Rural Medical Partners brings board-certified interventional specialists, clinical staff, and the operational backbone required to deliver advanced procedural care — directly inside the critical access hospitals that anchor their communities.
Every year, interventional specialists graduate — and nearly all of them go to metropolitan centers. The communities that need them most are left driving hours for care their local hospital could be providing.
Critical access hospitals compete against urban health systems with deeper pockets and every lifestyle advantage. Traditional recruitment rarely works — and when it does, retention is the next battle.
When a community learns its hospital can't handle a cardiac, vascular, or interventional procedure, those patients start leaving for primary care, imaging, and labs too. Outmigration compounds.
Interventional cardiology, IR, pain, and vascular are among the highest-margin outpatient service lines in medicine. Losing them makes it harder to support the ER and the floors your community depends on.
RMP was founded by physicians who grew up in or served the communities most affected by the rural care gap. Our founders trained at some of the best institutions in the country and are passionate about returning to rural communities to close the gap on specialty care.
You keep the patients. We bring the specialists, the operations, and the team to deliver care the community would otherwise have to drive hours to reach.
Three integrated pillars: the clinical talent, the logistical execution, and the ongoing stewardship that keeps programs running long after launch.
Board-certified interventionalists across cardiology, radiology, pain, spine, and vascular — credentialed, on-site, and aligned with your medical staff.
Service-line launch and sustainment — clinical staffing, scheduling, patient workup, case coordination, support-staff training, and patient and provider education. Your hospital team stays focused on the patients in front of them.
Ongoing management, quality, and growth of the service line — with transparent reporting and a partnership structured around the hospital's success.
The community keeps its patients. The hospital keeps its margin. The physicians stay engaged for the long term. That alignment is why our programs last.
RMP is led by physicians and healthcare operators — backed by strategic advisors in rural health policy, law, and hospital finance.
Physician, entrepreneur, and founder of Rural Medical Partners — raised in rural Central Washington and focused on expanding advanced care beyond urban areas.
Dr. Edward Callahan III is a physician, entrepreneur, and founder of Rural Medical Partners, a company redefining how advanced medical care reaches underserved communities. Raised in rural Central Washington, Dr. Callahan's understanding of healthcare disparities shaped his mission to expand access to high-quality medicine beyond urban areas.
He earned his M.D. through the University of Washington School of Medicine WWAMI program and completed residency in Interventional Radiology at the University of Utah. From residency, he spent time with an investor group in Salt Lake City, where he developed a passion for improving healthcare from the business side — across healthtech, medical devices, clinics, and surgery centers.
Dr. Callahan went on to found his own consulting firm focused on helping organizations solve inefficiencies and improve patient outcomes. Those experiences came together with the creation of Rural Medical Partners, where he leads a team dedicated to bringing modern medical innovations to rural communities.
Interventional cardiologist who co-founded CardioSolution and spent over a decade expanding cardiology care into rural communities before joining RMP.
Dr. Vadlamani is an interventional cardiologist. His training began in Cincinnati where he completed his fellowship in interventional cardiology. He began his academic career at Ohio State University, but relocated to Seattle to train under Dr. Bill Gray at Swedish Hospital for further expertise in peripheral vascular interventions. After his vascular fellowship, he joined the Wellstar system in Atlanta and later established an endovascular program for a large group in northern Virginia within the Inova system.
At tertiary care centers, Dr. Vadlamani met patients who traveled long distances from rural areas for specialized care. That experience ignited a sense of duty to bring cardiology care to smaller hospitals. It led to CardioSolution, which found its roots in rural South Dakota and, after a decade and a half of growth, expanded to numerous other sites.
Dr. Vadlamani exited CardioSolution several years ago with the aspiration of expanding all specialty care to rural communities, and joined Rural Medical Partners to bring multi-specialty care to critical access hospitals.
Interventional radiologist raised in rural Montana, focused on minimally invasive oncology, embolization, and expanding procedural care to underserved communities.
Dr. Aaron Smith grew up in rural Montana and is deeply committed to advancing access to high-quality specialty care in underserved communities. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Washington in Seattle, following a Master of Science in Health Science and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at Montana State University in Bozeman.
Dr. Smith completed his Diagnostic Radiology Residency (ESIR pathway) and Interventional Radiology Independent Residency at Baylor Scott & White — Texas A&M College of Medicine in Temple, Texas.
He specializes in minimally invasive, image-guided procedures including interventional oncology (Y-90 radioembolization, tumor ablation, and embolization), prostate and uterine artery embolization, PAD treatment, venous interventions, and advanced embolization techniques.
As CMO, Dr. Smith combines his IR expertise with his passion for rural healthcare access — driving innovation in patient-centered procedural care and rural outreach.
Contracts and compliance lead ensuring RMP's operations, agreements, and regulatory systems run smoothly across every partner hospital.
Emma Schifferle, JD is a contracts and compliance professional and a key partner at Rural Medical Partners, ensuring the company's operations, agreements, and compliance systems run smoothly. Originally from Maple Grove, MN, she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, focusing on organizational ethics and compliance.
A former collegiate athlete, Emma's competitive experience strengthened her teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving skills. She brings a solutions-oriented approach to navigating complex agreements, mitigating risk, and building efficient systems.
By managing the behind-the-scenes legal and operational frameworks, Emma helps Rural Medical Partners expand access to high-quality medical care in underserved communities.
Triple-board-certified interventional cardiologist with decades of practice across the greater Las Vegas region; architect of cardiology programs in remote communities like Ely, Nevada.
Dr. Zia Khan is a board-certified interventional cardiologist and cardiovascular specialist with years of experience treating patients across the greater Las Vegas region. Dr. Khan's multicultural upbringing instilled a deep belief in equal care and opportunity for all patients, regardless of background or geography.
Dr. Khan completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiology fellowships at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, graduating at the top of his class. He subsequently completed an advanced fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at the University of Louisville Medical Center. He holds triple board certifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology — a distinction that reflects the breadth and depth of his clinical training. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and a Fellow of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (FSCAI).
Over the course of his career, Dr. Khan has developed expertise across a wide spectrum of interventional procedures, including complex coronary artery interventions, carotid angioplasty and stenting, acute STEMI interventions, PFO closures, renal artery interventions, and venous stenting, ablation, and phlebectomy. He founded Desert Cardiovascular Consultants in Las Vegas in 2006, building it into a full-service cardiac and vascular care facility serving patients across the region. His office-based lab performs a high volume of peripheral vascular interventions.
Beyond his clinical practice, Dr. Khan has served in numerous administrative and leadership roles. He has served as Chief of Cardiology at Summerlin Hospital for many years, as well as its Director of the Catheterization Lab. He has held Medical Executive Committee (MEC) positions at Summerlin and Southern Hills Hospitals. He has been an Assistant Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Khan is the Director of the Cath Lab at Southern Hills Hospital, and serves as Clinical Professor at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he is involved in teaching medical students and residents.
Dr. Khan has been repeatedly recognized as a leading interventional cardiologist both in Las Vegas and nationwide. He has been voted Top Cardiologist by Vegas Inc. and My Vegas Magazine for multiple years running, named among America's Best Doctors, and featured in Good Housekeeping magazine. He has been honored as one of the Top 100 Doctors annually from 2021 to 2025. He is also a recipient of the ICON Award from the Asian Pacific American Advocates and the Man of the Year Award from Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. Philanthropy is part of Dr. Khan's life beyond medicine — he heads a non-profit organization that supports deserving charities and has donated to victims of natural disasters.
Since 2019, Dr. Khan has extended his practice into rural medicine, bringing interventional cardiology directly to underserved communities that would otherwise go without. He has been the architect and driving force behind establishing a cardiology program in Ely, Nevada — a remote community of fewer than 5,000 people — demonstrating that board-certified specialty care does not have to be a privilege of geography. That work is precisely what drew him to Rural Medical Partners, where his decades of experience in interventional cardiology and his proven commitment to rural communities help expand world-class cardiac and vascular care to the patients who need it most.
Interventional cardiologist specializing in structural heart disease — TAVR, MitraClip, PFO/ASD closures — trained at Mayo Clinic and Scripps.
Dr. Aalok Patel is an interventional cardiologist specializing in structural heart disease and vascular heart disease, including TAVR, MitraClip, PFO/ASD closures, and left atrial appendage closures. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and interventional cardiology.
Dr. Patel earned his undergraduate and medical degrees in a combined 6-year BS/MD program at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He completed his residency at the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency at Emory University School of Medicine, followed by a cardiovascular diseases fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and an advanced fellowship at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla focusing on coronary, peripheral, and structural heart disease interventions.
Currently an interventional cardiologist at Orlando Heart & Vascular Center, he has practiced with various cardiology groups across rural and underserved regions of Florida. He actively contributes to medical literature with peer-reviewed publications and clinical trial participation.
Board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist building advanced heart care where it hasn't previously existed — from safety-net hospitals in Houston to the first EP procedures in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Ijeoma Ekeruo is a board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist whose work is shaped by her upbringing in Nigeria, where access to advanced cardiac care is often limited and lifesaving treatment can be a matter of circumstance rather than need. Seeing these disparities early on instilled a deep commitment to ensuring that geography and resources do not determine who receives high-quality heart care. That perspective has guided her career across academic medicine, safety-net healthcare, and global health.
After earning her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Spelman College and her M.D. from Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Ekeruo completed combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, Cardiology and Electrophysiology training at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. As faculty at McGovern Medical School, she identified a critical gap in access to electrophysiology services at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, one of Houston's largest safety-net hospitals, and helped establish its EP service line — ensuring that patients without access to private care could still receive timely advanced arrhythmia treatment.
Today, she owns and operates Arrhythmia Care Center in Houston, serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor, and leads electrophysiology initiatives with the Cardiovascular Education Foundation — helping build sustainable EP programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, including participating in Nigeria's first electrophysiology procedure. At Rural Medical Partners, she brings firsthand experience building advanced cardiac care where it has not previously existed, driven by the belief that equitable heart care should be accessible to all.
Most programs are performing their first cases within a few months of agreement. Staffing, scheduling, logistics, and community rollout run in parallel rather than in sequence — which is what compresses the timeline versus traditional recruitment.
Most of our partner hospitals already have the majority of what's needed — imaging, a procedural suite or OR, and the support staff that runs them. Specific requirements are always assessed on a hospital-by-hospital basis before anything is committed.
A locum fills a shift. RMP stands up and sustains a service line — a credentialed physician bench, an operations layer, a scheduled cadence of clinic and procedure days, and a long-term partnership structure. The program continues even if any one physician rotates out.
Everything required to stand up and sustain the service line. That includes logistics and mentorship for materials and case preparation, training for support staff, patient and provider education, clinical staffing on procedure days, patient workup coordination, scheduling, and ongoing program management. We handle the full rollout and keep the program running — so your hospital team stays focused on patient care.
We use a small number of partnership models tailored to the hospital's capabilities and payer mix. We walk through the specific structure and pro forma during a confidential second conversation, once the fit is clear.
Interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, interventional pain, minimally invasive spine, structural heart, peripheral vascular, interventional oncology, cardiac rhythm management, and interventional nephrology — scaled to what the community actually needs.
If you're exploring ways to expand interventional services, retain outmigrating patients, or evaluate a new program, we'd like to learn more about your hospital and community. Most partnerships begin with a confidential conversation — no commitment, no materials required.