A new consultant cardiologist has been appointed by Bermuda Hospitals Board.

Joseph Yammine came to the Island in August to provide outpatient consultations to people with heart disease and specialised cardiac care for hospitalised and emergency patients at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

BHB said in a press release that his appointment would help improve hospital standards, treatments and diagnostics for people with heart disease, Bermuda’s number one killer of men and women.

Before coming to Bermuda, Dr Yammine was a member of the Brigham and Women Cardiovascular Associates at Care New England in Rhode Island.

He was a full-time faculty member with the rank of assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) of Brown University.

Dr Yammine was also a previous director of the Echocardiography Laboratory at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island until 2011 and immediate past director of the electrocardiography laboratory at the same institution.

He finished medical school at the Lebanese University in Beirut, where he graduated as a first laureate. He then moved to the US for postdoctoral training in internal medicine, cardiology and electrophysiology at the State University of New York, Brown University and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

He is board certified in cardiovascular medicine, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, echocardiography and cardiac computer tomography.