Cardiology care for Ojai and the upper Ventura River Valley
If a primary care doctor on Matilija Street mentioned that your blood pressure is creeping up, if you’ve been short of breath on the back nine at Soule Park, or if a recent ER visit at Community Memorial in Ventura ended with “follow up with a cardiologist” — our Tarzana office is the closest CACVI location, roughly 50 minutes southeast on the 33 and the 101.
Ojai skews older than the Ventura County average, and most of the patients who drive down to see us are 60-plus, hands-on about their own health, and want a cardiologist who explains the imaging rather than ordering more tests. Dr. Mehran J. Khorsandi and Dr. Moinakhtar Lala have practiced cardiology and vascular medicine for more than thirty years and performed over 15,000 procedures between them. The visit format is what most of our Ojai patients tell us they were looking for: one physician, one room, no rotating fellows, no rushed handoffs.
Find out the cause of your heart condition.
The Ojai patients we see usually come in for one of three reasons: hypertension that’s drifted upward despite lifestyle work, palpitations that don’t fit the wellness routine they’ve been keeping for years, or post-COVID changes in exercise tolerance on the trails above the East End. Our team can perform a cardiac evaluation — exam, EKG, echo, stress test where useful — in a single visit at our Tarzana office, about 50 minutes from downtown Ojai via the 33 and the 101 south. We try to book Ojai appointments mid-morning so the drive misses Conejo traffic.
Ojai Cardiac Specialists
Both physicians are board-certified and published, but for Ojai patients the relevant detail is usually the time spent in the room. Our doctors review your records before you arrive, do the imaging themselves, and send a written summary back to your Ojai primary care provider — whether that’s a private internist on Ojai Avenue or your Kaiser doctor in Ventura.
Be prepared.
Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura is the closest full-service ER for Ojai residents, and Ojai Valley Community Hospital handles less acute presentations locally. If you’ve been discharged from either with instructions to see a cardiologist soon, call us and we’ll fit you in for the post-discharge follow-up. Ojai households should also be familiar with an AED — sudden cardiac arrest survival drops about 10% for every minute without defibrillation, and ambulance response time into the upper valley can run longer than urban averages.
The first visit for an Ojai patient generally runs 60 to 90 minutes. We work through your history — family cardiac events, current medications, what symptoms come up at what intensity — then do a physical exam, EKG, and an echocardiogram if it’s indicated. If your records live at Ojai Valley Community or Community Memorial Ventura, bring the disc or sign a release ahead of time. The Tarzana office is at 18226 Ventura Blvd, Suite 102, Tarzana, CA 91356; from Ojai, take the 33 south to the 101, exit at Reseda — about 50 minutes outside peak hours.
Protect your heart.
Trust Your Heart to Our Expert Care
Adults 65 and older make up close to a third of Ojai’s population, well above the Ventura County average, and most of the local cardiac risk picture is age-driven: atrial fibrillation prevalence, calcified valves, slow-progressing coronary disease. The encouraging part for our Ojai patients is that these conditions are highly manageable when monitored on a regular schedule — an annual cardiology visit catches most issues long before they end with a 911 call from the East End.
High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (47%) have at least one of these three risk factors.
Our goal at CACVI is to help you achieve healthier living. As a stepping stone to healthier living, our physicians perform a variety of tests right here in our office. Our in-office diagnostic procedures can help our physicians and you determine a course of treatment that may help you improve your health and wellness for a better quality of living.
CACVI’s experienced cardiologists are determined to provide each patient with experienced, compassionate care as they work diligently to improve your health.
Dr. Moinakhtar Lala and Dr. Mehran J. Khorsandi
Meet Your Ojai Cardiologists
The Center for Advanced Cardiac and Vascular Interventions (CACVI) is led by Dr. Khorsandi and Dr. Lala, who have over thirty years of practice with over 15,000 vascular and cardiac procedures performed. Our physicians are determined to provide each patient with experienced, compassionate care as they work diligently to improve your health.
What our patients say
