Nicole Cresalia, MD

Dr. Nicole Cresalia is a pediatric cardiologist with expertise in pediatric, fetal and transesophageal echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart). In addition to caring for infants and children as outpatients in the clinic, she cares for hospitalized pediatric patients with heart disease or following cardiac surgery.

Cresalia enjoys educating families on how surgical outcomes for pediatric cardiology patients have dramatically improved over the past several decades, enabling children to thrive.

In her research, Cresalia is interested in using noninvasive imaging techniques to predict and improve patient outcomes. She is also interested in how to enhance education at all stages of medical training and completed the UCSF Teaching Scholars Program in 2020. She is the Program Director for the Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Program.

Cresalia earned her medical degree and completed a residency in pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed a pediatric cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan, where she also trained in advanced noninvasive imaging.

Cresalia belongs to the American Society of Echocardiography, Society of Pediatric Echocardiography and Fetal Heart Society. In 2010, she received the Jessie L. Ternberg Award, given for determination, perseverance and dedication to patients. Her volunteer work has included providing care at an overnight camp for children born with heart defects.
Education
2020 - Teaching Scholars Program, University of California
2019 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California

  1. Yilmaz Furtun B, Pundi K, Moon-Grady A, Cresalia N, Nieuwsma A, Gelehrter SK, Arya B, Donofrio MT, Statile C, Kavanaugh-McHugh A, Freud L, Bolin E, Warner M, Balasubramanian S, Strainic J, Wittlieb-Weber C, Pinto NM, Hornberger L, Morris SA. Survival to Hospital Discharge in the Fetus With Moderate to Severe Mitral Regurgitation Either in Isolation or in Combination With Aortic Valve Stenosis or Atresia, a Fetal Heart Society Collaborative Study. Journal of the American Heart Association 2025. PMID: 40673509


  2. DeRose L, Godfrey S, Peyvandi S, Cresalia NM, Steiner JM, Morell E. Palliative Care Education in Pediatric Cardiology Fellowships: A Survey of Program Directors. Pediatric cardiology 2025. PMID: 40544233


  3. Siefkes H, Oliveira LC, Koppel R, Hogan W, Garg M, Manalo E, Cresalia N, Lai Z, Tancredi D, Lakshminrusimha S, Chuah CN. Machine Learning-Based Critical Congenital Heart Disease Screening Using Dual-Site Pulse Oximetry Measurements. Journal of the American Heart Association 2024. PMID: 38879455


  4. Aljohani OA, Arcilla L, Kaushik N, Cresalia NM, Li B, Edwell AA, Ramirez AM, Anwar S. Myocarditis in children after COVID-19 vaccine. Annals of pediatric cardiology 2022. PMID: 36589642


  5. Bernal J, Cresalia N, Fuller J, Gin B, Laves E, Lupton K, Malkina A, Marmor A, Wheeler D, Williams M, van Schaik S. Comprehensive Assessment of Clinical Learning Environments to Drive Improvement: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Program. Teaching and learning in medicine 2022. PMID: 36001491


  6. Nawaytou H, Springston C, Lazar A, Keller S, Hogan W, Cresalia N, Peyvandi S, Cocalis M, Moon-Grady A, Brook M. A Measurement-Based Protocol Improves Inter-Rater Agreement And Accuracy of Right Ventricular Systolic Pressure Assessment by Echocardiography in Children: A Call for Quality Improvement. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography 2022. PMID: 35840083


  7. Lai Z, Vadlaputi P, Tancredi DJ, Garg M, Koppel RI, Goodman M, Hogan W, Cresalia N, Juergensen S, Manalo E, Lakshminrusimha S, Chuah CN, Siefkes H. Enhanced Critical Congenital Cardiac Disease Screening by Combining Interpretable Machine Learning Algorithms. 2021. PMID: 34891547


  8. Hogan WJ, Moon-Grady AJ, Zhao Y, Cresalia NM, Nawaytou H, Quezada E, Brook M, McQuillen P, Peyvandi S. Fetal?cerebrovascular response to maternal hyperoxygenation in congenital heart disease: effect of cardiac physiology. Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology 2021. PMID: 32202689


  9. Cresalia NM, Owens ST, Stillwell TL, Norris MD, Yu S, Retzloff L, Ensing GJ. Not just vegetations: focal myocardial changes in patients with fungal infections. 2020. PMID: 33185170


  10. Cresalia NM, Armstrong AK, Romano JC, Norris MD, Yu S, Rocchini AP, Zampi JD. Long-Term Outcomes After Surgical Pulmonary Arterioplasty and Risk Factors for Reintervention. 2017. PMID: 28964419


  11. Mills RE, Lam VC, Tan A, Cresalia N, Oksenberg N, Zikherman J, Anderson M, Weiss A, Hermiston ML. Unbiased modifier screen reveals that signal strength determines the regulatory role murine TLR9 plays in autoantibody production. 2015. PMID: 25769918


  12. Hermiston ML, Zikherman J, Tan AL, Lam VC, Cresalia NM, Oksenberg N, Goren N, Brassat D, Oksenberg JR, Weiss A. Differential impact of the CD45 juxtamembrane wedge on central and peripheral T cell receptor responses. 2009. PMID: 19129486