcia is a board-certified cardiologist at the Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology and endovascular medicine, and his expertise includes:

• Structural heart interventions for aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve disease
• Trans-catheter aortic (TAVI/TAVR) and mitral valve replacement (TMVR)
• Mitral and tricuspid valve clips
• Paravalvular leaks
• Ventricular septal defect (VSD)
• Atrial septal defect (ASD)
• Patent foramen ovale (PFO)
• Pulmonary embolism thrombectomy
• Catheter directed thrombolysis
• Lower extremity arterial and carotid revascularization
• Coronary/peripheral chronic total occlusion work
• Left ventricular unloading
• Vascular interpretation
• Coronary and device reconstruction

Dr. Garcia’s clinical interests include coronary and device reconstructions, advanced imaging, rotational angiography and 3D modeling. He has been instrumental in technologies such as optical coherence tomography and fractional flow reserve.

Dr. Garcia’s Training

Dr. Garcia received his medical training at Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic. He completed an internal medicine residency at Wayne State University in Detroit and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology/peripheral disease at the University of Colorado in Denver.

Dr. Garcia earned several residency and fellowship awards at Wayne State and University of Colorado.

About Dr. Garcia

Dr. Garcia is a scientific board member of the World Congress of Heart Disease Annual Scientific Sessions and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Society of Coronary Angiography and Interventions, American College of Physicians and American College of Chest Physicians. He also serves as a reviewer and editorial member of several medical journals and has three patents.

His professional memberships include the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and Society of Coronary Angiography and Interventions.

Dr. Garcia served as co-chair of the cardiology department and chairman of the Medical Economics Committee at Orlando Health and is a member of the Graduate Medical Education Committee and Institutional Review Board. Before joining Orlando Health, Dr. Garcia served as director of the Interventional Services and Catheterization Laboratory at Denver Health Medical Center and was an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Garcia holds clinical appointments as an associate professor at the University of Florida. Florida State University and clinical professor at the University of Central Florida. He serves as Orlando Health's interventional cardiology fellowship director, past cardiac catheterization laboratory director at Orlando Regional Medical Center, program director for the cardiovascular disease fellowship at Orlando Health, and cardiology symposium director from 2013-2023 for both the Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute Cardiology Group and the Pan American Medical Association. Dr. Garcia also leads the morbidity and mortality conference at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Dr. Garcia has received many national and international awards for clinical excellence, leadership and research. Those include the Young Investigator Award, AMA Leadership Award, award from the Panamerican Medical Association and the Dominican Embassy, SCAI/GE Research Award, ACCF/BMS Award, Emerging Young Leadership Award from Cardiovascular Revascularization Therapies and a Clinical Research Fellows Conference Award. Dr. Garcia has been named a Top Doctor since 2012 in various publications. Dr. Garcia has won several faculty teaching awards voted by residents and fellows. The Dominican Diplomatic Mission in Orlando honored. The American Heart Association also honored him with the Passer of the Torch Award in 2025.

Dr. Garcia in 2024 for his outstanding medical and philanthropic contributions to the Central Florida Latin community. Because of his accolades and exemplary career, Dr. Garcia has been honored  as a "Distinguished Son" of his beloved Santiago, Dominican Republic and “Distinguished Dominican” for his contributions to the Dominican community in the United States.