Prior Chairs, Leadership, and Trainees

Stanford Department Chairs

2014 – Current

Joseph Woo, MD

Chair & Norman E. Shumway Professor and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering

2005 – 2012

Robert C. Robbins, MD

Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery II (2009 – 2012)

Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (2005 – 2012)

1974 – 1993

Norman E. Shumway Jr., MD, PhD

Founder of Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and First Chair

2012 – 2013 (Interim)

Philip Oyer, MD, PhD

Roy B. Cohn-Theodore A. Falasco Professor, Emeritus

1993 – 2005

A Stanford Legacy of Leadership

Elias Samuel Cooper, MD

Elias Cooper establishes the entity that becomes the Stanford School of Medicine in 1908.

Bio

Elias Samuel Cooper, a San Francisco surgeon from the Midwest, authors the "Report of an Operation to Remove a Foreign Body from Beneath the Heart," in 1857. In 1859, he establishes the first medical school in the western U.S. Originally known as the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, the school undergoes various name changes—including being named for Cooper himself as the Cooper Medical College—and later as the University of California, San Francisco. It is reorganized in 1908 into the Stanford School of Medicine.

Guide to Elias Samuel Cooper papers

Stanford University Medical School

Leo Eloesser, MD

Leo Eloesser, a renaissance man of broad intelligence, joins the faculty of the Stanford Medical School in 1912. He serves as chief of the thoracic service of the Stanford University Division at San Francisco City and County Hospital and develops therapies for empyema, including the “Eloesser flap.”

Bio

Leo Eloesser joins the newly reorganized Stanford School of Medicine faculty in 1912, where he eventually becomes chief of the thoracic service of the Stanford University Division at San Francisco City and County Hospital. He leads the Stanford surgical service at San Francisco General Hospital and becomes renown for innovative therapies for empyema. A surgical procedure known as the Eloesser flap is later named for him. Eloesser serves as the 19th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Thoracic Surgery, the predecessor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Portrait of Dr. Leo Eloesser and La Tortillera

Emile Holman, MD

Emile Holman becomes the first chairman of the Department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine, serving from 1926 to 1955.

Bio

After completing his undergraduate degree from Stanford School of Medicine in 1911 and graduating from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1918, Emile Holman returns to Stanford and becomes the first chair of the Department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine. During his long tenure, Holman establishes the surgical residency program and performs many extracardiac and closed heart procedures. Holman sets up the Halsted Laboratory of Surgical Research, which becomes an active research facility for faculty. Holman becomes best known for his work on arteriovenous fistulas and writes more than 40 papers reflecting both laboratory and clinical observations and experimentation in this field. Holman also serves as the 33rd president of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Historical Perspectives of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery: Emile Frederic Holman, MD (1890–1977)

Frank L.A. Gerbode, MD

Frank Gerbode performs the first open-heart operation on the West Coast in 1954, correcting an atrial septal defect using the new membrane oxygenator he designed for the heart-lung machine.

Bio

While earning his medical degree from Stanford in 1936, Frank L.A. Gerbode becomes an active researcher in the lab of Emile Holman. Encouraged by Leo Eloesser, he pursues surgical training a year later. Gerbode serves as the chief resident in surgery (1939 to 1940) and later joins the Stanford faculty as a surgical instructor (1940-1942). After serving in WWII as part of the Stanford Unit of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, Gerbode returns to Stanford and leads a research team that advances the development of a membrane oxygenator, a heat exchanger that allows for the cooling and rewarming of blood, and bypass circuits that reduced injury to the red blood cells and platelets. Gerbode also visits John (Jack) Gibbon's laboratory in Philadelphia in 1952 to watch his progress in developing the heart-lung machine. In addition to his pioneering open-heart operation in 1954, Gerbode successfully completes surgical correction of left ventricular to right atrial shunts; thereafter, a direct communication between the left ventricle and the right atrium becomes known as the Gerbode defect. Gerbode serves as the 53rd American Association for Thoracic Surgery president.

Historical perspectives of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery: Frank Gerbode (1907-1984)

John Gibbon, Jr., MD

John (Jack) Gibbon develops a heart-lung machine, with a vertical screen oxygenator, to successfully complete the first open-heart operation.

Bio

John (Jack) Gibbon invents the heart–lung machine and performs subsequent open-heart surgeries, revolutionizing heart surgery during his time. Because of the development of the heart-lung machine, surgeons can perform surgeries previously considered too risky. On May 6, 1953, with surgeon Frank F. Allbritten, Jr., Gibbon successfully repairs an atrial septal defect in an 18-year-old woman utilizing the heart-lung machine. During his 23 years in pursuit of developing the heart-lung machine, Gibbon conducts research at three institutions, finishes his residency, serves in World War II, and becomes a professor of surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Gibbon was good friends with Leo Eloesser, a great pioneer at Stanford.

Wikipedia bio

New York Times: JOHN H. GIBBON JR., HEART SURGEON, 69

Richard R. Lower, MD

Richard (Dick) Lower’s scientific work in heart transplantation with Norman Shumway leads to their first successful heart transplant in a dog.

Bio

Richard Lower graduates from Amherst College and receives his medical degree from Cornell University, New York, in 1955. In 1958, he takes a surgical residency in the laboratory of Norman Shumway at Stanford. Together they hone their scientific methods for heart transplantation. Their daring heart surgeries and techniques on animals, primarily dogs, in the 1950s helped pave the way for the first successful human heart transplant in 1967. Lower tells an interviewer from Progress in Transplantation, "That meeting (Shumway) changed my life." In 1959, they reported on developing a new technique that allowed a dog to live for eight days post-transplantation- a feat that landed them on the front page of The New York Times. The following year they publish what has been called the "cardinal paper in orthotopic cardiac transplantation," in which they combine surgical advances with improvements in recipient support and donor organ preservation. After his surgical training and research years at Stanford, Lower goes on to serve as Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, and continues to perform hundreds of successful heart transplants over his many years.

Richard Lower Dies at 78; Transplanted Animal and Human Hearts

Lancet Obituary

Norman E. Shumway Jr., MD, PhD

Known as the "father of the heart transplant," Norman E. Shumway performs the first successful heart transplantation in the U.S. in 1968. He goes on to establish the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1974.

Bio

In 1968, Norman E. Shumway Jr. performs the first successful heart transplantation in the U.S., helping to put Stanford’s cardiovascular transplant program on the map. He establishes the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and in 1981, alongside fellow Stanford surgeon Bruce Reitz, he makes history again by performing the world’s first successful combined heart-lung transplant. A true pioneer in the field, Shumway is credited with mentoring numerous surgeons, referring to himself once as the world's greatest first assistant, a nod to his tendency to have younger surgeons working alongside him to learn and grow. His pioneering surgery in 1968, in which he puts a donor heart inside a 54-year-old ailing steel worker, changes cardiothoracic surgery in the U.S., and establishes Stanford as an early leader in the field. Shumway’s early work with hearts begins with experiments in canines and in perfecting techniques to cool the heart and slow its metabolic processes, giving surgeons additional time to operate. In the early days of heart transplants, Shumway works to develop procedures to increase the survival rate of transplant patients. Shumway serves as the 67th American Association for Thoracic Surgery president.

A Surgeon with Heart

Timeline of Norman Shumway's career at Stanford

Pioneering heart transplant surgeon retires

Edward B. Stinson, MD

Edward B. Stinson assists Norman Shumway in performing the first successful adult human-to-human heart transplant procedure in the U.S. in 1968.

Bio

Edward B. Stinson graduates from Stanford School of Medicine and completes his residency training in 1968. Noted for his skill and speed at surgery, Stinson is known as "Fast Eddie" in the operating theatre. In 1968, he assists Shumway in performing the first successful adult heart transplant procedure in the U.S. He joins the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty in 1969 where he works for nearly three decades, including as director of cardiac transplantation at the Stanford School of Medicine. He becomes the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health program in heart transplantation at Stanford for over 20 years, and in 1981, he becomes a founding member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

Reflecting on the first U.S. human heart transplant (video)

Edward Stinson (surgeon)

Pat O. Daily, MD

Pat O’Daily is lead author of a seminal paper on the management of acute aortic dissections, which establishes the widely used Stanford classification system for aortic dissection.

Bio

Initially proposed in 1970, Pat O. Daily’s paper on the management of acute aortic dissections, written along with fellow Stanford cardiothoracic surgeons Henry Trueblood, Edward Stinson, Robert Wuerflein, and Norman Shumway, establishes the Stanford classification system for aortic dissection.

The system, which is still widely used today, divides aortic dissections into two groups, type A and type B, based on whether the ascending aorta is involved, regardless of the site of tear and the extent of dissection. Throughout his four-decade career, Daily publishes more than 100 scientific articles. He becomes best known for introduced percutaneous internal jugular venous catheterization, central aortic CPB cannulation, the Stanford type A and type B nomenclature system for aortic dissections, AC electrical fibrillation of the heart, the Daily cooling jacket, and successful surgical techniques and instruments for pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTEA).

Management of Acute Aortic Dissections

Evolution of surgical therapy for Stanford acute type A aortic dissection

Pat O. Daily Memorial Award for Clinical Excellence in Cardiovascular Surgery

Lawrence H. Cohn, MD

Lawrence H. Cohn completes his residency from 1969-1971 and trains under Norman Shumway. In 2015, Cohn and his wife establish the Lawrence H. and Mrs. Roberta Cohn Lectureship in Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford Medical School.

Bio

As a medical school senior at Stanford, Lawrence H. Cohn learns about the developing field of cardiac surgery. He is particularly intrigued by Shumway's experiments in canine heart transplantation. Cohn completes his residency at Stanford and is invited to do a sub internship with Shumway. He recalls being "mesmerized" by the experience and, once, not leaving the hospital for 8 days. Cohn participates in 1,000 operations a year, acting as primary surgeon in 500 of them. Despite his enthusiasm, Shumway advises Cohn to leave Stanford, travel, and train in general surgery before coming back. He graduates Alpha Omega Alpha and following Shumway's suggestion, he leaves Stanford. He establishes himself at Brigham and Women's Hospital as a surgeon and as a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. He is appointed chief of Cardiac Surgery at Brigham’s in 1987. He goes on to become the 79th American Association for Thoracic Surgery President. In 2015, Cohn and his wife establish the Lawrence H. and Mrs. Roberta Cohn Lectureship in Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford Medical School.

Lawrence H. Cohn, MD (1937-2016)

In Memoriam: Lawrence H. Cohn, MD (1937–2016)

James B.D. Mark, MD

James B.D. Mark serves as the first chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, a position he holds from 1972 to 1997.

Bio

James B.D. Mark shapes the field of thoracic surgery, founding Stanford’s Division of Thoracic Surgery and serving as its first division chief from 1972 to 1997. He serves as Chief of Staff at Stanford University Hospital (1988-1992) and holds key roles as Associate Dean for Regional Medical Affairs (1973-1974) and Associate Dean for Student Affairs (1970-1972). His impact extends beyond Stanford, holding leadership positions in numerous professional organizations, including serving as President of the Halsted Society (1984), President of the Western Thoracic Surgical Association (1992-1993), and President of the American College of Chest Physicians (1994-1995).

Mark’s contributions substantially expand the thoracic surgery field. He pioneers the early adoption of thoracoscopic and minimally invasive surgery, advancing its use beyond diagnostics into a therapeutic modality. This sets a precedent for the development and adoption of video-assisted thoracic surgery in the 1990s, positioning Stanford as a leader in minimally invasive thoracic surgery.

Passing of a Beloved Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. James B.D. Mark (1929-2025)

D. Craig Miller, MD

D. Craig Miller is the Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor Emeritus of Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine from 1978 to 2021.

Bio

D. Craig Miller receives his undergraduate and medical degrees in 1972 from Stanford School of Medicine and continues his residency training in cardiovascular and general surgery at Stanford. Miller joins the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty in 1978. Miller develops an interest and expertise in aortic surgery and helps to improve surgical approaches for these patients. He helps to improve surgical approaches for patients with acute aortic dissections, pioneering the use of thoracic aortic endovascular stent-grafts and refining valve-sparing aortic root replacement techniques. He helps establish valve repair as the preferred treatment for mitral valve regurgitation. Miller serves as the 88th American Association for Thoracic Surgery President.

Historical perspectives of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery: D. Craig Miller (1946-)

Simple Modification of “T. David-V” Valve-Sparing Aortic Root Replacement to Create Graft Pseudosinuses

Bruce A. Reitz, MD

Bruce A. Reitz and Norman E. Shumway perform the world's first successful heart-lung transplant in 1981. Reitz is later named chair and the Norman E. Shumway Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Bio

Bruce A. Reitz graduates from Stanford and completes his residency at Stanford School of Medicine in 1976. He joins the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty in 1978. Reitz's research includes investigating the surgical, physiologic, and immunologic facets of combined heart-lung transplantation in a nonhuman primate model. He and Shumway perform the world's first successful heart-lung transplant in 1981. From 1993 to 2005, Reitz serves as chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Thirty-five years later, Stanford surgeon Bruce Reitz recalls first successful adult heart-lung transplant

Bruce Reitz and R. Scott Mitchell Celebration: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

R. Scott Mitchell, MD

R. Scott Mitchell trains under Norman Shumway and works closely with a team of Stanford researchers to build and implant the first aortic endograft in the U.S. and to pioneer the endovascular repair of thoracic aneurysms and aortic dissections.

Bio

R. Scott Mitchell completes training in general surgery at Stanford from 1975-1978, fellowship in vascular surgery from 1979-1980, and residency in cardiovascular surgery from 1980-1983. After joining the Stanford faculty in 1983, Mitchell trains under Norman Shumway and works with a team to pioneer the endovascular repair of thoracic aneurysms and aortic dissections. His work helps make Stanford a leader in aortic surgery. In addition to his research, Mitchell is dedicated to resident training and teaching until he retires in 2015. He is currently a professor emeritus of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine.

Dr. R. Scott Mitchell Delivers Presidential Address at 32nd Annual WTSA

Bruce Reitz and R. Scott Mitchell Celebration: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Randall Griepp, MD

Randall Griepp studies general and cardiac surgery in his early years of training under Norman Shumway in 1967 and later. A pioneering surgeon and researcher, Griepp goes on to develop a technique for total arch replacement using deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Bio

Randall Griepp came to Stanford in 1968, where he completed general surgical and cardiac surgical training under Norman Shumway, and graduated from Stanford in 1972. Griepp performs his first heart transplant in 1970 on a patient who becomes the longest surviving heart transplant recipient for many years, living 26 years post-transplant. Along with Edward Stinson, Griepp leads the Stanford heart transplant team during the early 1970s, the formative years of cardiac transplantation. Griepp explores profound hypothermic circulatory arrest (PHCA) to protect the brain, which at the time is employed for cardiac surgery in infants. The procedure reduces cerebral metabolic demand to tolerable levels and provides a bloodless operative field in which to work. It becomes the standard for more than two decades. Griepp's pioneering methods for successful total arch replacement using PHCA represent a monumental advance that changes the world of thoracic aortic surgery after 1975. The work of Griepp and others helps position Stanford’s heart transplant team as a leader within the transplant community.

The Randall B. Griepp Honorary Paper

Renowned CT Surgeon Dr. Randall Griepp Dies at 82

In Memoriam: Randall B. Griepp (1940-2022): Master Surgeon, Innovator, Scientist, Teacher, and Sailor

Philip E. Oyer, MD, PhD

Philip E. Oyer is the Roy B. Cohn-Theodore A. Falasco Professor Emeritus of Cardiothoracic Surgery and former acting interim department chair. Oyer co-develops and is the lead surgeon on the implant of the first mechanical ventricular assist device (VAD) as a successful bridge-to-transplant in a patient at Stanford in 1984.

Bio

Philip E. Oyer completes his cardiovascular surgery and general surgery residencies from 1974 to 1976 at Stanford. He joins the faculty in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1976, later serving as the associate chair for the department in 2003 and acting interim department chair from 2012 to 2013. Oyer works alongside Norman Shumway on the surgery team to perform the first successful adult heart transplant in the U.S. in 1968. Later, he co-develops (with Peer Portner) and implants the first mechanical ventricular assist device as a successful bridge-to-transplant in a patient at Stanford in 1984. He retires in 2021 and is currently a professor emeritus at Stanford.

Philip E. Oyer, honored cardiothoracic surgeon and pioneer in artificial heart assist device development, retires after 45 years

John Baldwin, MD

John Baldwin directs the heart and lung transplant program and serves as director of cardiovascular research laboratories, performing the first human lung transplantation of lung tissue procured at long distance.

Bio

John Baldwin earned a medical degree from Stanford University in 1975, then completed cardiothoracic surgical training under Dr. Norman E. Shumway. .In his early career, Baldwin directs heart and lung transplant and is director of cardiovascular research laboratories at Stanford from 1983-1988. He performs the first human lung transplantation of lung tissue procured at long distance. Over the years, Baldwine performs many heart-lung transplants with Shumway and other faculty.

Vaughn Starnes, MD

Vaughn Starnes serves as director of Stanford's heart-lung transplantation program from 1989 to 1992. He performs the first single, left lung transplant at Stanford on June 22, 1989. On October 1990, he performs the first double lung transplant at Stanford. The procedure is the 14th lung transplant completed at Stanford and he successfully performs the world’s first lobar transplant, using a lung segment from a living donor.

Bio

Vaughn Starnes completes two years of training at Stanford School of Medicine as a cardiovascular surgery resident and one year as chief resident in cardiac transplantation under the mentorship of Norman Shumway. He serves as director of Stanford's heart-lung transplantation program from 1989 to 1992 and works with the Shumway team to develop lobar lung transplantation to address donor limitation and recipient size issues. In 1990, he successfully performs the world's first lobar transplant using a lung segment from a living donor. The following year, he performs a heart and lung transplant on a one-month-old infant—the youngest heart-lung transplant patient ever at the time. Starnes also performs the first living-donor, double-lobar lung transplant on a patient with cystic fibrosis. The operation involved taking lung tissue from each of the child’s parents and transplanting it into the patient. In addition to his clinical work, Starnes is also a respected researcher and serves as the 100th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Vaughn Starnes appointed 100th president of American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Vaughn A. Starnes Assumes Presidency of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Michael Dake, MD

Michael Dake, together with D. Craig Miller and R. Scott Mitchell, implant the first aortic endograft in the U.S. in 1992.

Bio

Figure: Original hand-made thoracic endograft.

D. Craig Miller and R. Scott Mitchell, and interventional radiologist Michael Dake implant the first aortic endograft in the U.S., leading to a less invasive alternative to conventional surgical repair for thoracic aortic aneurysms using a prosthetic graft. The team pioneers the endovascular repair of thoracic aneurysms and, later, aortic dissections.

Transluminal Placement of Endovascular Stent-Grafts for the Treatment of Descending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms

John Stevens, MD

John Stevens co-develops and commercializes the first specialized platform to facilitate minimally invasive heart surgery, and in 1991, set up Stanford Surgical Technologies, which later became "The Heartport System."

Bio

John Stevens graduates from Stanford School of Medicine in 1987 and later becomes assistant professor of medicine at Stanford. Stevens, along with Wes Sterman, co-develops and commercializes the first specialized platform to facilitate minimally invasive heart surgery. In 1991, Sterman and Stevens set up Stanford Surgical Technologies, which later becomes known as "The Heartport System." In 1995, Dr. Bruce Reitz performs a pioneering operation using the first Heartport procedure on a patient. Today, iterations of Stanford's original minimally invasive surgery technology and subsequent competitors are in active use worldwide.

Doctors of Invention

Richard Whyte, MD

Dr. Richard Whyte becomes chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery. He is the second chief since the start of the division.

Bio

Frank Hanley, MD

Frank Hanley is the Lawrence Crowley, M.D., Endowed Professor of Child Health and Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine. He previously led the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Division as Chief (2001-2023).

Bio

Frank Hanley is the Lawrence Crowley, M.D., Endowed Professor of Child Health and Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. A pioneer of unifocalization for treating Tetralogy of Fallot with MAPCAs, he introduced this novel surgery at Stanford and previously led the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Division as Chief, from 2001 to 2023. Under his leadership, the program expanded its referral base both nationally and internationally for the unifocalization procedure. In 2015, Hanley launched the Stanford Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, which was recognized by the Adult Congenital Heart Association as one of the nation's five reference centers. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center.

What Our Heart Surgeons at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Are Known For

Baby With Challenging Tetralogy of Fallot Grows Into Healthy Toddler

Robert "Bobby" C. Robbins, MD

Robert C. Robbins serves department chair and Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute from 2005 to 2012. He advances the field through ventricular assist device research, stem cell research, and, working closely with Michael Fischbein, by establishing a new, six-year integrated cardiothoracic surgery residency.

Bio

Robert C. Robbins completes his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford from 1989-1991 and serves as chief resident from 1991-1992. A trainee of Norman Shumway, Robbins works extensively with Philip Oyer in ventricular assist device research. In addition to serving as Stanford faculty, Robbins directs the Heart and Lung Transplant program (1998-2012) and chairs the cardiothoracic surgery department (2005-2012). He advances the field through ventricular assist device research, stem cell research, and, working closely with Michael Fischbein, by establishing a new, six-year integrated cardiothoracic surgery residency.

Robbins is a renowned heart-transplant surgeon who also researches the use of stem cells to repair tissue damaged by a heart attack. He leads a National Institutes of Health-funded basic science laboratory and publishes ground-breaking research in stem cell biology. From 2005-2012, Robbins also serves as director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. In 2012, Robbins leaves to work as the president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center and becomes the 22nd president of the University of Arizona in 2017.

Stanford Medicine: Heart Support

Joseph Shrager, MD

In 2008, Joseph Shrager becomes the professor and chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, a role he currently holds. The division enters a period of rapid growth in clinical and research programs, including introduction of VATS lobectomy and dramatic acceleration in esophageal mediastinal surgery volumes.

Bio

Joseph Shrager currently serves as the chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery. Under his leadership, the Division of Thoracic Surgery significantly increases clinical volume and the division’s work is firmly grounded in research into lung cancer biology and diaphragm muscle pathophysiology. Shrager practices all aspects of thoracic surgery with particular interest and experience in lung cancer, surgery for emphysema, and mediastinal diseases. His research identifies the problem of ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction, with findings published in the 2007 New England Journal of Medicine publication.

CT Surgery Welcomes Shrager, Merritt, and Hoang to the Division of Thoracic Surgery

Michael Fischbein, MD, PhD

Michael Fischbein co-founded with Robert Robbins the nation’s first formal ACGME-approved integrated six-year cardiothoracic surgery residency in 2008. He currently serves as the Residency Program Director.

Bio

Under the leadership of Michael Fischbein and Robert Robbins, Stanford creates the nation’s first formal ACGME-approved integrated six-year cardiothoracic surgery residency program. Fischbein currently serves as program director for Stanford's multiple cardiothoracic surgery training programs.

The model resembles Norman Shumway's original approach of training individuals without prior general surgery experience, dating the concept of an integrated training program for cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford back to 1968, when Shumway first proposes a six-year integrated program.

Fischbein joins the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty in 2006. He is the director of the Thoracic Aortic Research Laboratory at the Stanford School of Medicine and a member of the Stanford Center for Marfan Syndrome and Related Aortic Disorders, a collaborative center for treating aortic diseases at Stanford Health Care.

Y. Joseph Woo, MD

Y. Joseph Woo is the Norman E. Shumway professor and chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and associate director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. Woo also serves, by courtesy, as professor of bioengineering at the Stanford School of Engineering.

Bio

Y. Joseph Woo joins the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty in 2014 and currently serves as the department chair. As a surgeon who performs 350 to 400 heart surgeries a year, Woo builds a thriving clinical practice and pioneers multiple innovative procedures, including minimally invasive techniques for mitral and aortic valve repair and reconstruction. His laboratory, funded by the National Institutes of Health, investigates new paths to myocardial repair through angiogenesis. Woo leads the Stanford Advanced Cardiovascular Therapeutics and Surgical Biomechanics Translational Research Laboratory, which is focused on angiogenic, stem cell, and myocardial regenerative approaches to heart failure, and biomechanical engineering approaches to optimize valve repair operations and novel intracardiac device design.

Joseph Woo, leading heart surgeon, to head Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Michael Ma, MD

Michael Ma is an associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery in the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He currently leads the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Division as Chief (2003-present).

Bio

Michael Ma currently serves as the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery in the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. His practice encompasses all aspects of congenital heart disease, with a focus on neonates, complex biventricular repair, pulmonary artery reconstruction, and heart failure. He also serves as the Surgical Director of the Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Therapies (PACT) Program (a combined heart failure and heart transplant program), the Biventricular Reconstruction Program, and as a cardiothoracic surgeon for the Pulmonary Artery Reconstruction (PAR) Program at Stanford Children’s. He directs the Cardiovascular Engineering Research Laboratory, which applies biomechanical engineering principles to optimize existing surgical approaches and develop new surgical and endovascular therapies for treating complex heart defects.

Dr. Michael Ma Named Division Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Distinguished Trainees of Stanford Cardiothoracic Surgery

Listings include graduation year and post-Stanford careers

Hans Georg Borst (1954)

Chair, Center for Surgery and Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Germany

Edward B. Stinson (1968)

Professor, CT Surgery; Director, Cardiac Transplantation, Stanford School of Medicine

Lawrence H. Cohn (1971)

Chief, Division of CT Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard SoM

Jack G. Copeland (1975)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Arizona SoM

D. Craig Miller (1977)

Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford School of Medicine

Stuart W. Jamieson (1980)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Univ of California San Diego SoM

John C. Baldwin (1983)

Dean, Dartmouth University School of Medicine

Jeffrey Rich (1990)

Director, Ctr for Medicare Mgmt, CMS, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services

Robert Robbins (1992)

Chair, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford School of Medicine

Marc Moon (1998)

Chief, Section of Cardiac Surgery, Washington University

Francois Dagenais (2000)

Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Universite Laval

Jessica Donington (2007)

Asst Prof Stanford; Pres, WIT and NY Society for Thoracic Surgery. Prof in Surgery and chief of Thoracic Surgery, Univ of Chicago

Richard R. Lower (1961)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical College of Virginia

Pat O. Daily (1969)

Chief, Cardiac Surgery, University of California, San Diego

Randall B. Griepp (1972)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

William Brody* (1975)

President, Johns Hopkins University

William A. Baumgartner (1978)

Chief, Div of CT Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

John Wallwork (1981)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cambridge University SoM

William H. Frist (1986)

Former United States Senator, Tennessee

Patrick McCarthy (1990)

Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Northwestern University

Hermann Reichenspurner (1995)

Chair, Dept of CV Surgery, University of Hamburg

John Ikonomidis (2000)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina

Abe DeAnda (2000)

Chief, Div of CT Surgery, Univ of Texas Medical, Branch at Galveston

Vincent Dor (1967)

Chair, Cardiothoracic Center of Monaco

Thomas Fogarty (1970)

Professor, Stanford University
Founder, Fogarty Institute for Innovation

Philip E. Oyer (1974)

Professor, Department of CT Surgery, Stanford School of Medicine

Bruce A. Reitz (1976)

Chair, Department of CT Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine

Donald C. Watson (1979)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Tennessee SoM

R. Scott Mitchell (1983)

Professor, Department of CT Surgery, Stanford School of Medicine

Vaughn A. Starnes (1986)

Chair, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Univ of Southern CA

Thomas Burdon (1992)

Professor, Stanford University
Chief of Surgery, Palo Alto, VAMC

James Fann (1996)

Professor, Stanford University
Board of Directors, ABTS

Joseph Schmoker (1998)

Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Vermont

David Yuh (2001)

Chief, Section of Cardiac Surgery, Yale University

* Dr. Brody began his postgraduate training and completed several years in cardiovascular surgery with Dr Shumway and completed a residency in radiology at Stanford.

Reference Citations

One Hundred Years of History at Stanford University: Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery Woo, Y. J., Reitz, B. A.2015; 27 (4): 388-397

The Stanford experience of heart transplantation over five decades. European heart journal Zhu, Y., Lingala, B., Baiocchi, M., Toro Arana, V., Williams, K. M., Shudo, Y., Oyer, P. E., Woo, Y. J.2021