Raymond Stainback
Raymond Stainback received his education at Vanderbilt University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. In 1996 he joined the Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates clinical cardiology practice in Houston, TX in affiliation with the Texas Heart Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine faculty where he has served as Associate Professor of Medicine. In 2000 he was named Chief of Non-invasive Cardiology at the Texas Heart Institute, a position he held until July 2024, at which time he successfully placed a highly capable junior associate mentee into this role.
Dr. Stainback is internationally recognized as an expert in cardiovascular imaging with a focus on echocardiography for complex valve disease, advanced heart failure and imaging for mechanical circulatory support devices. In his local community, he was a founding member and president (1998-2017) of the Greater Houston Society of Echo – Vascular, which remains active. Dr. Stainback is the Course Director and founder of the annual Houston Echo Review: boot camp for the echo board (2010-2024) which has grown to attract attendees from around the country.
Dr. Stainback is also recognized for his role in the development of cardiovascular imaging quality indicators, serving on the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) quality task force and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Appropriate Use Oversight Committee. He served as an ASE representative on Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) boards from 2004-2017. The IAC is a national not-for-profit CMS-approved imaging lab Accreditation Organization where Dr. Stainback served as president of the IAC’s Echocardiography Division (2013) and president of the IAC parent company (2016-17). Thereafter, he joined the ASE’s Board of Directors (2016-2018) and was then elected to the ASE’s Executive Committee (2018-2022), serving as President of the ASE during 2021-2022.
Ray’s greatest joys have come from educating more than 300 cardiology fellows and the patient relationships developed over nearly 30 years of clinical cardiology practice. He loves working and recreating in the outdoors and wonders how these types of activities and environments may be used to improve mental health.