Research

Research in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery is intended to create new knowledge about treatment of heart, chest and vascular diseases, to create a culture of inquiry among our faculty and trainees, and to disseminate findings and teach techniques identified through discovery.  To this end, all faculty participate actively in research, and all fellows conduct research projects as part of their educational programs.

Clinical Research

Our clinical research team, under the direction of Drs. Hazim Safi and Charles Miller, has been a leader in the field of complex aortic surgery research, with over 200 peer-reviewed publications in the literature.  Our group has published in major subspecialty journals including the Journal of Vascular Surgery, the Journal of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Annals of Vascular Surgery, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.  We have published in specialty journals such as the Annals of Surgery, the American Journal of Surgery, the Journal of Surgical Research and the World Journal of Surgery.  We have also published in medical subspecialty journals such as Chest and Circulation, and in general medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and Nature Genetics.

Our main areas of clinical research are ascending / arch aortic repair and thoracic / thoracoabdominal aortic repair, with special interest in end-organ protection for the brain, heart, spinal cord, lungs and kidneys.

Specialized Center for Clinically Oriented Research in Aortic Diseases

We are actively involved in the NIH-funded specialized center grant (SCCOR) in collaboration with Dr. Dianna Milewicz in the Department of Medicine.  Drs. Safi and Estrera are co-investigators on the main clinical project, and Dr. Miller is Principal Investigator of the Biostatistics core.  This project has total direct costs of approximately $6 million and is already producing major findings such as those reported recently in Nature Genetics.

Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine

Faculty in our department collaborate actively with the educational and research programs of the Medical School’s Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine, in teaching and mentorship programs as well as in the administration of the NIH-funded K12 program in connection with the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.  Dr. Miller is a senior member of the Center and directs the Advanced Epidemiology course and several of the introductory and advanced design courses in the Master’s program in Clinical Research. Drs. Azizzadeh and Coogan have worked extensively in the Center’s mentored research programs.

Sponsored Research

The Department has one of the world’s largest aortic surgery practices and as such is a major center for device development research.  We have participated in the following clinical trials:

• CREST(NIH)
• TX2(COOK)
• TX2 Dissection (COOK)
• SONOMA (Boston Scientific)
• SAPPHIRE(CORDIS)
• VALOR(MEDTRONIC)
• FREEDOM(NIH)
• NETT(NIH)