Best Pediatric Cardiology Specialists in Southlake, TX

Francesca A. Byrne, M.D. is a board certified Pediatric Cardiologist and Pediatrician with additional expertise in non-invasive imaging including fetal echocardiography. Her research on assessment of fetal hearts has been published by peer-reviewed scientific journals and has been presented at national and international cardiology conferences. She enjoys teaching medical students and residents, and takes pride in practicing evidenced-based medicine.

Ilana Zeltser, MD, is the Medical Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology at Medical City Children's Hospital and is a pediatric cardiologist at Medical City Children's Cardiology Specialists.Dr. Zeltser received her medical degree from New York University (currently NYU Grossman School of Medicine) in 1997, and went on to a Pediatric Residency at Mount Sinai school of Medicine. From there, she accepted a cardiology fellowship position at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from 2000-2003, and trained at CHOP for an additional year for subspecialty electrophysiology training. After completing her advanced fellowship training in 2004, she joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center as a dedicated electrophysiologist. Over the course of her tenure at UTSW, she was promoted to the position of Associate Professor of Pediatrics and was the Director of Pediatric electrophysiology services. After a productive and illustrious career at UT, she has joined the Heart Center team at Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas, Texas.In her free time, Dr. Zeltser enjoys running, tennis, spending time with her husband and three children, and is a crazy sports fan (Go Stars!). She is fluent in English and Hebrew.

Dr. Richard Markus, M.D., was born and raised in Dallas, Texas.He graduated from Greenhill School in Addison where he played soccer and tennis.Dr. Markus earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas inAustin with a major in Psychology and graduated with Liberal Arts honors. Priorto beginning his medical training, Dr. Markus participated in the USC KeckSchool of Medicine Somos Hermanos Spanish immersion program forhealthcare professionals in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala where he lived and workedfor six months. During that time, he taught nutrition classes to children after-school,which sparked an interest in Pediatrics. After returning to the US, he earnedhis medical degree from Texas A&M Medical School. He met his wife, Dr.Rebecca Prengler, while completing his General Pediatrics residency atWashington University in St. Louis. They returned home to Dallas where hecompleted his Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical School. Dr. Markus is passionate about preventative cardiologyincluding the evaluation of patients with chest pain, syncope, palpitations,hypertension and hyperlipidemia. He also has a special interest in the use ofadvanced cardiac imaging techniques in the care of young athletes, pediatric oncologypatients, and complex congenital heart disease. He is a member of the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Associationand the American Society of Echocardiography. Dr. Markus is welcoming new patients,including Spanish speaking, and accepts most insurance plans, includingMedicaid.

Dr. Jane M. Kao has been practicing in Dallas for 23years. She completed her residencytraining in Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children'sHospital and her fellowship training in Pediatric Cardiology at UCLA College ofMedicine. Dr. Kao is board certified bythe American Board of Pediatrics and the sub-board of PediatricCardiology. She has special expertise inpediatric echocardiography and fetal echocardiography. In the Dallas area, she was the firstpediatric cardiologist to perform fetal echocardiography in the privatesetting. This imaging modality hassignificantly improved the survival of infants and newborns undergoingcongenital heart surgery. She also hasextensive experience in the evaluation of heart murmurs, chest pain, rhythmdisorders, syncope, hypertension, and lipid disorders. Dr. Kao has been consistently voted by herpeers as one of the best pediatric cardiologists in D Magazine every year since2002. She has also been selected to theTexas Super Doctors list which is listed in Texas Monthly every year since2003. She is a member of the AmericanHeart Association and has been a narrator in several of their education videoson congenital heart disease and sudden cardiac death in athletes. She is also a member of the American Societyof Echocardiography and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Kaois the medical director of the pediatric echocardiography laboratory at MedicalCity Children's Hospital and is also the medical director of PediatricOutreach. Dr. Kao serves on thePediatric Advisory Board at Medical City Children's Hospital and a member oftheir Pediatric Quality Improvement or Peer Review Committee.