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MVC History
In 1975 Dr. Richard Pratt had just completed his Cardiology fellowship at the West Roxbury VA Hospital in Boston. His first instinct was to accept a position as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at that VA hospital, but had second thoughts about an academic position. Being more clinically oriented he decided to go into private practice and found out about a position opening up in Lowell. 
For a year and a half he was the Director of the ICU at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital and worked out of a private office in Chelmsford.
As his practice began to quickly grow, Dr. Pratt invited his medical school colleague, Dr. Kenneth Murphy, then in a practice in New Jersey, to help out. In December of 1976 Merrimack Valley Cardiology was founded. At this point they decided to concentrate on primarily Cardiology issues, and they expanded the practice to the old St. John’s Hospital in Lowell. They prided their practice on hard work and the hope of providing high quality Cardiology care to the Lowell community.
These New England principles proved highly successful, and MVC gained an excellent reputation. They found a large population of untreated coronary and valvular heart disease in the Lowell community and prided themselves on providing this blue collar former mill town with the best quality care that the Boston Cardiology community could offer.
In 1980 Dr. Robert Shulman was added to the practice from his training also at the West Roxbury. Dr. Jose Carrion was at that time in the old Medical Associates in Chelmsford and had a large population of patients. When that organization dissolved in 1988, Dr. Carrion and his patients were absorbed into MVC, and the practice began playing a larger role at Lowell General Hospital. Another office on Bridge street in Lowell expanded the practice to the Dracut line and allowed for an office-based Cardiac Rehabilitation facility.
In 1989 Dr. Richard Birkhead joined the practice from his training at the St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and in 1991 performed the first Cardiac Catheterization in Lowell at the Lowell General Hospital. Within the next few years Dr. William Dietz (later relocating to a practice in Maine) and Dr. James Waters also came from St. Elizabeth’s and were the first to provide the patients of MVC the opportunity to go to Lahey Clinic for coronary angioplasty.
Advancements in Cardiology, more cardiac catheterization and angioplasty procedures, and a higher quality of care meant more patients for MVC. Drs. Harsh Sanchorawala and Walter Jo were added from the training program at Boston University to fill the void in patient care and procedural and noninvasive testing support. Dr. Eric Ewald from the University of Massachusetts in Worcester was hired in rapid succession.
When coronary angioplasty came to the Lowell hospitals in 2004, MVC recruited additional interventional (angioplasty) cardiologists, Drs. Omar Ali and Kirk MacNaught, who had also trained in Worcester, were added to the roster. Branching out to the Nashoba Valley Medical Center expanded the horizons of MVC in an effort to provide high quality care in that region and develop a larger population base to support the practice.
After 30 years of service to the Lowell community Dr. Pratt retired in 2005 and Dr. Murphy followed in 2007. 
Dr. Arash Tabaee, practicing in New York City but recently trained at Boston University, was brought on and added considerable knowledge of noninvasive testing. In 2007 the technology of Cardiology had expanded to the extent that MVC hired a specialist in Cardiac Electrophysiology from the Lahey Clinic, Dr. Benjamin Smith, who brought with him expertise in rhythm management and device implantation such as defibrillators.
In August 2008 Dr. Christopher D. Hong joined MVC following his extensive non-invasive training at Tufts Medical Center to fill the need for yet another non-invasive cardiologist as the practice has become increasingly busier. And just as Dr. Pratt and Dr. Murphy had years before, MVC will continue the tradition and ideals of high quality Cardiology care in the greater Lowell community.