Speaker Topics: Cardiac Surgery

Speaker Topics: Cardiac Surgery

William Baumgartner, M.D.
Cardiac Surgeon-in-Charge
The Vincent L. Gott Professor
Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs
President of Clinical Practice Association

Dr. William Baumgartner is the Vincent L. Gott Professor in Cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the cardiac surgeon in charge at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He is also vice dean for clinical affairs and president of the Johns Hopkins Clinical Practice Association, the organizational body representing more than 1,700 full-time practicing physicians at Johns Hopkins. 

After joining Hopkins in 1982, Baumgartner reinitiated the medical center’s heart transplant program, now recognized as one of the country’s leading centers in the surgical treatment of heart failure.

His early research focused on organ preservation for transplantation and determination of methods for the noninvasive diagnosis of rejection.  Dr. Baumgartner’s area of research is in the field of neurological protection in cardiac surgery which he has had continuous NIH support for the past 15 years.  In 2002, he received the Javits Neuroscience Research Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health.

As a member of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, he has played a major role in the development of a structured curriculum for thoracic surgery residency education and has championed the introduction of innovative educational tools.  Most recently, Baumgartner was awarded the Socrates Teacher of the Year Award from the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association.  In addition, he has held top posts in several other national and international professional organizations, including past president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and member of the Thoracic Surgery Residency Review Committee.  His bibliography includes more than 250 journal articles, book chapters and books.

A graduate of Xavier University and of the University of Kentucky Medical School, Baumgartner received his surgical training at Stanford Medical School.

Duke Cameron, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
The James T. Dresher Sr. Professor
Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Co-Director Broccoli Center of Aortic Diseases

Dr. Cameron earned his medical degree from Yale Medical School and completed his residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He then went on to complete a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Duke E. Cameron’s early investigative work focused on inflammatory mediators in cardio-pulmonary bypass, but more recently has shifted to clinical research in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery.

His other clinical interests include adult and pediatric cardiac surgery, cardiac transplantation,
Marfan syndrome, mitral valve repair and aortic surgery including valve sparing aortic root. His research interests include inflammation and cardiopulmonary bypass, hypothermic circulatory arrest and aortic surgery.

John Conte, M.D.
Associate Chief of Cardiac Surgery
Associate Professor of Surgery
Director of Heart and Lung Transplantation
Co-Director Comprehensive Heart Failure Center

Dr. Conte’s research activities are centered on the treatment of end stage heart and lung disease.  He has active laboratory and clinical research projects under way. In the laboratory, he looks at ways to modify artificial lung devices to allow patients to be treated with them via percutaneous or minimally invasive techniques as a bridge to lung transplantation or as a life saving treatment in ICU patients.

He is also actively involved in clinical research involving patients who have undergone ventricular remodeling surgery to make this a safer and even more effective treatment for patients with end stage ischemic cardiomypoathy. His work in this area has been presented widely and he is widely recognized as an international expert in this area.

Dr. Conte is involved in many trials using mechanical devices to assist the failing circulation of patients with advanced heart failure.  He has many active clinical research projects in this field. He has been, or will be, a principal investigator in several device studies including the Heartmate 2 Left ventricular assist device, Abiocor artificial heart and the Impella 5.0 left ventricular assist device amongst others.

He is an investigator in two studies looking at the utility of using stem cells to treat patients with end stage heart disease.  One study is looking at bone marrow derived stem cells in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy undergoing concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.  The other is looking at the effect of autologous cardiac derived stem cells which will be used at the time of left ventricular assist device implantation on regional and global LV function.

Ashish Shah, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery

Ashish S. Shah joined the Johns Hopkins Faculty in 2005. Since then he has had a special interest in thoracic transplantation and in particular lung transplantation. He trained at Duke University Medical Center in General and Cardiothoracic Surgery with advance training in thoracic transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. His other clinical interests include full spectrum adult cardiac surgery including complex coronary and valvular heart disease.

Dr. Shah’s research interests include new ways to describe and prevent lung injury in the transplant setting.

Dr. Shah was born in London, UK and raised in Connecticut.  He obtained his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. 

Luca Vricella
Congenital and Adult Cardiac Surgery
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Director, Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program

Dr. Vricella’s clinical and research interests revolve around the field of pediatric cardiac surgery, with emphasis on complex congenital neonatal disease. Aside from his active involvement in outcome research projects undertaken by the Division of Cardiac Surgery, he is collaborating with Dr. Kenneth Brady from the Division of Pediatric Anesthesia on laboratory and clinical protocols aimed at delineating cerebral vascular autoregulation during cardiac surgical procedures in pediatric patients and animal models.

Dr. Vricella attended medical school at Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome, Italy and completed a general surgery residency at The George Washington University School of Medicine. He completed fellowships at Loma Linda University of Medical Center, Stanford University (in cardiothoracic Surgery), and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London (in pediatric cardiac surgery).

David Yuh, M.D.
Associate Professor of Surgery
Associate Professor, Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology, Whiting School of Engineering
Director Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgical Program
Director of Cardiac Surgical Research

Dr. David Yuh joined the Johns Hopkins Division of Cardiac Surgery in 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and two years later became the Director of Cardiac Surgical Research and the Minimally-Invasive Cardiac Surgical Program.  He is now an Associate Professor of Surgery with a joint appointment in the Whiting School of Engineering. 

Dr. Yuh completed his undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University in 1986 and 1991, respectively.  He completed residencies in general and cardiothoracic surgery at the Stanford University Medical Center, culminating as the chief resident in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery from 2000-2001.

In the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Hopkins, Dr. Yuh performs all types of adult cardiac surgery, including heart transplantation and the implantation of mechanical cardiac assist devices.  In 2003, Dr. Yuh led a team that performed Hopkins’ first minimally-invasive robotic heart operation, placing a biventricular pacemaker lead in a patient with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.  Dr. Yuh’s team subsequently performed Hopkins’ first robotic “open-heart” operation, successfully repairing the mitral valve of a 78 year old man.  These complex operations were performed using much smaller incisions than are possible with traditional approaches. Dr. Yuh is continuing to explore different ways of performing cardiac operations in a minimally-invasive fashion.

As the Director of the Johns Hopkins Cardiac Surgical Research program, Dr. Yuh works closely with the Hopkins Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science to develop robotic sensory feedback capabilities and computerized motion-tracking recognition to enhance surgical robotic training.  Dr. Yuh’s other research focus is in improving cardiac surgical outcomes in elderly patients.  Supported by the National Institutes of Health and a 2003 American Geriatrics Society Jahnigen Career Development Scholars Award, Dr. Yuh is conducting a wide-ranging study examining aging processes and how they affect older patients undergoing heart surgery.  Dr. Yuh has written numerous research publications in heart and lung transplantation and surgical robotics and has served as the lead editor of two textbooks in adult and pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.  He also currently serves on the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ Workforce on Aging and as a reviewer for The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.