Meet our Program Leadership & Staff!

Alexis Tumolo,

Program Director

After growing up in Central Massachusetts, Lexi completed her BA in Classics-Latin at Harvard, MD at UMass Medical School, and internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center before moving to Colorado in 2014 for Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowships. Through  these experiences and additional training paths and fellowships in education, she found her passion for Medical Education – fostering enthusiasm, curiosity and growth in students and trainees remains one of the most fulfilling aspects of her work. When she is not in the hospital, Lexi is singing and dancing with her two boys, checking out new fiction (currently, Woman of Light by Colorado author Kali Fajardo-Anstine), training for a marathon, spending time in the mountains or at the beach, and trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

 Christine Sailer

Associate Program Director

Christine grew up in Chapel Hill, NC. She completed her MD and IM residency at Johns Hopkins, and cardiology and advanced heart failure and transplant fellowships at the University of Colorado.  She loves teaching and learning from the fellows, especially in the ICU setting. It is a privilege to work with them through their final years of training. When not in the hospital, previously you could find her out hiking with her husband and their two dogs. More recently she's been at home with their baby girl!

 Joseph (Joe) Kay

Adult Congential Heart Disease Program Director

Joe is originally from Buffalo, NY. He attended Fellowship in Adult & Pediatric Cardiology at Duke University 1999-2004​. Joe loves sharing the most fascinating area of cardiology cardiology with the next generation of cardiologists. When he's not in the hospital, you can find Joe studying history and various expressions of spirituality. His goal is to bring members of different religious beliefs together, emphasizing their similarities and not their differences.

Elizabeth (Liz) Yeung

Adult Congential Heart Disease Associate Program Director

Liz is originally from New York City, which will always have a place in her heart, but she considers herself a Coloradan for the last 20 years. She did her fellowship training at Children’s Hospital CO and hasn’t left since. She loves teaching because it reminds her of everything that we don’t know and stimulates the curious brain which makes us push harder.  When she's not in the hospital, you can find her hanging with her family or trying to improve her golf game.  She's always up for trying new things!

Brian Stauffer

Denver Health Chair of Cardiology

Brian is from central Pennsylvania and grew up taking care of horses and sheep in Lancaster County. After undergraduate in Virginia, he attended Medical School in Hershey where he was also engaged in cardiovascular physiology research, living between the Hershey’s Chocolate and the Reese’s Peanut Butter Factories. During medical school he spent a research year at CU Boulder and ultimately came to CU following his internal medicine training at Case Western for his Cardiology and research fellowships. He enjoys the bidirectional learning that is inherent in a teaching program.  When not in the hospital he can generally be found with his family who enjoys the outdoor event in Colorado including, skiing, mountain biking or club/high school soccer.

Greg Schwartz

VA Chief of Cardiology

Core Faculty

Greg is originally from Queens, NY, and a product of NYC Public Schools. After his residency at CU, Greg had a great cardiology fellowship at UCSF.​His favorite part about working with the fellows is learning from each other. Every day on service, he looks forward to learning as much from our fellows as they might learn from him. Greg loves the outdoors, hiking, skiing, traveling, gardening.

Matt Zipse

Electrophysiology Program Director

Matt grew up in Indiana and completed both undergraduate and medical school training at Indiana University.  He subsequently moved to Colorado, and he stayed at the University of Colorado for residency, fellowship and subspecialty fellowships.  He joined the EP faculty in 2015 and serves as the program director for the EP fellowship program and medical director for the lead extraction program and device clinic.   Matt enjoys working with trainees at all levels, and sees it as a privilege to train the next generation of physicians.  Outside of the hospital, Matt is a sports fanatic and enjoys spending time with his wife and young daughter in the mountains.

Lohit Garg

Electrophysiology Associate Program Director

Lohit Garg was born and grew up in New Delhi, India. He did his medical school in Delhi and moved to Michigan for electives. He completed his residency at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital. He did his cardiology fellowship at LVHN, Allentown and then moved to Philadelphia for fellowship in Electrophysiology at University of Pennsylvania. He has been an Assistant Professor and faculty at the University of Colorado since 2021 in the Clinical Electrophysiology section. ​He has particular interest in management of complex arrhythmias and risk stratification for sudden cardiac death. He enjoys working with fellows and residents to mentor future leaders and clinicians. ​He enjoys travelling and exploring food and restaurants around the country (47 states). He is into cars and track racing and plan to watch all F1 races once day. 

Andreas Brieke

Advanced Heart Failure

Program Director

Andreas grew up in Germany mostly around Munich. He finished Med School in Munich and started his training in Munich until moving to Cleveland, OH, where he completed his Residency at the Cleveland Clinic. His Cardiology training at TUFTS New England Medical Center in Boston, MA, included a combined year of Heart Failure/Transplantation and Imaging. He has been Faculty at the University of Colorado since 2005 in the Heart Failure and Transplant section.​His special interest is mechanical solutions to heart failure and he has been the Medical Director of  the Mechanical Circulatory Support Program since 2007. He is also the Director of the Heart Failure and Transplantation Fellowship.
He enjoys the great Outdoors above and under water with and without his pack.

Larry Allen

Chief of Cardiology

Advanced Heart Failure

Associate Program Director​

Larry Allen grew up in Morrison, Colorado, and then attended the University of Colorado Boulder. After a stint in Peace Corps Ghana, he completed his medical training at Harvard, MGH, and Duke. In 2008 he returned to Colorado to join the CU Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Program. He is currently the Chief of Cardiology, co-Director for the Colorado Program for Patient Centered Decisions, and Chair for the Clinical Cardiology Council of the American Heart Association. In all of these roles, the most important aspect is teaching the next generation of cardiologists. When I am not in the hospital or answering email, I love to be in the Colorado outdoors: skiing, trail running, mountain biking – ideally with family and friends!

Kevin Rogers

Interventional Cardiology

Program Director

Kevin grew up in Mississippi and did fellowships at Oregon Health Sciences University, the University of Utah, the University of Colorado, and at Massachusetts General Hospital.​What Kevin loves the most about teaching/working with fellows is that it is very gratifying to see trainees grow into independent, skilled clinicians.​When Kevin's not in the hospital, you can find him running, walking his Husky, or playing frisbee and basketball with his son.

Rory Bricker

Interventional Cardiology

Associate Program Director

I grew up in Fresno, California and attended UC Berkeley before completing medical training at Temple, residency at the University of Maryland, then general and interventional cardiology training at the University of Colorado. Coaching our fellows how to treat heart attacks and watching them grow into great independent cardiologists is the best part of my job. Outside the hospital, you’ll find me at a local playground or ice cream shop with my kids, riding a bike, or playing in the mountains.

Amy Mertens

Core Faculty 

Amy grew up and lived in the metro Detroit area of Michigan for most of her life. She attended the University of Michigan, earning an undergraduate degree in English and Biology (Go Blue!) and Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital for the majority of her medical training, including an advanced interventional fellowship in complex and high risk interventional procedures. She moved to Colorado in 2023 to join Denver Health with her two sons and husband. She particularly enjoys being able to work with fellows to foster a love for cardiology and to grow as a cardiologist herself-- there is always new information or trials from which to learn. When she is not in the hospital, you can find her viewing live stream interventional cases for fun, doing Pilates, reading classic literature, or playing with her two sons and yellow labrador puppy. Her family has loved exploring the many areas that Colorado has to offer!