Our mission is to promote excellence in cardiovascular ultrasound by providing quality continuing education and professional networking opportunities to Central Texas cardiovascular sonographers, physicians, and industry representatives.
Amy Bankowski, BS, AAS, RDCS – President
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Amy saw her first echocardiogram at the age of 21 and was instantly in awe, especially because it was of her own heart! But it wasn’t until years later that she was able to pursue echocardiography. Amy graduated from the DCS program at Austin Community College in 2012 and worked in the field in the Austin area for over ten years, most recently at Dell Seton Medical Center at UT, serving as an echo educator for the cardiac and critical care fellowship programs. During her time there, she developed a passion for critical care and trauma echo, and for teaching echo. She began working part-time as adjunct faculty for the ACC Cardiac Sonography program in 2020, while she returned to school herself to obtain her BS in Echocardiography from the Oregon Institute of Technology, and in 2023, she transitioned to a full-time faculty position with ACC. Amy has been a member of the AAES since 2011, an officer for over five years, and is proud to now serve as the president. She is also a proud wife, mother, and dog-mom, who enjoys cooking, singing, doing jigsaw puzzles, and watching the birds feast at the birdfeeder outside her office window.
Danna Thomas, AAS, RCS – Vice President
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Danna began her career in Wichita Falls as an ECG tech and assistant in the stress echo lab. After moving to Colorado, she discovered a passion for Echocardiography obtained her Adult Echo registry before moving to Austin. Danna began working at Austin Heart at the Heart Hospital of Austin and, during her decade with them, became Lead Sonographer and Technical Director, and achieved ICAEL accreditation for the facility and its nine Austin Heart satellite offices. Danna eventually left Austin Heart and joined the ACC Cardiac Sonography faculty. She has now served as an Associate Professor and the Cardiac Clinical Coordinator at ACC for almost 15 years. Outside of her busy career as an educator, Danna has enjoyed participating in heart screenings with Championship Hearts and UT Athletics, trained cardiology fellows, and regularly participated in the American Heart Association Heart Walk. She is also a founding member and past president and treasurer of the AAES.
Lolly Shore, MBA-HM, AAS, RDCS, RVT – Secretary
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Lolly graduated from Austin Community College in 2010 with an AAS in Diagnostic Cardiac Sonography. She immediately began working in Echocardiography but was accepted into the ACC Vascular Certificate Program and obtained her vascular registry in 2015. Ever eager to learn as much as she could about the cardiovascular system, Lolly cross-trained into the cardiac cath lab and became a registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist in 2019, but is now working back in Echo. She has served as an officer with the AAES for over five years. Lolly’s favorite role, however, is as the proud mom of 4- two human and two canine- and she is thoroughly enjoying watching her kids blossom and grow.
Kamran Shaikh, MD, FSCMR, FASE, FACC – Medical Director
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Dr. Shaikh has served as the Medical Director for the AAES for over five years. A native Texan, he attended Medical School at Baylor College of Medicine, with fellowships following at Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular and Henry Ford Heart and Vascular. His areas of specialty are adult congenital heart disease and advanced cardiac imaging. He has been with Ascension Texas Cardiovascular since 2012 and currently serves and Director of Cardiovascular MRI and Co-Director of Echocardiography, while also serving as an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and the Assistant Program Director of the Cardiology Fellowship program at Dell Medical School. Personally, he enjoys exercising, painting, piano, guitar, and spending time with his wife and two children.