Wellstar Cardiovascular Medicine

A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Ada Mercado received her undergraduate degree from InterAmerican University and attended medical school at Pedro Henríquez Ureña. She completed her internal medicine residency in the Mayagüez Medical Center and her cardiovascular disease fellowship at Ponce School of Medicine & Health Sciences St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. Dr. Mercado then completed an echocardiography fellowship at Tulane and Louisiana State University in New Orleans, LA. She also completed nuclear cardiology training at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Mercado is board-certified in cardiovascular disease. She is a member of the American College of Cardiology and American Echcoardiography Society. Her special interests include general cardiology, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiogram, and nuclear cardiology.

She joined Wellstar in January 2011 from the Atlanta Heart Center where she was a founding physician in 2002.

Dr. Amar Patel received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and went on to complete a fellowship in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology at Emory University. Dr. Patel is a professional member of the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Intervention.

Dr. Patel is board-certified in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is a member of several medical and professional societies. He has advanced training in cardiac and peripheral vascular imaging and extensive experience in clinical research. Dr. Patel's areas of interest include: percutaneous coronary intervention, structural heart disease/congenital heart defects, and valvular hear disease.

Dr. Patel joined Wellstar in August 2007. He is currently on staff at Wellstar Cobb, Douglas, Kennestone and Paulding hospitals. When not at work, Dr. Patel loves to spend time with his wife and children. He also enjoys traveling and reading.

A native of New Orleans, Dr. Reitman is a board certified cardiologist who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis in 1991 and then earned a medical degree from Louisiana State University, New Orleans, in 1995. After completing an internship and residency in internal medicine at Tufts Affiliated Hospitals in Boston, MA, Dr. Reitman completed a Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at Brown University, Providence, R.I. After an Interventional Fellowship at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, completed 2002, Dr Reitman started clinic practice in Marietta , GA.

Instrumental towards bringing interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery to Cobb County, Dr Reitman has been a perennial high volume operator, and has played an integral role in the development of Complex PCI, Cardiogenic Shock and Structural Heart Teams for Wellstar Health Systems. Teaching activities have involved live rotational atherectomy courses and complex interventional courses for interventional physicians from around the country.Starting as a three-physician interventional group at one hospital, Dr Reitman helped grow an interventional program that now touches a broad geography across the Atlanta metropolitan area, represented by over 18 interventional physicians in 9 separate cardiac cath labs. He has served as the system level cardiac catheterization lab director since 2009.

Dr Reitman has been involved in a number of coronary and structural heart trials in collaboration with other Wellstar physicians, including trials involving the Synergy and Onyx platforms, the Edwards Sapien and Evolut valves. Reitman has been involved with the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Cardiology since his arrival in Atlanta in 2002 .