Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident Dr. Perry Choi Receives Stanford MCHRI Clinical Trainee Award

by Roxanna Van Norman
February 26, 2025

Perry Choi, MD, a fifth-year resident in the Stanford Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Program, has been awarded the 2024-2025 Clinical Trainee Support from the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI). He was named the Stephen Bechtel Endowed Fellow in Pediatric Translational Medicine.

MCHRI provides funding for innovative research focused on maternal and child health across all disciplines. Its Clinical Trainee Support program is designed to create pathways and provide support for training the next generation of physician-scientists focused on maternal and child health.

“My long-term career goal as a surgeon-scientist is to leverage my surgical expertise in investigative research to delineate the biomechanics underlying complex valve repair in congenital heart disease to inform and optimize surgical management of this vulnerable population,” said Dr. Choi. He will receive funding for his research training and project, “Biomechanical Optimization of Repair Techniques for Congenitally Diseased Heart Valves.”

Dr. Choi is in his second year as the primary research fellow in the Cardiovascular Engineering Research Laboratory (Michael Ma Lab). His research interests include complex valve repair and biventricular remodeling. His notable projects include multimodal optimization of aortic valve repair in both congenital and acquired disease models, design and testing of a novel ECMO-based ex-vivo preservation system in a porcine model, assessment of myocardium after LV-training in cc-TGA, and clinical outcomes after complex biventricular reconstruction.

Dr. Choi earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

Brief Project Summary

Congenital heart valve disease, which occurs in approximately 1 out of every 200 live births, leads to significant morbidity and mortality among pediatric patients. The complexity of these conditions and the limited durability of current repair techniques underscore the critical need for advancements in treatment strategies. The focus of this work is to address the challenges associated with reliably repairing congenitally diseased valves, which currently depends on artistic guesswork by the individual surgeons and lacks standardization. The goal of the proposal is to enhance the existing knowledge and practice of valve repair, moving away from the individualistic artistry and towards an evidence-based, controlled approach.