Cardiothoracic Surgery Physicians
John Calhoon, MDDr. Calhoon obtained his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in 1981. He is Board Certified in Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, and Congenital Cardiac Surgery. He joined the group in 1989 and currently is Professor and Chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is also Program Director for the Thoracic Surgery Residency Training Program. His current interests include complex congenital heart surgery; heart and lung transplantation; complex adult cardiac surgery; the Ross procedure; and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Nationally, he has served as President of the TSDA, and Secretary of the STSA. He is currently Past President of the TSDA, a member of the JCTSE Board, the TSFRE Board, an at large Director of the STS, and is Vice Chair of the ABTS. Locally, he has been Chairman of the Dominion Country Club, and President of the AHA. He is currently Vice Chair of HeartGift San Antonio, an organization that sponsors charitable life saving congenital heart repair on kids from around the globe. Aside from the humbling professional honors above, he is very proud to have been selected as an Outstanding Young Texas Ex from the University of Texas. His greatest success was in finding, successfully courting, and marrying his wife, Ms. Sarah Lucero, an award winning local television journalist and anchor. They are proud of their two sons, Satchel and Stetson, and excited about the impending arrival of a daughter, Seve Elizabeth, in December 2011 with a little luck.
Calhoon@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
Edward Y. Sako, MD, PhDDr. Sako obtained his medical degree from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1982 and obtained his PhD in 1991. His General Surgical training was also at the University of Minnesota and his Cardiothoracic training was at the University of Michigan. He is Board Certified in Surgery and Thoracic Surgery. He is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department and is also Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the South Texas Veterans Health Care System. His special interests include valve surgery (complicated mitral, aortic and tricuspid valve surgeries); resident and medical student education and thoracic transplantation.
Scott B. Johnson, MD
Dr. Johnson received his medical degree in 1987 from the University of
New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is Board
Certified in Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, and Thoracic Surgery. Dr.
Johnson joined us in 1995. He is Associate Professor and Associate
Program Director for the Thoracic Surgery Residency Training Program. He
is the Head of General Thoracic Surgery within the
Department. His current interests include noncardiac thoracic surgery;
esophageal surgery/reconstruction; and minimally invasive cardiac and
noncardiac surgery.
Johnsons@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
S. Adil Husain, MD
Dr. Husain obtained his Medical Degree from the University of North
Dakota. He completed a residency in General Surgery at the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He then completed fellowship training in
Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of North Carolina. He
subsequently was a fellow at Riley Children's Hospital - Indiana
University School of Medicine in Congenital Cardiac Surgery. Before
joining the Congenital Heart Institute of Texas in 2008, Dr. Husain was
on faculty at the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor of
Surgery and Pediatrics. He was a member of the Congenital Heart Center
and focused on the surgical treatment of children with congenital
cardiovascular disease. He is board certified in both General as well
as Cardiothoracic Surgery. His interests include neonatal cardiac
surgery, pediatric heart transplantation as well as overseas
humanitarian work. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery at UTHSCSA.
husain@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
Clinton E. Baisden, MDDr. Baisden obtained his medical degree at The University of Oklahoma Medical School in 1975. He is currently certified with The American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He joined this program in March of 2005 as a Clinical Professor. Dr. Baisden currently heads the Cardiothoracic Research Administration meetings and is very involved with all research being conducted by our department. His areas of interest include Cerebral and myocardial protection during cardiac surgical procedures; Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury mechanism elucidation/treatment; Systemic hyperthermia for treatment of stage IV lung cancer; and research models for determining the effectiveness of newly FDA released pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Baisden@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
A. J. Carpenter, MD, PhD
Dr. Carpenter earned her PhD in Physiology from Penn State University in 1981
and her MD from George Washington University in 1989. She is Certified by the
American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. She was a
member of the US Air Force and was the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at
Wilford Hall Medical Center until joining the faculty in 2002. Dr. Carpenter is
the Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery for the University Health System. She
is deeply involved in curriculum development for Integrated Thoracic Surgical
training and the use of simulation is surgical education. Dr. Carpenter is
predominantly an adult cardiac surgeon whose special interests include aortic
root reconstruction, operative therapy for heart failure and minimally invasive
valve surgery.
CarpenterA2@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
Alfonso Chiscano, MD
Dr. Alfonso Chiscano studied at the German School, Escuelas Pias in Tenerife,
Jesuit School in Madrid and National Institute of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He
got his degree in Medicine in 1962 at the Faculty of Medicine, University of
Barcelona thanks to a scholarship from the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. From
1962 to 1969 he was a general surgeon resident at Wayne State University
in Detroit Michigan. He got his specialty of cardiac and thoracic surgery at the
same University in Detroit (1969-1971 ). From 1971 to 1972 he was
granted with a scholarship to work directly under the supervision of Dr.
Denton Cooley in Houston, a worldwide renowned surgeon. He began his
own private practice as a cardiac surgeon in San Antonio, Texas in 1972. Dr.
Chiscano and his team performed surgery to more than 6000 patients. Since
November 2007, he holds the Alfonso Chiscano Professorship Chair for
Cardiovascular Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at
San Antonio (UTHSCSA). He is a senior member of the Society of Thoracic
Surgery and American College of Cardiology, past member of the
American Medical Association, senior member of the Texas Medical
Association and the Bexar County Medical Society, Fellow of the American
College of Cardiology, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons being
in possession of Board Certified in cardiothoracic surgery in Canada and
USA.
chiscano@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
Daniel T. DeArmond, MD
Dr. DeArmond completed general surgery residency at the University of
Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and cardiothoracic surgery
residency at the University of Iowa. He is board certified by the
American Board of Thoracic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery.
He completed an additional year of
fellowship training in general thoracic surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center in Los Angeles, CA, where he was exposed to a high-volume
experience with video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and thoracic
endoscopy. His clinical specialty is the application of VATS to
operations for lung cancer, where the advantage to patients is a
complete cancer operation with less pain, shorter hospital stays, and a
shorter recovery period. During his surgical training he spent three
years in the lab researching the molecular mechanisms of cancer, which
has allowed him to publish and present at numerous national meetings.
He is interested in developing novel medical devices and drug therapies
related to thoracic surgery.
dearmond@uthscsa.edu | Biosketch
Timothy T. Hamilton, MD
Dr. Hamilton earned his Medical Degree at the University of Nevada in 1997 where he received the Dean’s Scholar award. He completed a residency in general surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2004. During his training, Dr. Hamilton spent two years as an NIH-sponsored research fellow in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery’s Research laboratory where his work focused on pulmonary and myocardial metabolism and organ preservation for transplantation. He then completed a residency in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery also at UT Southwestern in 2007. Board certified in both General and Thoracic Surgery Dr. Hamilton comes to us having spent the past four years performing adult cardiac, non-cardiac thoracic and peripheral vascular surgery in a busy private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr. Hamilton’s clinical interests include off-pump coronary revascularization, open and endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms, less-invasive surgery for lung cancer, interventional bronchoscopy, and surgery for valvular heart disease.
Lauren C. Kane, MD
Lauren C. Kane, MD, joined the faculty at the University Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2011, where she holds a joint academic appointment of Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Children’s Heart Network. She joins Dr. Calhoon and Dr. Husain as the congenital heart surgeons for the Children's Heart Program at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital. Dr. Kane received her medical degree from the University of Texas Houston Medical School in 2002. She completed her internship and general surgical residency training at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas in 2007 with board certification in general surgery. She subsequently completed a thoracic surgical fellowship at Emory University in 2010. Dr. Kane completed her congenital heart surgery fellowship at the University of Southern California – Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in 2011 prior to her arrival at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital. Dr. Kane is board certified in cardiothoracic surgery and board eligible in congenital heart surgery. She has clinical and research interests in health literacy’s impact on outcomes, neonatal cardiac surgery, as well as improvement initiatives in cardiac surgery within the pediatric population. Dr. Kane places importance in teaching endeavors as part of the academic mission. She is involved in the training of cardiothoracic fellows at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She is a member of Heart Gift, a non-profit organization bringing underserved children with congenital disease from around the world to CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital for corrective surgery.
Jay D. Pal, MD, PhD
Dr. Jay Pal received his undergraduate education at the University of
California at Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Molecular
and Cellular Biology. He then matriculated at the Chicago Medical School
where he enrolled in the MD/PhD program and began his basic science
research in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. His graduate
thesis investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying congenital
cataracts and demonstrated new mechanisms for loss-of-function mutations
in gap junctional channels. After completing medical school, he joined
the general surgery residency at the University of California at San
Francisco East Bay program under the direction of Dr. Claude Organ and
Dr. Alden Harken. There, he received the Arthur J. Hunnicutt Excellence
in Teaching Award. Following general surgery, Dr. Pal traveled to North
Carolina for his cardiothoracic training at Duke University. He
developed an interest in heart transplantation and mechanical
circulatory support for the treatment of heart failure, and also performs all other listed cardiac surgeries.
William Cox, MD, Thoracic Surgeon - Retired
Clinical Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
MD, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 1954
Board Certifications: American Board of Surgery, American
Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular
Robert LePere, MD, Thoracic Surgeon - Retired
Clinical Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
MD, Baylor College of Medicine 1951
Board Certifications: American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
J. Marvin Smith, III, MD, Thoracic Surgeon - Private Practice
Clinical Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
MD, Tulane University School of Medicine; 1972
Board Certifications: American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
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