- Email: [email protected]
History and Current Status of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania
GREAT INSTITUTIONS
History and Current Status of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Michael A. Acker, MD, Joseph E. Bavaria, MD, and Clyde F. Barker, MD The cardiothoracic surgery program at the University of Pennsylvania has enjoyed a decades long tradition of leadership and contributions to the field. Consistent with its place as a robust contributor in a major academic medical center, its focus is on the tripartite mission of clinical care, research and education, including the provision of cutting edge care delivered to patients in a multidisciplinary fashion. Faculty members’ pursuit of translational research facilitates the delivery of such exceptional treatment and provision of excellent care. This foundation is ideal for the training of the outstanding surgeons of tomorrow, as evidenced by a history of such contributions. Semin Thoracic Surg 24 :370–373 I 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Cardiac surgery, history, innovation
University of Pennsylvania Central Message The cardiothoracic surgery program at the
Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania before World War II was led by George Muller, who was the 26th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) (1933). His primary interests were emphysema and lung abscesses and he as an early teacher of Julian Johnson, MD, who became the first chief of the cardiothoracic program at the University of Pennsylvania. During the 1930s, John H. Gibbon, inventor of the heart or lung machine, actually did the first animal experiments using the heart or lung machine on cats in 1935 before moving to Thomas Jefferson University where the actual heart or lung machine in humans was first used. Dr Johnson was chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn from 1938-1972. He was actually appointed as chief on the completion of his residency in 1938 by Drs Ravdin and Eliason. Dr Johnson was legendary as a tough taskmaster expecting perfection from his surgical team and felt his residents should perceive problems better than he could. He put an extremely high value on technical expertise and clinical volume. He was part of a vanguard of early open heart surgeons and brought open heart surgery to the University of Pennsylvania performing closed mitral valve commisurotomies, closed aortic valve operations, congenital heart disease surgery, and also was an early adopter of the cardiopulmonary bypass machine for open valve and congenital heart operations. He was the 43rd President of the AATS and best known for one of the first textbooks of thoracic surgery, the 1st Edition of the Surgery of the Chest by Johnson and Kirby. Luminaries who trained under Dr Johnson were Gordon Danielson, MD, who was first cardiothoracic
University of Pennsylvania is a leading profellow of Dr Johnson gram in the field in part because of a great and later became tradition of focus on of cutting edge clinical chief of cardiothoracare, translational research and education that cic surgery at the has produced many leaders in the field. Mayo Clinic; Dr Waldhausen, later to become chair of surgery at Penn State University and President of the AATS in 1991; and William Pierce, MD, the founder of the artificial heart and one of the pioneers of mechanical cardiac assistance.
Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Address reprint requests to Michael A. Acker, MD, Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Silverstein 6, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6070. E-mail: [email protected]
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Dr. Julian Johnson. Chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn from 1938 to 1972. (Color version of figure is available online at http://www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.) 1043-0679/$-see front matter ª 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.semtcvs.2015.10.012
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA The second chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania was L. Henry Edmunds, MD, who was chief of the division from 1973-1992. Dr Edmunds made seminal contributions to the field of cardiac surgery in the areas of blood surface interactions, the effect of cardiopulmonary bypass on blood, coagulation cascade, ischemic mitral insufficiency, and the development of large animal models of ischemic ventricular remodeling. He was truly one of the founders of cardiac surgical translational research. He continued his National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding throughout his career and is well known for the current textbook of Cardiac Surgery in the Adult, currently edited by Cohn and Edmunds. Dr Edmunds established the heart transplantation program at Penn in 1985. He was successful in recruiting Larry Kaiser, MD, in 1992, who started the lung transplant program. Under the leadership of Dr Kaiser, the thoracic surgery program became distinct from cardiothoracic surgery and nationally renowned. Dr Edmunds also recruited William Norwood, MD, to become full time chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Although at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr Norwood established the Norwood operation and led a tremendous growth in complex neonatal cardiac surgery. After he stepped down as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn, Dr Edmunds became editor and chief of the Annuals of Thoracic Surgery from 2000-2015. During his reign as editor-inchief, the Annals increased its reputation and impact.
become chair of surgery at University of Colorado; Paul Addinizio who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple; Verdi DiSesa who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Rush; and Larry Kaiser became chairman of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and later Chief Executive Officer of Temple Health System. Timothy Gardner, MD, was the third chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and the 82nd President of the AATS. He was chief between the years of 1993 and 2003. A recipient of NIH funding through much of his academic career, he is best known for expanding the clinical program in cardiothoracic surgery during his tenure. He expanded the cardiothoracic program from 1-3 sites including Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital. He expanded faculty from 4 cardiac surgeons to 11 and 1 thoracic surgeon to 4 surgeons. He was successful in hiring Thomas Spray, MD (89th President of the AATS), to take over as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from Dr Norwood. Other contributions from Dr Gardner were establishment of joint critical care program with cardiac anesthesia; the establishment of the mechanical assist program under Michael Acker, MD; the establishment of a specific program in complex aorta disease, and the first use of aortic thoracic stent grafts under Joseph Bavaria, MD.
Dr. L. Henry Edmunds. The second chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1973 until 1992. (Color version of figure is available online at http:// www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.)
Dr. Timothy Gardner. The third chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 and 2003. (Color version of figure is available online at http:// www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.)
Dr Edmunds' trainees or faculty were Larry Stephenson who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Wayne State; Richard Edie who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Jefferson; Alden Harken who left Penn to
Dr Gardner's trainees that went on to run their own department or division include Roy Smythe, chair of surgery at Texas A&M; Blair Marshall, chief of thoracic surgery at Georgetown; John Kucharczuk, chief of thoracic surgery at the University of
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CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania; Tom Gleason, chief of cardiac surgery at the University of Pittsburgh; Joseph Woo, chairman of the department of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford; and Sloane Guy, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple. Dr Michael Acker became Chief of the Division of CT Surgery in 2003 and continues to direct the division to this day. With the successful recruitment of Joel Cooper to Penn in 2005, the division was separated into 2 divisions—Cardiovascular Surgery led by Michael Acker and General Thoracic Surgery led first by Dr Cooper and later by John Kucharczuk. Dr Wilson Szeto is the current chief of cardiac surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Dr Satoshi Furukawa, former chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple, leads the cardiac surgery program at Pennsylvania Hospital, oldest hospital in the United States founded by Benjamin Franklin. Cardiovascular surgery is part of the Penn Heart and Vascular Center encompassing the disciplines of cardiac surgery, cardiology, vascular surgery and vascular medicine to form the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center under the leadership of Dr Acker. Currently the Heart and Vascular Center encompasses the entire continuum of cardiovascular care both inpatient and outpatient.
Dr. Michael Acker. Chief of the Division of CT Surgery from 2003 to present. (Color version of figure is available online at http://www. semthorcardiovascsurg.com.) The division of cardiovascular surgery under Dr Acker's leadership has developed a national reputation in the areas of complex aortic surgery, heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices (VADS), lung transplantation, as well as minimally invasive mitral valve surgery. The director of the thoracic aortic program and Robert-Measey Professor and Vice Chief of the division is Dr Joseph Bavaria. He is a national and international leader in the field of endovascular thoracic aortic surgery and transcatheter aortic valve
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replacement (TAVR). One of the keys to Penn's success in the thoracic aortic program, as well as in the TAVR program, has been a philosophy of academic and clinical partnership. For the thoracic aortic program this has included a wonderful successful partnership with Dr Ronald Fairman of vascular surgery who is one of the leaders in the endovascular approach to aortic disease and for the TAVR program this has included Dr Howard Herrmann, chief of interventional cardiology at Penn. Penn was an early adopter of the hybrid operating room as the best place for both thoracic aortic procedures as well as all TAVR procedures. Dr Bavaria is currently serving as the 52nd President of the Society of Thoracic Surgery. Other members of the Penn aortic program include Dr Wilson Szeto who is the director of the transcatheter cardioaortic therapies; Dr Nimesh Desai who focuses on TAVR, complex aortic and valve surgery, hybrid approaches to atrial fibrillation surgery and is also the director of the clinical research program at Penn, and Dr Prashanth Vallabhajosyula. The heart transplantation and VAD program at Penn is one of the largest in the country and has been led after Dr Acker by Dr Joseph Woo and currently by Dr Pavan Atluri. The program has a strong tradition of partnership with heart failure cardiology under the leadership of Drs Lee Goldberg and Mariell Jessup (former President of the American Heart Association). The program is one of the leaders in mechanical circulatory assist in the country and has also led a regional effort to develop a hub and spoke's model to disseminate VAD technology to the region. The Penn Lung Transplantation Program with the departure of former director Dr Alberto Pochettino is currently directed by Dr Christian Bermudez who was recently recruited from the University of Pittsburgh where he ran one of the largest lung transplant programs in the world. The program also benefits from the research platform established under the leadership of Dr Ed Cantu who is focusing on the genomics or proteomics of lung transplantation as well as the development of ex vivo perfusion techniques for the expansion the donor pool. Drs Clark Hargrove and Pavan Atluri lead our minimally invasive or robotic cardiac surgery program. Clark Hargrove's personal series of nearly 1500 HeartPort assisted minimally invasive mitral valve operations is one of the largest in the country for a single surgeon. The division has a close relationship for both cardiac surgical training and for adult congenital heart surgery with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia under the leadership of Dr Tom Spray. The adult cardiac surgical program is currently under the leadership of Dr Stephanie Fuller and the program
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Volume 24 , Number 4
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA resides jointly at Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The division has a long tradition of cutting edge translational and clinical research. Drs Robert and Joseph Gorman lead one of the largest and best funded cardiac surgical translational research efforts in the country. Their research efforts have focused on the development of percutaneous mitral valve repair, chronic vagal stimulation as a treatment for heart failure, development of saddle shape mitral valve annuloplasty ring, strain induced myopathy in postinfarction heart failure, modified late infarct reperfusion to prevent postmyocardial infarction heart failure, surgery to prevent postinfarction left ventricular remodeling and genetic mechanisms in pediatric heart disease. In addition to the Gorman laboratory there are active independent translational research efforts in the areas of exosome biology under the leadership of Prashanth Vallabhajosyula and molecular and cellular therapies for heart failure under the leadership of Pavan Atluri. Penn is also a leader in cardiac surgery clinical research. The philosophy of the division is that all patients should be offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial if a candidate. The division has been a national leader in clinical trials in the areas of endovascular aortic stents, TAVR, heart valves, and VADs. Penn is a core member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Cardiac Surgical Network where it has also been a top enroller in multiple important randomized trials and registries in the areas of mitral insufficiency, atrial fibrillation, and postoperative surgical infections. Currently the division of cardiovascular surgery has 12 NIH grants, 5
peer review grants, and 32 ongoing clinical trials with a total budget of over 8 million dollars. One of the most important core missions of the division is education. Penn's training program in cardiothoracic surgery has been one of the most sought after for many years because of the breadth and depth of the surgical experience available to the cardiothoracic residents as well as a long tradition of supervised resident independence in the operating room. Penn was one of the first programs in the country to start an integrated 6year residency program. This program further distinguishes itself for incorporating and funding two years of research or self-enrichment into the core program. Penn residents overwhelmingly go into academic cardiac surgery and many have become the next generation of cardiac surgical leaders of our field. In summary the characteristics that has made Penn great throughout the years and continues to distinguish us currently is our complete commitment to the tripartite mission of great academic medical centers—clinical care, research, and education. We pride ourselves in providing multidisciplinary cutting edge personal cardiovascular care to our patients from a team of surgeons that are nationally renowned in their respective areas of expertise. The renown stems not only the delivery of cutting edge therapies but very often from the translational research, discoveries, and clinical research that they have led. Finally Penn has been and continues to be the place where we impart our knowledge and experience to the next generation of young academic surgeons of the future.
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Volume 24 , Number 4
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History and Current Status of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Michael A. Acker, MD, Joseph E. Bavaria, MD, and Clyde F. Barker, MD The cardiothoracic surgery program at the University of Pennsylvania has enjoyed a decades long tradition of leadership and contributions to the field. Consistent with its place as a robust contributor in a major academic medical center, its focus is on the tripartite mission of clinical care, research and education, including the provision of cutting edge care delivered to patients in a multidisciplinary fashion. Faculty members’ pursuit of translational research facilitates the delivery of such exceptional treatment and provision of excellent care. This foundation is ideal for the training of the outstanding surgeons of tomorrow, as evidenced by a history of such contributions. Semin Thoracic Surg 24 :370–373 I 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Cardiac surgery, history, innovation
University of Pennsylvania Central Message The cardiothoracic surgery program at the
Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania before World War II was led by George Muller, who was the 26th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) (1933). His primary interests were emphysema and lung abscesses and he as an early teacher of Julian Johnson, MD, who became the first chief of the cardiothoracic program at the University of Pennsylvania. During the 1930s, John H. Gibbon, inventor of the heart or lung machine, actually did the first animal experiments using the heart or lung machine on cats in 1935 before moving to Thomas Jefferson University where the actual heart or lung machine in humans was first used. Dr Johnson was chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn from 1938-1972. He was actually appointed as chief on the completion of his residency in 1938 by Drs Ravdin and Eliason. Dr Johnson was legendary as a tough taskmaster expecting perfection from his surgical team and felt his residents should perceive problems better than he could. He put an extremely high value on technical expertise and clinical volume. He was part of a vanguard of early open heart surgeons and brought open heart surgery to the University of Pennsylvania performing closed mitral valve commisurotomies, closed aortic valve operations, congenital heart disease surgery, and also was an early adopter of the cardiopulmonary bypass machine for open valve and congenital heart operations. He was the 43rd President of the AATS and best known for one of the first textbooks of thoracic surgery, the 1st Edition of the Surgery of the Chest by Johnson and Kirby. Luminaries who trained under Dr Johnson were Gordon Danielson, MD, who was first cardiothoracic
University of Pennsylvania is a leading profellow of Dr Johnson gram in the field in part because of a great and later became tradition of focus on of cutting edge clinical chief of cardiothoracare, translational research and education that cic surgery at the has produced many leaders in the field. Mayo Clinic; Dr Waldhausen, later to become chair of surgery at Penn State University and President of the AATS in 1991; and William Pierce, MD, the founder of the artificial heart and one of the pioneers of mechanical cardiac assistance.
Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Address reprint requests to Michael A. Acker, MD, Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Silverstein 6, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6070. E-mail: [email protected]
370
Dr. Julian Johnson. Chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn from 1938 to 1972. (Color version of figure is available online at http://www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.) 1043-0679/$-see front matter ª 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.semtcvs.2015.10.012
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA The second chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania was L. Henry Edmunds, MD, who was chief of the division from 1973-1992. Dr Edmunds made seminal contributions to the field of cardiac surgery in the areas of blood surface interactions, the effect of cardiopulmonary bypass on blood, coagulation cascade, ischemic mitral insufficiency, and the development of large animal models of ischemic ventricular remodeling. He was truly one of the founders of cardiac surgical translational research. He continued his National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding throughout his career and is well known for the current textbook of Cardiac Surgery in the Adult, currently edited by Cohn and Edmunds. Dr Edmunds established the heart transplantation program at Penn in 1985. He was successful in recruiting Larry Kaiser, MD, in 1992, who started the lung transplant program. Under the leadership of Dr Kaiser, the thoracic surgery program became distinct from cardiothoracic surgery and nationally renowned. Dr Edmunds also recruited William Norwood, MD, to become full time chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Although at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr Norwood established the Norwood operation and led a tremendous growth in complex neonatal cardiac surgery. After he stepped down as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Penn, Dr Edmunds became editor and chief of the Annuals of Thoracic Surgery from 2000-2015. During his reign as editor-inchief, the Annals increased its reputation and impact.
become chair of surgery at University of Colorado; Paul Addinizio who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple; Verdi DiSesa who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Rush; and Larry Kaiser became chairman of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and later Chief Executive Officer of Temple Health System. Timothy Gardner, MD, was the third chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and the 82nd President of the AATS. He was chief between the years of 1993 and 2003. A recipient of NIH funding through much of his academic career, he is best known for expanding the clinical program in cardiothoracic surgery during his tenure. He expanded the cardiothoracic program from 1-3 sites including Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital. He expanded faculty from 4 cardiac surgeons to 11 and 1 thoracic surgeon to 4 surgeons. He was successful in hiring Thomas Spray, MD (89th President of the AATS), to take over as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from Dr Norwood. Other contributions from Dr Gardner were establishment of joint critical care program with cardiac anesthesia; the establishment of the mechanical assist program under Michael Acker, MD; the establishment of a specific program in complex aorta disease, and the first use of aortic thoracic stent grafts under Joseph Bavaria, MD.
Dr. L. Henry Edmunds. The second chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1973 until 1992. (Color version of figure is available online at http:// www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.)
Dr. Timothy Gardner. The third chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 and 2003. (Color version of figure is available online at http:// www.semthorcardiovascsurg.com.)
Dr Edmunds' trainees or faculty were Larry Stephenson who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Wayne State; Richard Edie who left Penn to become chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Jefferson; Alden Harken who left Penn to
Dr Gardner's trainees that went on to run their own department or division include Roy Smythe, chair of surgery at Texas A&M; Blair Marshall, chief of thoracic surgery at Georgetown; John Kucharczuk, chief of thoracic surgery at the University of
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Volume 24 , Number 4
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CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania; Tom Gleason, chief of cardiac surgery at the University of Pittsburgh; Joseph Woo, chairman of the department of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford; and Sloane Guy, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple. Dr Michael Acker became Chief of the Division of CT Surgery in 2003 and continues to direct the division to this day. With the successful recruitment of Joel Cooper to Penn in 2005, the division was separated into 2 divisions—Cardiovascular Surgery led by Michael Acker and General Thoracic Surgery led first by Dr Cooper and later by John Kucharczuk. Dr Wilson Szeto is the current chief of cardiac surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Dr Satoshi Furukawa, former chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Temple, leads the cardiac surgery program at Pennsylvania Hospital, oldest hospital in the United States founded by Benjamin Franklin. Cardiovascular surgery is part of the Penn Heart and Vascular Center encompassing the disciplines of cardiac surgery, cardiology, vascular surgery and vascular medicine to form the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center under the leadership of Dr Acker. Currently the Heart and Vascular Center encompasses the entire continuum of cardiovascular care both inpatient and outpatient.
Dr. Michael Acker. Chief of the Division of CT Surgery from 2003 to present. (Color version of figure is available online at http://www. semthorcardiovascsurg.com.) The division of cardiovascular surgery under Dr Acker's leadership has developed a national reputation in the areas of complex aortic surgery, heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices (VADS), lung transplantation, as well as minimally invasive mitral valve surgery. The director of the thoracic aortic program and Robert-Measey Professor and Vice Chief of the division is Dr Joseph Bavaria. He is a national and international leader in the field of endovascular thoracic aortic surgery and transcatheter aortic valve
372
replacement (TAVR). One of the keys to Penn's success in the thoracic aortic program, as well as in the TAVR program, has been a philosophy of academic and clinical partnership. For the thoracic aortic program this has included a wonderful successful partnership with Dr Ronald Fairman of vascular surgery who is one of the leaders in the endovascular approach to aortic disease and for the TAVR program this has included Dr Howard Herrmann, chief of interventional cardiology at Penn. Penn was an early adopter of the hybrid operating room as the best place for both thoracic aortic procedures as well as all TAVR procedures. Dr Bavaria is currently serving as the 52nd President of the Society of Thoracic Surgery. Other members of the Penn aortic program include Dr Wilson Szeto who is the director of the transcatheter cardioaortic therapies; Dr Nimesh Desai who focuses on TAVR, complex aortic and valve surgery, hybrid approaches to atrial fibrillation surgery and is also the director of the clinical research program at Penn, and Dr Prashanth Vallabhajosyula. The heart transplantation and VAD program at Penn is one of the largest in the country and has been led after Dr Acker by Dr Joseph Woo and currently by Dr Pavan Atluri. The program has a strong tradition of partnership with heart failure cardiology under the leadership of Drs Lee Goldberg and Mariell Jessup (former President of the American Heart Association). The program is one of the leaders in mechanical circulatory assist in the country and has also led a regional effort to develop a hub and spoke's model to disseminate VAD technology to the region. The Penn Lung Transplantation Program with the departure of former director Dr Alberto Pochettino is currently directed by Dr Christian Bermudez who was recently recruited from the University of Pittsburgh where he ran one of the largest lung transplant programs in the world. The program also benefits from the research platform established under the leadership of Dr Ed Cantu who is focusing on the genomics or proteomics of lung transplantation as well as the development of ex vivo perfusion techniques for the expansion the donor pool. Drs Clark Hargrove and Pavan Atluri lead our minimally invasive or robotic cardiac surgery program. Clark Hargrove's personal series of nearly 1500 HeartPort assisted minimally invasive mitral valve operations is one of the largest in the country for a single surgeon. The division has a close relationship for both cardiac surgical training and for adult congenital heart surgery with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia under the leadership of Dr Tom Spray. The adult cardiac surgical program is currently under the leadership of Dr Stephanie Fuller and the program
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Volume 24 , Number 4
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA resides jointly at Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The division has a long tradition of cutting edge translational and clinical research. Drs Robert and Joseph Gorman lead one of the largest and best funded cardiac surgical translational research efforts in the country. Their research efforts have focused on the development of percutaneous mitral valve repair, chronic vagal stimulation as a treatment for heart failure, development of saddle shape mitral valve annuloplasty ring, strain induced myopathy in postinfarction heart failure, modified late infarct reperfusion to prevent postmyocardial infarction heart failure, surgery to prevent postinfarction left ventricular remodeling and genetic mechanisms in pediatric heart disease. In addition to the Gorman laboratory there are active independent translational research efforts in the areas of exosome biology under the leadership of Prashanth Vallabhajosyula and molecular and cellular therapies for heart failure under the leadership of Pavan Atluri. Penn is also a leader in cardiac surgery clinical research. The philosophy of the division is that all patients should be offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial if a candidate. The division has been a national leader in clinical trials in the areas of endovascular aortic stents, TAVR, heart valves, and VADs. Penn is a core member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Cardiac Surgical Network where it has also been a top enroller in multiple important randomized trials and registries in the areas of mitral insufficiency, atrial fibrillation, and postoperative surgical infections. Currently the division of cardiovascular surgery has 12 NIH grants, 5
peer review grants, and 32 ongoing clinical trials with a total budget of over 8 million dollars. One of the most important core missions of the division is education. Penn's training program in cardiothoracic surgery has been one of the most sought after for many years because of the breadth and depth of the surgical experience available to the cardiothoracic residents as well as a long tradition of supervised resident independence in the operating room. Penn was one of the first programs in the country to start an integrated 6year residency program. This program further distinguishes itself for incorporating and funding two years of research or self-enrichment into the core program. Penn residents overwhelmingly go into academic cardiac surgery and many have become the next generation of cardiac surgical leaders of our field. In summary the characteristics that has made Penn great throughout the years and continues to distinguish us currently is our complete commitment to the tripartite mission of great academic medical centers—clinical care, research, and education. We pride ourselves in providing multidisciplinary cutting edge personal cardiovascular care to our patients from a team of surgeons that are nationally renowned in their respective areas of expertise. The renown stems not only the delivery of cutting edge therapies but very often from the translational research, discoveries, and clinical research that they have led. Finally Penn has been and continues to be the place where we impart our knowledge and experience to the next generation of young academic surgeons of the future.
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Volume 24 , Number 4
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