John S. Ikonomidis, M.D, Ph.D., will become the new chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UNC on March 1

  Ashish Pulikal, M.D. Congratulations to Ashish Pulikal, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgery resident at UNC, who won the Best Thoracic Poster award at the Eastern Cardiothoracic Surgical Society meeting in St. Pete Beach, FL, Oct. 19-22, 2016. The abstract was “Intralobar pulmonary sequestration in adults over 50. A case report and review.” Co-authors on the … Read more

Bryan Parker after his lung transplant surgery. (Courtesy of WLOS-TV in Asheville) Dr. Jason Long talks about the transplant surgery. Nov. 7, 2016 In September, Bryan Parker received a life-saving double lung transplant at UNC Hospitals. Parker, 30, of Asheville, was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that affects the lungs and other organs … Read more

Andrew DiMeo, PhD, a professor in the UNC/NC State biomedical engineering program. Drs. Haithcock, left, and Long, 2nd from let, talk to Richard Goldberg, Ph.D., at the “speed dating” event in summer 2015. The surgeons ended up working with Andrew DiMeo of the UNC/NC State biomedical engineering program. It all started with a “speed dating” … Read more

  Sept. 1, 2016 Last fall, Charles Records’ chest felt pinched when he tried to breathe. He couldn’t walk from room to room in his house without leaning on his wife to rest every few steps. His doctor in Fayetteville found that he had aortic valve stenosis, a life-threatening heart problem, and sent him to … Read more

Tiffany Christensen Thomas M. Egan, M.D. Patients and doctors work together to get the best results for recovery from illnesses. A story from UNC-TV’s “North Carolina Now” features interviews with UNC cardiothoracic surgon Thomas Egan and a former patient of his, two-time lung transplant recipient Tiffany Christensen, who now uses her experience as a patient … Read more

  UNC’s TAVR team (left to right): John Vavalle, M.D., M.H.S.; Thomas Caranasos, M.D.; Michael Yeung, M.D.; Cassie Ramm, M.S.N. Physicians performed UNC Hospitals’ first Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement procedure in November 2014. In 2016, the number of TAVR cases may be triple the number performed in 2015. Much of that increase can be attributed … Read more

  Jennifer Nelson, M.D. (middle), a congenital cardiac surgeon, and Jennifer Whitham, M.D., a UNC pediatric cardiologist, watch as a baby gets an echocardiogram from sonographer Jeff Jewell.   Jennifer S. Nelson, M.D., M.S., a pediatric heart surgeon at UNC, started a multidisciplinary research program at UNC that brings people from different specialties together to … Read more

Thomas M. Egan, MD, MSc., was invited to participate in a symposium and roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 29, 2016. The symposium, “Emerging Technologies in Organ Preservation,” followed the June 13 White House Organ Summit and was intended to shape national policy and priorities surrounding innovations that can help end the … Read more

Thomas M. Egan, MD, MSc, made three presentations at the 59th Annual Thomas L. Petty Aspen Lung Conference in Aspen, CO, June 8-11, 2016. The Aspen conference is one of the most respected meetings for study of clinical problems affecting the lung. This year’s conference theme was Lung Transplantation: Opportunities for Repair and Regeneration. On … Read more