Ali Nsair, MD

Specialty

Interventional Cardiology

About

Ali Nsair, M.D., is a physician-scientist who strives to develop stem-cell based therapies to regenerate the heart following heart disease and heart attack. His research focuses on studying cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) – stem cells that create heart cells – that are found in the human fetal heart. He hopes that a better understanding of how CPCs develop will enable him and other researchers to recreate this process to generate CPCs from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). These patient specific iPSC-derived CPCs grown in the lab could be transplanted in diseased human hearts to regenerate tissue that has been lost or damaged.  

In the clinic, Nsair treats patients with advanced heart disease and patients undergoing heart transplants and other procedures that aim to restore heart function. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and the western world; the survival rate of patients with heart failure is just 50 percent five years after diagnosis. Heart transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with advanced heart failure, but due to a shortage of donors and the risk of serious complications, including immunosuppression, this is a limited option. Nsair aims to reduce or eliminate the need for heart transplants by developing treatments that regenerate the heart using heart cells derived from patients' own induced pluripotent stem cells.

Nsair studies embryonic CPCs and the microenvironment, or 'niche,' that supports and surrounds the cells to understand their developmental evolution. In pre-clinical studies, his lab has identified and isolated CPC populations from differentiating human iPSCs. The team then demonstrated that these iPSC-derived CPCs can integrate into and regenerate heart tissue following heart attack in animal models. They are now focused on translating this work to the clinic. The Nsair lab is also examining the control networks that regulate the CPCs' niche in order to inform the development of methods to generate large amounts of iPSC-derived CPCs in the lab for use in regenerative therapies.

Nsair earned a medical degree from the University of Alberta, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine. He subsequently completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease and stem cell biology and advanced heart failure and transplantation at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.

Education & Experience

Medical School & Residency

University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine

Medical School

UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine/UCLA Medical Center

Fellowship, Cardiovascular Disease

UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine/UCLA Medical Center

Fellowship, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology

Hospital Affiliations

UCLA Santa Monica Medical CenterSanta Monica, CA

Certifications & Licensure

American Board of Internal Medicine

Certified in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology

American Board of Internal Medicine

Certified in Cardiovascular Disease

American Board of Internal Medicine

Certified in Internal Medicine

CA State Medical License

Active through 2024

Publications

Perceived Barriers to Sacubitril/Valsartan Use in Patients with Heart Failure

Kevin S Shah, Boback Ziaeian, Freny V Mody, Ali Nsair, Gregg C Fonarow

Perceived Barriers to Sacubitril/Valsartan Use in Patients with Heart Failure

Kevin S Shah, Boback Ziaeian, Freny V Mody, Ali Nsair, Gregg C Fonarow

Heart and Heart‐Liver Transplantation in Adults with Failing Fontan Physiology

Ronald W Busuttil, Ali Nsair, Hillel Laks, Abbas Ardehali, Eugene C DePasquale, Mario C Deng, Jeannette P Lin, Robert S Venick, Leigh C Reardon, Reshma M Biniwale, Fady M Kaldas, Jamil A Aboulhosn

Outcomes in orthotopic heart transplantation following pacemaker implantation.

Duc H Do, Katherine L Bailey, Ryan Beyer, Samuel Neubuerger, Jason Bradfield, Kalyanam Shivkumar, Ali Nsair, Noel G Boyle

Exploring the relationship between epigenetic DNA methylation and cardiac fibrosis through Raman microspectroscopy.

Lucas Becker, Ivonne A Montes-Mojarro, Shannon Lee Layland, Ali Nsair, Falko Fend, Julia Marzi, Katja Schenke-Layland

Raman microspectroscopy identifies fibrotic tissues in collagen-related disorders via deconvoluted collagen type I spectra.

Lucas Becker, Chuan-En Lu, Ivonne A Montes-Mojarro, Shannon L Layland, Suzan Khalil, Ali Nsair, Garry P Duffy, Falko Fend, Julia Marzi, Katja Schenke-Layland

Outcomes of heart transplant recipients bridged with percutaneous versus durable left ventricular assist devices.

Yu Xia, Juka S Kim, Isabel K Eng, Ali Nsair, Abbas Ardehali, Richard J Shemin, Murray H Kwon

Early trends in cardiac allograft vasculopathy after implementation of the 2018 donor heart allocation policy in the United States.

David M Tehrani, Juka S Kim, Jeffrey J Hsu, Ali Nsair, Kiran K Khush, William F Fearon, Rushi V Parikh

Characteristics and outcomes of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock during COVID-19.

Michael J Ahlers, Pratyaksh K Srivastava, Mir B Basir, William W O'Neill, Michael Hacala, Kareem Ammar, Suzan Khalil, John Hollowed, Ali Nsair

Hemodynamic effects of COVID-19 vaccination in hospitalized patients awaiting heart transplantation.

Rachel E Ohman, Michael C DiVita, Meshe Chonde, Stephanie Fraschilla, Ali Nsair, Daniel Cruz, Jeffrey J Hsu

Implementation and outcomes of an urban mobile adult extracorporeal life support program.

Joseph Hadaya, Yas Sanaiha, Vadim Gudzenko, Nida Qadir, Sumit Singh, Ali Nsair, Nam Yong Cho, Richard J Shemin, Peyman Benharash

The Impact of Transitioning From In-Person to Virtual Heart Transplantation Selection Committee Meetings: Observational Study.

Rongzi Shan, Neha V Chandra, Jeffrey J Hsu, Stephanie Fraschilla, Melissa Moore, Abbas Ardehali, Ali Nsair, Rushi V Parikh

Fractional Flow Reserve in End-Stage Liver Disease.

Preetham Kumar, Juka S Kim, Jonathan Gordin, Henry M Honda, William Suh, Michael S Lee, Marcella Press, Ali Nsair, Olcay Aksoy, Ronald W Busuttil, Jonathan Tobis, Rushi V Parikh

Benefits of both physical assessment and electronic health record review to assess frailty prior to heart transplant.

Yoon Kyung Lee, Marina Shukman, Reshma Biniwale, Abbas Ardehali, Megan Kamath, Ali Nsair, Joanna M Schaenman, Deena Goldwater

Evaluating Factors of Greater Patient Satisfaction with Outpatient Cardiology Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

David Cho, Suzan Khalil, M. Kamath, Holly Wilhalme, Angelica Lewis, M. Moore, Ali Nsair

Change in Invasively Measured Mean Pulmonary Artery Pressure After Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair Is Associated With Heart Failure Readmission.

David M. Tehrani, Jiexi Wang, Parntip Lai, Pooja S. Desai, Heajung L. Nguyen, Lisa Bang, Eric H. Yang, Gabriel Vorobiof, Ali Nsair, Olcay Aksoy, Marcella Calfon Press, Rushi V. Parikh

Trends in utilization, mortality, and resource use after implantation of left ventricular assist devices in the United States.

Yas Sanaiha, Peter Downey, Robert Lyons, Ali Nsair, Richard J. Shemin, Peyman Benharash

Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome and the cardiovascular system: What is known?

Neal M. Dixit, Austin Churchill, Ali Nsair, Jeffrey J. Hsu

Should SGLT2i be used prior to transcatheter edge-to-edge repair for secondary mitral regurgitation?

Neal M. Dixit, Ali Nsair, Marcella Calfon Press

Orthotopic Heart and Combined Heart Liver Transplantation: the Ultimate Treatment Option for Failing Fontan Physiology.

Leigh C. Reardon, Jeannette Lin, Glen S VanArsdell, Fady M. Kaldas, Gentian Lluri, Weiyi Tan, Katrina M Whalen, Daniel Cruz, Ali Nsair, Mario C. Deng, Melissa A. Moore, Hillel Laks, Reshma Biniwale, Sammy Saab, Andrew J. Baird, James M. Wilson, Lorraine N Lubin, Jure Marijic, Tiffany M. Williams, Christopher Wray, Joseph S. Meltzer, Vadim Gudzenko, Wolf B. Kratzert, Jacques Neelankavil, Robert S. Venick, Jamil Aboulhosn

Nidogen-1 Mitigates Ischemia and Promotes Tissue Survival and Regeneration.

Aline Zbinden, Shannon L. Layland, Max Urbanczyk, Daniel A. Carvajal Berrio, Julia Marzi, Monika Zauner, Anne Hammerschmidt, Eva Brauchle, Katrin Sudrow, Simon Fink, Markus F. Templin, Simone Liebscher, Gerd Klein, Arjun Deb, Garry P. Duffy, Johannes A. Eble, Hanna K. A. Mikkola, Ali Nsair, Martina Seifert, Katja Schenke-Layland

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor and Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker Use Among Outpatients Diagnosed With COVID-19.

David Bae, David M. Tehrani, Soniya V. Rabadia, Marlene Frost, Rushi V. Parikh, Marcella Calfon-Press, Olcay Aksoy, Soban Umar, Reza Ardehali, Amir B. Rabbani, Pooya Bokhoor, Ali Nsair, Jesse Currier, Jonathan M. Tobis, Gregg C. Fonarow, Ravi Dave, Asim M. Rafique

Discovery of non-HLA antibodies associated with cardiac allograft rejection and development and validation of a non-HLA antigen multiplex panel: From bench to bedside

Carrie Butler, Michelle J. Hickey, Ning Jiang, Ying Zheng, David W. Gjertson, Qiuheng Zhang, Ping Rao, Gregory A. Fishbein, Martin Cadeiras, Mario C. Deng, Hector L. Banchs, G. Torre, David DeNofrio, Howard J. Eisen, Jon A. Kobashigawa, Randall C. Starling, Abdallah G. Kfoury, Adrian B. Van Bakel, Gregory A. Ewald, Ivan Balazs, A. Baas, Daniel Cruz, Reza Ardehali, Reshma Biniwale, Murray Kwon, Abbas Ardehali, Ali Nsair, Bryan Ray, Elaine F. Reed

Relapsing Polychondritis Requiring Orthotopic Heart Transplant Despite Coronary Artery Bypass and Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement

David Bae, C. Lum, R. Chand, Eugene C. DePasquale, Ali Nsair, Reza Ardehali

Heart transplantation in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: A single-center case series.

Jeffrey J. Hsu, Farah Al-Saffar, Reza Ardehali, A. Baas, Margrit Carlson, Daniel Cruz, Mario C. Deng, Ashley Fan, S. Fraschilla, Pryce Gaynor, M. Kamath, Bernard M. Kubak, Joanna Schaenman, Emily Stimpson, D. Vucicevic, Abbas Ardehali, Ali Nsair

COVID-19 in a high-risk dual heart and kidney transplant recipient.

Jeffrey J. Hsu, Pryce Gaynor, M. Kamath, Ashley Fan, Farah Al-Saffar, Daniel Cruz, Ali Nsair

Influenza A (H3N2) Induced Fulminant Myocarditis Requiring Mechanical Circulatory Support

John Hollowed, Ali Nsair

Monomorphic Ventricular Arrhythmias in Athletes.

Jeffrey J. Hsu, Ali Nsair, Jamil Aboulhosn, Tamara B. Horwich, Ravi Dave, Kevin Shannon, Noel G. Boyle, Kalyanam Shivkumar, Jason S. Bradfield

Heart and heart-liver transplantation in adults with failing Fontan physiology.

Leigh C. Reardon, Eugene C. DePasquale, Jana Tarabay, Daniel Cruz, Hillel Laks, Reshma Biniwale, Ronald W. Busuttil, Fady M. Kaldas, Sammy Saab, Robert S. Venick, Jeannette Lin, Ali Nsair, Mario C. Deng, Abbas Ardehali, Martin Caderias, Amit Iygengar, Jamil Aboulhosn

Temporary Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Ten-Year Experience at a Cardiac Transplant Center:

Bao G. Tran, Kim I. de la Cruz, Stuart Grant, Joseph S. Meltzer, Peyman Benharash, Ravi Dave, Abbas Ardehali, Richard J. Shemin, Eugene C. DePasquale, Ali Nsair

Clinical phenomapping and outcomes after heart transplantation.

M. Bakir, Nicholas Jackson, Simon X. Han, Alex A. T. Bui, E. Chang, David A. Liem, Abbas Ardehali, Reza Ardehali, A. Baas, Marcella Calfon Press, Daniel Cruz, Mario C. Deng, Eugene C. DePasquale, Gregg C. Fonarow, T. Khuu, Murray Kwon, Bernard M. Kubak, Ali Nsair, Jennifer Phung, Elaine F. Reed, Joanna Schaenman, Richard J. Shemin, Qiuheng J. Zhang, Chi-Hong Tseng, Martin Cadeiras

Case Report: First Reported Combined Heart-Liver Transplant in a Patient With a Congenital Solitary Kidney.

R.M. Hanna, Mohammad Kamgar, H. Hasnain, R. Khorsan, Ali Nsair, Fady M. Kaldas, A. Baas, Suphamai Bunnapradist, James M. Wilson

Drug-induced modulation of gp130 signalling prevents articular cartilage degeneration and promotes repair.

Ruzanna Shkhyan, Ben Van Handel, Jacob Bogdanov, Siyoung Lee, Yifan Yu, Mila Scheinberg, Nicholas W. Banks, Sean Limfat, Arthur Chernostrik, Carlos Eduardo da Silveira Franciozi, Mohammad Parvez Alam, Varghese John, Ling Wu, Gabriel B. Ferguson, Ali Nsair, Frank A. Petrigliano, C. Thomas Vangsness, Kanagasabai Vadivel, Paul Bajaj, Liming Wang, Nancy Q. Liu, Denis Evseenko

Steps toward Maturation of Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes by Defined Physical Signals.

Nian Shen, Anne Knopf, Claas Westendorf, Udo Kraushaar, Julia Riedl, Hannah Bauer, Simone Pöschel, Shannon L. Layland, Monika Holeiter, Stefan Knolle, Eva Brauchle, Ali Nsair, Svenja Hinderer, Katja Schenke-Layland

Exogenous miR-29B Delivery Through a Hyaluronan-Based Injectable System Yields Functional Maintenance of the Infarcted Myocardium

Michael G. Monaghan, Monika Holeiter, Eva Brauchle, Shannon L. Layland, Yan Lu, Arjun Deb, Abhay Pandit, Ali Nsair, Katja Schenke-Layland

Survival After Heart Transplantation in Patients With Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy

Eugene C. DePasquale, Richard Cheng, Mario C. Deng, Ali Nsair, William J. McKenna, Gregg C. Fonarow, Daniel Jacoby

Heart Failure Therapies for End-Stage Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiomyopathy.

Roy B. Mukku, Gregg C. Fonarow, Karol E. Watson, Olujimi A. Ajijola, Eugene C. DePasquale, Ali Nsair, A. Baas, Mario C. Deng, Eric H. Yang

Non-invasive Chamber-Specific Identification of Cardiomyocytes in Differentiating Pluripotent Stem Cells

Eva Brauchle, Anne Knopf, Hannah Bauer, Nian Shen, Sandra Linder, Michael G. Monaghan, Kornelia Ellwanger, Shannon L. Layland, Sara Y. Brucker, Ali Nsair, Katja Schenke-Layland

Images in Clinical Medicine. Left Main Coronary Artery Stent Migration.

Sasikanth Adigopula, Ali Nsair

Outcomes of biventricular mechanical support patients discharged to home to await heart transplantation.

Julie W. Creaser, Darlene Rourke, Elizabeth Vandenbogaart, Tamara Chaker, Ali Nsair, Richard Cheng, Gregg C. Fonarow, Nancy Livingston, Elan Howell, Newman Huie, A. Baas, Mario C. Deng, A. Hickey, Richard J. Shemin, W. Robb MacLellan

Percutaneous angioplasty of stenotic outflow graft anastomosis of HeartMate II.

Richard Cheng, Jamil Aboulhosn, Ali Nsair

THY-1 Receptor Expression Differentiates Cardiosphere-Derived Cells with Divergent Cardiogenic Differentiation Potential

Nuria Gago-Lopez, Obinna Awaji, Yiqiang Zhang, Christopher Y. Ko, Ali Nsair, David A. Liem, April Stempien-Otero, W. Robb MacLellan

Molecular- and Organelle-Based Predictive Paradigm Underlying Recovery by Left Ventricular Assist Device Support

David A. Liem, Ali Nsair, Shaun P. Setty, Martin Cadeiras, Ding Wang, Robb W. MacLellan, Chris Lotz, Amanda J. Lin, Jason D. Tabaraki, Hua Li, Junbo Ge, Jacob Odeberg, Fredrik Pontén, Erik Larson, Jan Mulder, Emma Lundberg, James N. Weiss, Mathias Uhlén, Peipei Ping, Mario C. Deng

Management of ACCF/AHA Stage C heart failure.

Sasikanth Adigopula, Rey P. Vivo, Eugene C. DePasquale, Ali Nsair, Mario C. Deng

Molecular Basis of Recovering on Mechanical Circulatory Support

Ali Nsair, David A. Liem, Martin Cadeiras, Richard Cheng, Mrudula Allareddy, Murray Kwon, Richard J. Shemin, Mario C. Deng

Human developmental chondrogenesis as a basis for engineering chondrocytes from pluripotent stem cells.

Ling Wu, Carolina Bluguermann, Levon Kyupelyan, Brooke Latour, Stephanie Gonzalez, Saumya Shah, Zoran Galić, Sundi Ge, Yuhua Zhu, Frank A. Petrigliano, Ali Nsair, Santiago Gabriel Miriuka, Xin-Min Li, Karen M. Lyons, David R. McAllister, Ben Van Handel, John S. Adams, Denis Evseenko

Obesity in heart failure: impact on survival and treatment modalities.

Richard Cheng, Eugene C. DePasquale, Mario C. Deng, Ali Nsair, Tamara B. Horwich

Electrical Homogenization of Ventricular Scar by Application of Collagenase A Novel Strategy for Arrhythmia Therapy

Daigo Yagishita, Olujimi A. Ajijola, Marmar Vaseghi, Ali Nsair, Wei Zhou, Kentaro Yamakawa, Roderick Tung, Aman Mahajan, Kalyanam Shivkumar

Elastogenesis at the onset of human cardiac valve development.

Miriam Votteler, Daniel A. Carvajal Berrio, Alexander Horke, Laetitia Sabatier, Dieter P. Reinhardt, Ali Nsair, Elena Aikawa, Katja Schenke-Layland

Characterization and Therapeutic Potential of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiovascular Progenitor Cells

Ali Nsair, Katja Schenke-Layland, Ben Van Handel, Denis Evseenko, Michael Kahn, Peng Zhao, Joseph Mendelis, Sanaz Heydarkhan, Obina Awaji, Miriam Vottler, Susanne Geist, Jennifer Chyu, Nuria Gago-Lopez, Kathrin Plath, Josh Goldhaber, Hanna K. A. Mikkola, W. Robb MacLellan

Induced pluripotent stem cells for regenerative cardiovascular therapies and biomedical discovery

Ali Nsair, W. Robb MacLellan

Recapitulation of the embryonic cardiovascular progenitor cell niche

Katja Schenke-Layland, Ali Nsair, Ben Van Handel, Ekaterini Angelis, Jessica M. Gluck, Miriam Votteler, Joshua I. Goldhaber, Hanna K. A. Mikkola, Michael Kahn, William R. MacLellan

Cardiomyopathy is associated with structural remodelling of heart valve extracellular matrix

Katja Schenke-Layland, Ulrich A. Stock, Ali Nsair, Jiansong Xie, Ekaterini Angelis, Carissa G. Fonseca, Robert Larbig, Aman Mahajan, Kalyanam Shivkumar, Michael C. Fishbein, William R. MacLellan

Original articleAdult cardiacInvited Commentary

Ali Nsair, Katja Schenke-Layland

Preferential Expression and Function of Voltage-Gated, O2-Sensitive K+ Channels in Resistance Pulmonary Arteries Explains Regional Heterogeneity in Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction: Ionic Diversity in Smooth Muscle Cells

Stephen L. Archer, Xichen Wu, Bernard Thébaud, Ali Nsair, Sébastien Bonnet, Ben Tyrrell, M. Sean McMurtry, Kyoko Hashimoto, Gwyneth Harry, Evangelos D. Michelakis

O2 sensing in the human ductus arteriosus: regulation of voltage-gated K+ channels in smooth muscle cells by a mitochondrial redox sensor.

Evangelos D. Michelakis, Ivan M. Rebeyka, Xichen Wu, Ali Nsair, Bernard Thébaud, Kyoko Hashimoto, Jason R.B. Dyck, Al Haromy, Gwyneth Harry, Amy J. Barr, Stephen L. Archer

Diversity in Mitochondrial Function Explains Differences in Vascular Oxygen Sensing

Evangelos D. Michelakis, Vaclav Hampl, Ali Nsair, XiCheng Wu, Gwyneth Harry, Al Haromy, Rachita Gurtu, Stephen L. Archer

Impairment of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in mice lacking the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.5

Stephen L. Archer, Barry London, Vaclav Hampl, Xichen Wu, Ali Nsair, Lakshmi Puttagunta, Kyoko Hashimoto, Ross Waite, Evangelos D. Michelakis

Potassium channels regulate tone in rat pulmonary veins

Evangelos D. Michelakis, E. Kenneth Weir, Xichen Wu, Ali Nsair, Ross Waite, Kyoko Hashimoto, Lakshmi Puttagunta, Hans-Günther Knaus, Stephen L. Archer