World Heart Day and Women in Medicine Month: Faculty Spotlights

September is Women in Medicine Month, and World Heart Day is on September 29. We extend our gratitude to all our faculty, residents, trainees, and staff who continue to advance the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Meet Ngan F. Huang, PhD, Maria Currie, MD, PhD, and Yihan Lin, MD, MPH, whose contributions are shaping the field through research on muscle regeneration in space, the use of augmented reality in surgery, and expanding access to heart surgery training worldwide.

Ngan F. Huang, PhD

Dr. Huang, Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering, and Principal Investigator at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, is a versatile researcher who combines her education, skills, and training in chemistry, bioengineering, and cardiothoracic surgery to explore fascinating multidisciplinary intersections to make new discoveries. She harnesses the power of regenerative medicine to investigate the interactions between stem cells and extracellular matrix microenvironment for engineering cardiovascular tissues to treat cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases. In 2021, she sent her research to the International Space Station to help solve why the human body declines faster in space. Her study focuses on the similarities between muscle that has spent a week in microgravity and muscle in older adults with sarcopenia, a muscle-wasting condition.

“My Space Station venture proved that space can be a valuable platform for testing therapies that boost muscle regeneration, ultimately helping us better care for patients. These insights are already informing strategies to improve muscle regeneration, with hopes of accelerating translation of therapies for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Huang.

Dr. Huang supports future generations by organizing academic events and conferences that empower young researchers and women to gain footing within academic spaces.

Visit Dr. Huang’s lab page to learn more about her research.

Maria Currie, MD, PhD

Dr. Currie, Clinical Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, combines her exceptional expertise in biomedical engineering, advanced intraoperative imaging, and computational methods to improve operative planning and guidance.  Her translational research efforts rely on machine learning, augmented reality (AR) systems, and haptics-enabled software and devices to enhance three-dimensional visualization and support more precise, minimally invasive surgery. Her findings have helped to enhance how surgeons visualize anatomic structures that are difficult to see during surgery. In particular, she applies machine learning and AR, guided by transesophageal echocardiography, to improve mitral valve repair. In parallel, the team applies machine learning to refine heart transplantation donor–recipient phenotypic compatibility models, being implemented as a clinical decision-support tools, to streamline donor assessment and organ acceptance, provide faster and more consistent decisions at the time of offer, and aim to expand the pool of usable donor hearts and reduce wait times for listed patients. She regularly presents on the use of AR systems, 3D visualization, and robotics-assisted procedures at national and international medical conferences. As an expert heart transplantation surgeon, she also researches methods to improve transplantation outcomes, including enhancing the use of mechanical circulatory support devices.

“My goal is to better understand and improve surgical outcomes by leveraging tools that use machine learning and augmented reality,” said Dr. Currie.  

Visit Dr. Currie’s lab page to learn more about her research.

Yihan Lin, MD, MPH

About 75% of the world’s population has no access to cardiac surgical care, due to the short supply of surgeons, equipment, and facilities in many under-resourced communities – and Dr. Lin, Clinical Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, is changing that. Dr. Lin leads global research on closing the disparity gap in access to cardiac surgical care worldwide through research and sustainable interventions. She and her research team evaluate cost effectiveness of cardiac surgery in a global context and advocate for capacity building and better infrastructure for real-world change. Her research includes improving outcomes for women in Rwanda who have mechanical heart valves and face potential high-risk pregnancy outcomes, and training the next generation of surgeons/cardiac surgeons with a portable and affordable Global SurgBox, for which she and her colleague recently earned a prestigious Stanford grant. 

"True access to surgical care must include key elements of timeliness, capacity, safety, and affordability. When you take all these into account, a shocking 6 billion people lack access to cardiac surgical care around the world,” said Dr. Lin.

Visit Dr. Lin’s lab page to learn more about her research.