Department research and clinical expertise showcased at the
American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2019

The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions brings together nearly 13,000 physicians, surgeons, researchers, and healthcare professionals each year, serving as one of the world’s largest forums for the presentation and discussion of clinical innovations and research breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine. At this year’s conference held in Philadelphia, PA, the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery was prominently featured in 20 talks and poster presentations, showcasing a diverse spectrum of the department’s clinical expertise and research accomplishments.

Dr. Michael Fischbein, Associate Professor and Chair of the AHA Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia (CVSA) for 2019, together with Dr. Claire Watkins, moderated a series of debates regarding the optimal treatment plan for several difficult clinical cases.  

Highlighted Awards

Dr. Joseph Woo, the Norman E. Shumway Professor and Chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, presented two thorough talks on the commando procedure as well as intraoperative tips and tricks on ventricular rupture after mitral surgery.  During this meeting, Dr. Woo also received the prestigious Surgery Mentoring Award from the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia (CVSA) from the Council Chair, Dr. Michael Fischbein. This award “recognizes a senior scientist who has a record of providing exceptional support for scientists in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, anesthesiology and other related fields individually and globally through mentoring and advocacy.”

Dr. Michael Paulsen, a 6th year resident in Stanford’s Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Training Program who completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in Dr. Joseph Woo’s laboratory, presented a talk on “Comprehensive ex vivo biomechanical analysis of five clinically utilized operative approaches to reimplantation aortic valve-sparing root replacement.” He won the prestigious Vivien Thomas Early Career Investigator Award from the Council on CVSA from the Chair, Dr. Michael Fischbein. This award acknowledges “the accomplishments of early career investigator members of the Council on CVSA who are focusing on fundamental and applied surgical research. The award is named in honor of Vivien T. Thomas, a key player in pioneering the anastomosis of the subclavian artery to the pulmonary artery.”

Dr. Yuanjia Zhu, a 3rd year resident in Stanford’s Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Training Program, a first year PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University, and a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Woo's laboratory, presented her clinical research project on donor-recipient heart size matching for heart transplantation using a 50-year heart transplantation database at Stanford, since the first adult heart transplantation in the United States at Stanford in 1968. She competed in the Oral Abstract Presentation Competition and received the CVSA Resident Prize Award from the CVSA Chair, Dr. Michael Fischbein. This award honors “accomplished early career investigators.”

Frederick Grady, a medical student at Meharry Medical College, who completed a research rotation in Dr. Woo’s laboratory, presented his research discoveries entitled “Neuregulin-1 promotes cardiomyocyte survival and proliferation under in vitro conditions of hypoxic hyperglycemic stress” in a moderated poster session. He was also awarded the Minority Travel Grants from the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science.

Talks and Poster Presentations

Dr. R. Kirk Riemer, Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Laboratory, and Dr. Katsuhide Maeda, Clinical Associate Professor, presented a research poster entitled “Ross autograft leaflet response to systemic circulation: expression profiling reveals divergence from normal aortic and pulmonary valve leaflets.”


Dr. William Hiesinger, Assistant Professor, spoke in the session “New Concepts in Ischemic Heart Disease” and discussed preoperative support and strategies for the failing ischemic heart.

Dr. John W. MacArthur, Assistant Professor, presented an oral presentation on palliative care after LVAD implantation in the session “Perioperative Management of LVAD Patients and Case Discussion.”

Dr. Yasuhiro Shudo, Clinical Assistant Professor, presented a moderated poster discussing “Human derived anatomically oriented smooth muscle cell-endothelial progenitor bi-level cell sheet augments post-infarction ventricular function.”


Dr. Claire Watkins also presented strategies to treat endoleaks with the expanding descending aorta in chronic type B dissections.

Dr. Ngan Huang, Assistant Professor, spoke on biomaterials for endothelial to mesenchymal transition for vascular regeneration. She also moderated the session “Frontiers in Vascular Regeneration.” Additionally, her research group presented two posters entitled “Biomimetic scaffolds composed of human induced pluripotent smooth muscle progenitor cells for treatment of murine AAA” and “Treatment of limb ischemia using hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties for endothelial cell transplantation.”


Dr. Hanjay Wang, a 5th year resident in Stanford’s Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Training Program and a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Woo’s laboratory, presented a poster presentation on “Transient natural cardiac regeneration in a novel neonatal rat myocardial infarction model.”

Dr. Patpilai Kasinpila, a 5th year resident in Stanford’s Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Training Program who completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in Dr. William Hiesinger’s laboratory presented her research as a moderated poster presentation on “Computational protein modeling to engineer a CXCR4 agonist to prevent ischemic heart failure.”

Dr. Daniel Rinewalt, Associate Surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who was previously a Clinical Instructor and completed an advanced heart failure fellowship at Stanford in providing patient care in mechanical circulatory support device insertion and heart, heart-lung and lung transplant procedures, who presented a poster talk on “Survival in combined heart-liver transplant is superior to heart transplant alone in patients with significant liver dysfunction” using our Stanford 50-year heart transplantation database.


Dr. Yasushi Tashima, a visiting Assistant Professor from Japan currently conducting research in Dr. Michael Fischbein’s laboratory, presented a research talk entitled “Androgen activates TGF-beta induced aortic smooth muscle differentiation in thoracic aortic aneurysm of Marfan Syndrome male mice.”

Annie Imbrie-Moore, a 4th year mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Woo’s laboratory, presented a research poster entitled “Biomechanical analysis of artificial chordae length in mitral valve neochordoplasty using a 3D printed ex vivo left heart simulator.”

Kiah Williams, a medical student at Stanford, presented a moderated poster talk on the important topic entitled “Gender disparities in career progression and scholarly productivity persist in academic cardiothoracic surgery.”

 

Lyndsay Stapleton, a 5th year bioengineering Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Woo’s laboratory, presented a research poster entitled “Cyanobacteria-alginate microgels for sustained photosynthetic oxygen delivery to rescue cardiomyocytes in an ischemic milieu.”