Insights and Lessons from the Ross Procedure:
Dr. Vaughn Starnes Presents at Stanford's Twelfth Norman E. Shumway, MD, PhD, Visiting Professor Lecture

by Roxanna Van Norman
November 12, 2024

The Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery was honored to welcome Vaughn Starnes, MD, as the Twelfth Norman E. Shumway, MD, PhD, Visiting Professor, where he delivered his presentation titled "Ross Procedure: Lessons Learned from the Past."

Dr. Starnes is the Distinguished Professor and Chair of the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Surgery and the H. Russell Smith Foundation Chair for Stem Cell and Cardiovascular Thoracic Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is a globally recognized surgeon known for pioneering contributions in congenital and adult cardiac surgery.

During the lecture, Dr. Starnes discussed the history and evolution of the Ross procedure, as well as the challenges and benefits compared to mechanical valve replacements. The Ross procedure is a complex procedure that replaces the patient's diseased aortic valve with the patient's own pulmonary valve.

"The history of the Ross procedure [began] here on campus at Stanford in a landmark paper that Dr. Shumway and his colleagues published [in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery]," Dr. Starnes said in his talk. Dr. Shumway experimented in animals, using the pulmonary valve as an autograft for treatment of aortic regurgitation, which would later contribute to the technique known as the Ross procedure.

Dr. Starnes reviewed the unique benefits of the Ross procedure, particularly for younger patients, highlighting the impact on survival and quality of life. He discussed the importance of training surgeons to perform the challenging Ross procedure and making significant advances to the operation into a highly reproducible procedure many cardiothoracic surgeons can perform.

Dr. Starnes received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973 and his medical degree at the University of North Carolina Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in surgery and a fellowship in pharmacology and surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He completed a two-year residency in cardiovascular surgery and an additional year as the chief resident in cardiac transplantation under the mentorship of Dr. Shumway

"Dr. Shumway was my mentor, but more than that, he was my friend. His voice still echoes in my mind every day, as I walk into the operating room with my residents," Dr. Starnes said in his presentation. "He will always be a legendary figure in cardiovascular surgery for being the father of heart transplantation."

Dr. Starnes later completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiac surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in London, England. After completing his training, he returned to Stanford as an Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery. In 1990, he became Chief of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Service Line at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.

When he returned to Stanford, he was appointed Director of Stanford's heart-lung transplantation program. In 1990, he performed the world's first lobar transplant using a lung segment from a living donor. In 1993, he performed the first live-donor, double-lobar lung transplant on a patient with cystic fibrosis. The operation involved taking lung tissue from each parent and transplanting it into their child.

Dr. Starnes has an ongoing interest in congenital heart disease and minimally invasive repair and replacement of the valves of the heart. He is actively involved in research on stem-cell therapy for congenital heart defects and clinical trials investigating new valve technology, including percutaneous heart valve replacement. His other major research areas include adult acquired heart disease, tissue engineering, and heart, heart-lung, and lung transplantation.

As the founding Director of the USC Heart and Vascular Institute, Dr. Starnes has built an interdisciplinary powerhouse of clinicians and basic scientists exploring better and more innovative ways of treating heart disease. He also serves as the Division Head of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Heart Institute.

Dr. Starnes served as the 100th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 2020.

More than 70 individuals attended the lecture, which took place on September 13, 2024, on Stanford campus.

Shumway Visiting Professorship

Dr. Norman E. Shumway was a pioneer of heart surgery at Stanford Medicine. In 1968, he performed the first successful adult heart transplantation in the United States, helping to put Stanford's cardiovascular transplant program on the map. The landmark operation created a burst of enthusiasm for heart transplantation.

Dr. Shumway joined the Stanford School of Medicine faculty in 1958 as an instructor in surgery. Shortly after his arrival, the medical school moved from San Francisco to Palo Alto, giving Dr. Shumway the opportunity to launch the cardiovascular surgery program at the new campus. He served as the interim Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery in 1959.

In 1968, Shumway worked with Edward Stinson, MD, to perform the first adult human heart transplant in the United States. He later founded Stanford's Department of Cardiovascular Surgery in 1974 and served as its first Chairman. In 1981, Dr. Shumway and Bruce Reitz, MD, performed the world's first successful combined heart-lung transplant.

A true pioneer in the field and the "father of heart transplantation," Dr. 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. Dr. Shumway served as the 67th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Learn more.

Dr. Vaughn Starnes

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