OUR TEAM

Southern California Heart Centers is a growing practice, originally established by Dr. Stanley Lau in 1997. Dr. Edwin Kok joined as his partner in 2001 and has since then helped Dr. Lau expand the clinic into what it is today.

Dr. Kok joined our team in 2001. He is a board-certified cardiologist specializing in invasive and interventional cardiology (including diagnostic cardiac catheterization, coronary angioplasty, coronary artery stenting, laser angioplasty, intravascular ultrasound, and rotational atherectomy), as well as in non-invasive cardiology including transthoracic echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram, exercise stress echocardiogram, dobutamine echocardiogram, and peripheral non-invasive studies (arterial and venous). He is certified for performing cerebral, renal and peripheral diagnostic angiograms, peripheral and renal artery angioplasty and stenting, and insertion of inferior vena cava filters. He was the Chief of Medicine in 2015, Chief of Cardiology in 2006, and served as Vice Chief of Medicine at Garfield Medical Center in 2008.

Dr. Kok joined our team in 2001. He is a board-certified cardiologist specializing in invasive and interventional cardiology (including diagnostic cardiac catheterization, coronary angioplasty, coronary artery stenting, laser angioplasty, intravascular ultrasound, and rotational atherectomy), as well as in non-invasive cardiology including transthoracic echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram, exercise stress echocardiogram, dobutamine echocardiogram, and peripheral non-invasive studies (arterial and venous). He is certified for performing cerebral, renal and peripheral diagnostic angiograms, peripheral and renal artery angioplasty and stenting, and insertion of inferior vena cava filters. He was the Chief of Medicine in 2015, Chief of Cardiology in 2006, and served as Vice Chief of Medicine at Garfield Medical Center in 2008.

YIH JEN (Edwin) KOK - MD, FACC

Interventional Cardiologist

Dr. Cheung joined our team in 2013 as a board-certified non-invasive cardiologist. He is certified in ABIM internal medicine and cardiology, performing procedures such as transesophageal echocardiogram, cardioversion, exercise stress echocardiogram, and dobutamine echocardiogram.

Dr. Cheung joined our team in 2013 as a board-certified non-invasive cardiologist. He is certified in ABIM internal medicine and cardiology, performing procedures such as transesophageal echocardiogram, cardioversion, exercise stress echocardiogram, and dobutamine echocardiogram.

SIMON CHEUNG - MD, FACC

General Cardiologist

Dr. Poa joined Southern California Heart Centers in 2021. He is nationally and internationally recognized as a pioneer and leader in minimal access cardiac surgery. He has been in the forefront of the development of thoracoscopic cardiac ablation, minimal access valvular surgery, and beating heart coronary/valvular surgery for more than 22 years. A graduate with honors from Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Poa was general surgery chief resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center and cardiothoracic surgery chief resident at UCLA Medical Center. He has served as the medical director and chief of cardiac surgery at the Enloe Medical Center and the medical director and chief of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Stamford Hospital where he was made full professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is board certified with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a fellow of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery. He served as the Co-Chair for the National Health Council from 2005-2007.

Dr. Poa joined Southern California Heart Centers in 2021. He is nationally and internationally recognized as a pioneer and leader in minimal access cardiac surgery. He has been in the forefront of the development of thoracoscopic cardiac ablation, minimal access valvular surgery, and beating heart coronary/valvular surgery for more than 22 years. 

A graduate with honors from Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Poa was general surgery chief resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center and cardiothoracic surgery chief resident at UCLA Medical Center. He has served as the medical director and chief of cardiac surgery at the Enloe Medical Center and the medical director and chief of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Stamford Hospital where he was made full professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is board certified with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a fellow of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery. He served as the Co-Chair for the National Health Council from 2005-2007.

Li Poa - MD, FACS

Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Dr. Xu joined our team in 2021 as a non-invasive cardiologist and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology, and Cardiac CT. His specializations are consultative cardiology (both outpatient and inpatient) and cardiovascular imaging. He completed his medical training in Los Angeles and has proficiency in medical Spanish as well as Mandarin Chinese.

Peter Zihao Xu - MD, FACC

General Cardiologist

Dr. Chen is a California native, born and raised in Los Angeles and attended the University of California, Los Angeles for his undergraduate career. He attended St. Louis University for medical school and Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago …

Dr. Chen is a California native, born and raised in Los Angeles. He attended St. Louis University for medical school and Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago for his internal medicine residency. His cardiology fellowship was completed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received the title of Fellow of the Year, and was a Chief Fellow during his final year of fellowship. He subsequently proceeded to his electrophysiology training at the University of Chicago. His research interests include conduction system pacing, subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators, and conduction system ventricular tachycardias. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Echocardiography and Cardiac Electrophysiology. From the implantable cardiac device perspective, he is trained in placement of pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization devices (including biventricular devices and conduction system pacing), and lead extraction. From the perspective of ablation, he is trained in atrial flutter, supraventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contraction, and ventricular tachycardia ablation.

Andrew Chen - MD, FACC, FHRS

Electrophysiologist

Jairo Espinosa is a Colombian-American cardiothoracic surgeon. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of South Florida followed by medical school at Ross University School of medicine where he graduated with highest honors. He did his general surgery residency at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine. Throughout his general surgery training, Dr. Espinosa received multiple honors including research awards, top surgical skills, and the most outstanding resident award. Following residency, he successfully completed cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Temple University Hospital. He has performed research on cardiac ERAS protocols, lung cancer, and various other subjects within the field of general and cardiothoracic surgery. He has special interests in socioeconomic disparities, robotics, hyperhidrosis, and lung cancer screening. He is trained in general, cardiovascular, and thoracic surgery and specializes in robotic surgery, lung cancer, foregut, sympathectomy, benign lung disease, mediastinal diseases, coronary artery disease, off-pump/beating heart coronary surgery, and structural heart disease. He is general surgery board certified and cardiothoracic surgery board eligible. He has bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish.

Jairo Espinosa - MD, FACS

Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Dr. Chan joined our team in 2023 as a non-invasive cardiologist and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Echocardiography. He completed his undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University followed by his medical school education at University of Maryland. He subsequently did his residency and fellowship training at University of Maryland Medical Center.

Steven Chan - MD, FACC

General Cardiology

Dr. Choy joined our team in 2023 as an interventional cardiologist who specializes in performing structural heart disease interventions. He completed his cardiology fellowship at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and his interventional/structural heart disease fellowship at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Echocardiography, Cardiac CT, and Interventional Cardiology. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology as well as the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. He is trained in a wide range of invasive/interventional procedures including diagnostic cardiac catheterization, coronary angioplasty and stenting, intravascular imaging (IVUS and OCT), rotational atherectomy, intravascular lithotripsy (Shockwave), and implantation of percutaneous mechanical circulatory support devices (Impella). He received additional fellowship training in structural heart disease interventions including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), percutaneous atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale closure, percutaneous left atrial appendage closure (Watchman), and mitral/tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (mTEER/tTEER). 

Ho-Hin Choy - MD, FACC

Interventional Cardiologist

Dr. Chui joined the team in 2023. He is an interventional cardiologist that specializes in the evaluation of coronary artery disease, coronary physiology, and structural heart disease. Dr. Chui attended Stanford University for his undergraduate education and Yale University for his medical degree. He completed his residency at University of California, Irvine after which he returned to Yale to serve as clinical faculty in internal medicine and pursue additional training in health services research. He then stayed on at Yale for his general cardiology fellowship, and returned to California to complete his interventional cardiology fellowship at Kaiser Los Angeles. Dr. Chui is committed to providing evidence-based care to his patients whether in clinic or within the catheterization laboratory.  He has clinical interests in new catheter-based therapies, cardiac critical care, and new pharmaceuticals for prevention of coronary artery disease. His primary academic interest is in outcomes research, specifically improving the quality of care for patients undergoing cardiac procedures. He has published in leading cardiology journals and consistently been a speaker at national conferences. He is currently serving on the American College of Cardiology's NCDR, Research and Publications Committee. Dr. Chui is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac CT, peripheral vascular interpretation, echocardiogram, and nuclear cardiology.

Philip Chui - MD, FACC

Interventional Cardiologist

Frankie joined our team in 2018. Frankie received his degree in nursing at California State University, Fullerton before obtaining his Master of nursing degree with a speciality in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care at California State University, Los Angeles.

FRANKIE MING-LUNG LU - MSN, NP, AGPCNP-C, RN

Nurse Practitioner

Wendy joined our team in 2018. She received her Bachelor of nursing degree at Western Governors University before obtaining her Master of nursing degree at University of California, Los Angeles. She is certified as an acute care nurse practitioner with a focus on adult gerontology and as a progressive care certified nurse.

Wendy joined our team in 2018. She received her Bachelor of nursing degree at Western Governors University before obtaining her Master of nursing degree at University of California, Los Angeles. She is certified as an acute care nurse practitioner with a focus on adult gerontology and as a progressive care certified nurse.

WENDY WAN YIN YEUNG - MSN, NP, ACNPC-AG, CVNP-BC, RN, PCCN

Nurse Practitioner

Doris joined us in 2020. She received her Bachelor and Masters of nursing degree at University of Pennsylvania. Doris has experience as a director of nursing and is certified as a family nurse practitioner.

DORIS H. CHAN - MSN, NP, ANCC-FNP, RN

Nurse Practitioner

Wayne joined our team in 2021. He received his Bachelor of Nursing degree at West Coast University and Masters of Nursing degree at California State University, Long Beach. Wayne has experience as an emergency room nurse and is certified as a family nurse practitioner.

Wayne K. Suen - MSN, NP, AANP- FNP, RN

Nurse Practitioner

Emily joined our team in 2014. Emily obtained her Bachelor of nursing at National Taiwan University before moving on to her Master of nursing at Yale University. She is board certified as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner.

Emily Yi-Tien Liu - RN, MSN, ANP-C

Nurse Practitioner


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Southern California Heart Centers

506 West Valley Blvd., Suite 100,
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Tel: (626) 308-3800 Fax: (626) 308-1899