Olean, NY – Christopher Mallavarapu, MD, FACC, SCAI, was presented the golden stethoscope award on Tuesday, March 21.  Dr. Mallavarapu, also known throughout the organization and community as “Dr. Chris”, is a cardiologist and medical director of the cardiology program at Olean General Hospital (OGH).

The golden stethoscope award is a result of nominations from employees and presented semi-annually to a physician who exhibits an exceptional level of professionalism, integrity, and teamwork in caring for patients and families, as well as interacting with hospital staff members and fellow physicians. 

The award is presented to one physician throughout the entire Upper Allegheny Health System who meets the high standard of providing high quality patient care. 

“Since the cath lab’s inception in 2013 until 2021, Dr. Mallavarapu was the sole provider performing life-saving procedures, taking calls 24/7, and providing all the cardiac care to patients during that time.  He’s an effective communicator and has phenomenal bedside manner by putting his patients at ease answering all their questions and he thoroughly discusses diagnoses, procedures, and results with patients and their families,” according to his nomination.  “He’s very knowledgeable, kind, compassionate, caring, and a great asset to the community and the organization.”

Dr. Mallavarapu has been at OGH since 2013 and has helped to expand the current interventional catheterization laboratory program, a valuable life-saving program for a rural community.  He has performed over 12,000 cardiac catheterization procedures throughout his career. 

Under his direction, the cardiac catheterization program has performed roughly 5,000 heart catheterization procedures, over 1,300 Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedures and over 730 ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) procedures.  Though Olean’s population is a little over 13,000, under Dr. Mallavarapu’ s leadership, the cardiac catheterization program at OGH performs roughly 1% of all emergency heart attack procedures in New York State! 

Dr. Mallavarapu earned his medical degree at State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, NY, completed his residency at SUNY Stony Brook in Internal Medicine.  He also has completed fellowships in clinical cardiology, electrophysiology, and interventional cardiology all at University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, Pa.  Dr. Mallavarapu is American Board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology.