Fernando Mendoza, MD

Fernando Mendoza, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.S.E. is an expert in cardiovascular imaging and diagnostics and serves as the medical director, Non-Invasive Imaging and Cardiac Rehabilitation at the MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Long Beach Medical Center.

Dr. Mendoza graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine. During his time at UCLA, he was awarded several Letters of Distinction (granted to the top 5% of students on a rotation) and upon graduation he was awarded the John Adams Outstanding Student Award and Merck Service Award. He pursued training in internal medicine and pediatrics - a highly competitive and demanding residency program that compacts what normally takes six years of training into four years. Dr. Mendoza was then selected to train in adult cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – currently one of the top 5 cardiology training programs in the country.

During his training, he was motivated to specialize in cardiac diagnostics and imaging when he observed many patients referred from other areas in Southern California with incorrect or unknown diagnoses secondary to improperly performed or interpreted cardiovascular tests. This motivation to be an expert cardiac diagnostics led him to become the first board certified echocardiographer at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center in 2008. In 2012, his expertise was honored when he became the first adult cardiologists in the greater Long Beach, Los Alamitos region to have earned the Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE) by the American Society of Echocardiography. To this day, he remains the only local cardiologist with this distinction that is awarded to only national leaders in the field. He also is the only local cardiologist to have published in national journals in the field of carotid ultrasound.  In addition to his expertise in echocardiography and carotid ultrasounds, he is one of a few cardiologists in the country to be trained in nuclear cardiology by a legend in the field.

In addition to his clinical roles at the MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute and in his office, Dr. Mendoza oversees the cardiac imaging training of UC Irvine cardiology trainees while they are at Long Beach Medical Center and has served as a clinical preceptor for the family medicine program. His knowledge and passion for teaching have awarded him a Golden Apple Award as the most outstanding teacher on multiple occasions. He has served as the vice-chair of cardiology and the vice-chair of the hospital’s quality assurance program and served in many other leadership roles in both his office and in hospital positions.

Dr. Mendoza has an outstanding command of all fields of cardiology. During his training, he was mentored by national experts in the fields of atherosclerosis, heart disease in women, preventative cardiovascular disease, heart transplantation and advanced heart failure, arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation, diseases of the aorta, valve disease, congenital heart disease and interventional cardiology. His outstanding skills have awarded him as a top physician in all local review organizations, including:

• Orange County Medical Association
• Super Doctors
• Castle Connolly

Dr. Mendoza enjoys every free minute he has with his wife, a pediatrician in Orange County, and his beautiful two daughters.

Sub-Specialties:

• Cardiology Imaging
• Cardiac Diagnostics
• Echocardiology

Areas of Interest:

• Cardio-Oncology
• Preventative Heart Disease
• Arrhythmia (including atrial fibrillation)
• Congenital Heart Disease (CHD)
• Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
• Disease of the Aorta
• Cardiovascular Disease in Women