Henderson's Leader in Vascular Care & Dialysis Access Management

Rizwan Qazi, MD

Interventional Nephrologist
Medical Director

Rizwan Qazi, MD is an interventional nephrologist at Azura Surgery Center Henderson. Seeing his own father suffer through kidney disease and dialysis treatment inspired him to pursue a career in nephrology and work to get care to patients early in their kidney disease.

Born in Islamabad, Pakistan, Dr. Qazi earned his medical degree at King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan. He moved to the United States to continue his medical education at Saint Louis University Medical Center (SLU) in Saint Louis, Missouri. After completing his internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship, Dr. Qazi accepted a faculty position in the Division of Nephrology at SLU and was actively involved in training and teaching of medical students, residents and renal fellows.

With a background in medical education, a broad knowledge of general, interventional and transplant nephrology, and a strong belief in physician accessibility, Dr. Qazi is a great resource both for his patients and their referring physicians. In his practice, he works to incorporate his patient’s input into their treatment plan and fully engage them with their care.

In addition to being Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Qazi is an Interventional Nephrologist certified by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology.

Rizwan Qazi, MD is a married father of two sons and an avid cricket player who was delighted to find a competitive cricket league in Las Vegas.

Prateek Sanghera, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Prateek Sanghera, MD is an interventional nephrologist with an expertise in dialysis access procedures, vascular innovation, and physician education. He currently serves as an interventional nephrologist with Azura Vascular Care and Nevada Kidney Disease & Hypertension Centers in Las Vegas.

Basker Peiyasamy, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Basker Periyasamy, MD is an interventional nephrologist specializing in dialysis access management. He provides minimally invasive treatments for the maintenance and management of vascular accesses for dialysis patients at Azura Surgery Center Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dr. Periyasamy earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio, where he received the Faculty/Student award. Dr. Periyasamy completed a surgery and medicine internship, followed by a medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina. During his internship, Dr. Periyasamy was honored with the Max S. Rittenbury, MD Intern of the Year award.

Basker Periyasamy, MD is also the co-author of several published articles.

Sundar Sankaran, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Sundar Sankaran, MD is an interventional nephrologist specializing in all aspects of hemodialysis access management. He performs fistula creation and a comprehensive scope of dialysis access management procedures such as fistulogram, angioplasty, stent placement, thrombectomy and more.

Dr. Sankaran earned his medical degree from Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore, India, where he also received the TMA Pai Pathology Gold Medal. He completed an internal medicine internship and residency at Michigan State University, McLaren Regional Medical Center, in Flint, Michigan, where he was recognized as Best Resident and bestowed the Ambassador of the Program award. He went on to complete a nephrology fellowship at University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

Dr. Sankaran is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Society of Nephrology and the National Kidney Foundation. He is also the co-author of more than 20 publications, abstracts and presentations.

Sundar Sankaran, MD is board certified in internal medicine.

Danyal Hassan, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Danyal Hassan, MD graduated from Rawalpindi Medical College in Pakistan. After completing his medical degree, he performed his internal medicine residency and Nephrology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Hassan joined the nephrology field as he was inspired by excellent mentors during residency, clinicians who made nephrology look like an art, an art to think about and solve the most complex clinical cases.

Phillip Ribeiro, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Phillip Ribeiro, MD is an interventional nephrologist at Azura Surgery Center Henderson. He chose a career in nephrology as he has a passion for interventional nephrology and physiology. He was drawn to the field while visiting the access center as a resident.

Dr. Ribeiro treats every patient as if they were a family member. He is always available to discuss patient care and is devoted to treating and continuing to educate the Las Vegas community.

Dr. Ribeiro is married and loves sports. Phillip Ribeiro, MD is originally from Portugal and speaks three languages.

James Weltman, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

James Weltman, MD is an interventional nephrologist at Azura Surgery Center Henderson. Dr. Weltman first called Las Vegas his home when he began medical school in 2010 at Touro University, Nevada. After completing his medical degree there, he performed his internal medicine residency at Valley Hospital Medical Center and embarked upon a fellowship in nephrology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, which concluded in 2020.

Dr. Weltman is fascinated by nephrology. Finding the cause of potential imbalances and restoring harmony is exciting for him as a scientist and physician and can mean the difference between suffering and comfortable health to patients. Dr. Weltman’s areas of special interest include glomerular diseases, kidney stones, electrolyte disturbances and management of chronic kidney disease.

He believes that we are affected by disease far beyond the physical malady itself. Illness brings with it a high level of psychological stress and uncertainty – for family members as well as the patients themselves. Patients and their beloved deserve care that is accessible, compassionate and respectful. They must be provided with time and space to fully grasp the diagnosis, the treatment plan and the expected prognosis. This is what Dr. Weltman would expect from a physician treating his own family members, and it is how he treats his patients as well – as if they are his family.

When he is not treating his patients, James Weltman, MD enjoys spending time with his wife, a nurse whom he met during training, and his two sons – both born here in Las Vegas. They love swimming, walking in nature, and enjoying everything this wonderful city has to offer.

Vivek Veerapaneni, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Vivek Veerapaneni, MD is an inteventional nephrologist at Azura Surgery Center Henderson. When Vivek Veerapaneni, MD is asked to describe nephrology, he immediately chooses two words: complexity and diversity. It’s these very characteristics that drew him into the field of Nephrology during his residency.

Dr. Veerapaneni has a reputation with patients for being very approachable and understanding. Likewise, referring physicians appreciate Dr. Veerapaneni’s availability; follow-up on cases and his relentless care for patients, their safety and an integrated approach to managing their health. As an interventional nephrologist, Vivek Veerapaneni, MD is responsible for renal ultrasounds, ultrasound-guided renal biopsy, angiography and balloon angioplasty for vascular access stenosis, and placement and removal of tunneled hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis catheters.

Venugopal Bolta, MD

Interventional Nephrologist

Venugopal Bolta, MD is an interventional nephrologist at Azura Surgery Center Henderson. According to Dr. Botla, there is never a dull moment in nephrology. The diversity of the specialty was one of the things that attracted him to this field of medicine.

As a nephrology fellow, Dr. Botla observed that dialysis patients need dedicated physicians who are focused on maintaining their vascular accesses. Considered a dialysis patient’s lifeline, he could not think of a more important way to care for nephrology patients than tending to their vascular access. In addition to general kidney care, he performs procedures on fistulas and grafts, such as thrombectomies and angioplasties, performs procedures involving catheters, and does vessel mapping.

Venugopal Bolta, MD is board certified in nephrology.