hakan-charles-harris_web.jpgMiami — Hakan Charles-Harris, a renowned surgeon, board-certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Vascular Medicine — Endovascular, has been appointed by the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine as the director of the recently established Endovascular Institute at Jackson North Medical Center.

The expertise of Dr. Charles-Harris, M.D., FACS, in endovascular procedures has made the surgeon — who has served the North Miami community for more than a decade — the ideal leader to establish this highly anticipated Center of Excellence in North Miami. 

In reaching out to the aging population, the Endovascular Institute will specialize in the minimally-invasive approach to treating blood vessel disease from inside the vessel using catheters, balloons and stents. Many patients, especially of the Baby Boomer generation and older, are suffering from the ill-effects of years of smoking, heart disease, diabetes, dyslipidemia and claudication leading to peripheral arterial disease, commonly referred to as PAD.

Common ailments that can be treated through endovascular means are peripheral artery occlusions; common, external, and internal iliac artery occlusions; renal artery stenosis; carotid artery stenosis; and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Renal failure patients also benefit from these procedures by treating AV-fistulas and AV-graft occlusions, pseudo-aneurysms, and thombosed vessels.

In 2005, Dr. Charles-Harris successfully designed and established an Endovascular Surgery Suite in an operating room at North Shore Medical Center during his triple tenure as chief of surgery.  Now, as the FIU COM director of the Endovascular Institute at Jackson North, Dr. Charles-Harris is spearheading the new Center of Excellence, which includes developing curricula for training of medical students, collaborating with other specialists and disciplines who will participate in the institute.

Using modern, state-of-the-art digital and low-radiation equipment, the institute will provide the latest technology in the treatment of endovascular procedures, from diagnosing through angiograms, to treating with balloon angioplasty and stenting. Patients will benefit from increased blood flow and decreased pain, in addition to reduced need for major surgery, amputation and hospitalization.

For additional information call 1-855-CURE-PAD or visit all-surgery.com/endo vascular

Photo: Hakan Charles-Harris