Tirone David
Symposium On Operative Techniques
AATS Foundation Honoring Our Mentors Program
Meet the Experts and Planning Committee
Ritz-Carlton, Toronto
Tirone David Symposium 2025
Planning Committee
Tirone David
Tirone David
Doctor Tirone E. David is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and the holder of the Melanie Munk Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. Doctor David has published more than 480 scientific papers, 43 chapters in medical textbooks as well as 6 surgical textbooks. He has developed numerous operative procedures to treat patients with heart valve disease, complications of myocardial infarction, and thoracic aneurysms and prospectively followed these patients during the past 4 decades. One of these procedures is known as the “David operation”. He has been a member of the editorial board of several medical journals. Doctor David is an active member of numerous surgical and medical societies and is an honorary member of 14 international medical societies. He was President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 2005 and the recipient of its Scientific Achievement Award in 2016, and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. He was awarded the Order of Rio Branco from the Brazilian Government in 2018. He received the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1996, the highest honor given to civilians in Canada. He was elected University Professor in 2004, the highest honor the University of Toronto bestows its professors.
Maral Ouzounian
Program Director
Maral Ouzounian
Program Director
Dr. Maral Ouzounian is Head of the Division of Cardiovascular at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network, and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. She is the Munk Chair in Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics and the Antonio & Helga De Gasperis Chair in Clinical Trials and Outcome Studies at University Health Network. She has published over 250 papers and is an author on multiple guidelines and position statements. She is recognized as an expert in aortic root reconstruction and valve repair, the Ross procedure, and the surgical treatment of complex aortic aneurysms and dissections. Dr. Ouzounian is the President of the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons, a Senior Editor of JACC, Adult Cardiac Chair of the AATS Education Committee, and the Program Director for the AATS 2025 Annual Meeting in Seattle.
David Adams
Program Director
David Adams
Program Director
David H. Adams, MD, is the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and System Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mount Sinai Health System. He is also President of the Mitral Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting best practice standards in mitral valve disease and supporting medical missions that advance the repair skills of surgeons in developing countries. Dr. Adams is a recognized leader in the field of heart valve surgery and mitral valve reconstruction. He served as the 99th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the world's oldest and most prestigious society dedicated to cardiothoracic surgery. As the Program Director of the Mount Sinai Health System's Mitral Valve Repair Center, he directs one of the largest programs in the United States. Dr. Adams and his team perform over 400 mitral valve operations per year while setting national benchmarks for clinical outcomes.
Michael Borger
Committee Member
Michael Borger
Committee Member
Michael Borger is the University Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Leipzig, Germany, and Medical Director of the Leipzig Heart Center. He took over the position in 2017 from Prof. Friedrich Mohr, a pioneer and visionary in the field of cardiac surgery. Prior to his current positions, Dr. Borger was the Director of Aortic Surgery and the George H. Humphries II Chair at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Borger performed his cardiac surgery residency training in Toronto, Canada under the mentorship of Dr. Tirone David. He completed his cardiac surgery training, as well as his PhD thesis (under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Weisel), in 2001. Dr. Borger is an author on over 700 peer-reviewed publications, including several guideline documents, with a focus on heart valve repair and minimal invasive cardiac surgery. He is a member of several international cardiac surgery and cardiology medical societies, is a former President of the Heart Valve Society, is a Steering Committee Member of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network, and was appointed as the International Director of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery in 2022.
Joanna Chikwe
Committee Member
Joanna Chikwe
Committee Member
Dr. Chikwe is a recognized leader in heart valve surgery, and robotic mitral repair. She serves as the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. As Chairman of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Dr. Chikwe leads a cardiac surgery program nationally ranked by U.S News and World Report, encompassing among the largest heart and lung transplant, structural heart and robotic cardiac surgery programs in the US. The department’s research encompasses translational science, comparative outcomes, device development and multi-center clinical trials supported by several NIH R01 awards. Dr. Chikwe’s research includes over 300 peer reviewed publications and book chapters including contributions in the NEJM, Lancet and JAMA. She is the Principal Investigator of the NIH-sponsored pivotal randomized PRIMARY trial, Editor-in-Chief of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, a Senior Editor of JACC, and Chair of the American Heart Association 2025-2026 Scientific Sessions.
Ismail El-Hamamsy
Committee Member
Ismail El-Hamamsy
Committee Member
Ismail El-Hamamsy, MD, PhD, FRCSC, is System Director of Aortic Surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System and is honored to serve as Mount Sinai’s inaugural Randall B. Griepp Professor of Surgery. His principal surgical focus is aortic root reconstructive surgery in young adults, including patients with heritable and connective tissue disorders. He has performed more than 800 Ross procedures and valve-sparing operations and has traveled extensively to establish Ross programs around the world. He serves as the current President of the Heart Valve Society, and – among other humanitarian projects – helped establish the Aswan Heart Center in Egypt.
Tirone David Symposium 2025
Speakers
Anelechi Anyanwu, MD
Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York NY, USA
Joseph Bavaria, MD
Jefferson University
Philadelphia PA, USA
Jordan Bloom, MD MPH
MGB - Harvard Medical School
Boston MA, USA
Munir Boodhwani, MD MMSc
University of Ottawa
Ottawa ON, Canada
Denis Bouchard, MD MSc
Institut de Cardiologie de Montreal
Montreal QC, Canada
Christopher Burke, MD
University of Washington
Seattle WA, USA
Edward P. Chen, MD
Duke University
Durham NC, USA
Michael Chu, MD
Western University
London ON, Canada
Jennifer Chung, MD MSc
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, Canada
Joseph Coselli, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston TX, USA
James Cox, MD
Northwestern University
Chicago IL, USA
Robert James Cusimano, MD
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, Canada
Piroze Davierwala, MD
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, Canada
Laurent de Kerchove, MD
Universite Catholique de Louvain
Bruxelles, Belgium
Pedro Del Nido, MD
Harvard University
Boston MA, USA
Nimesh Desai, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA, USA
Ahmed El-Eshmawi, MD MBChB
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York NY, USA
Gebrine El Khoury, MD, PhD
Universite Catholique de Louvain
Bruxelles, Belgium
Isaac George, MD
Columbia University
New York NY, USA
Marc Gillinov, MD
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland OH, USA
Tom Gleason, MD
University of Maryland
College Park MD, USA
Michael Halkos, MD MSc
Emory University
Atlanta GA, USA
Chad Hughes, MD
Duke University
Durham NC, USA
Puja Kachroo, MD
Washington University
St Louis MO, USA
Steven Lansman, MD PhD
New York Medical College – Touro University
New York NY, USA
Bradley Leshnower, MD
Emory University
Atlanta GA, USA
Patrick McCarthy, MD
Northwestern University
Chicago IL, USA
Craig Miller, MD
Stanford University
Stanford CA, USA
Marc Moon, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston TX, USA
Himanshu Patel, MD
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI, USA
Michel Pellerin, MD
Institut de Cardiologie de Montreal
Montreal QC, Canada
Mark Peterson, MD PhD
NYU Langone
New York NY, USA
Anthony Ralph-Edwards, MD
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, Canada
Vivek Rao, MD
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, Canada
Eric Roselli, MD
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland OH, USA
Malakh Shrestha, MD, MBBS, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Rochester NY, USA
David Spielvogel, MD
Westchester Medical Center
Valhalla NY, USA
Elizabeth Stephens, MD, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Rochester NY, USA
Hiroo Takayama, MD, PhD
Columbia University
New York NY, USA
Gilbert Tang, MD MSc
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York NY, USA
Juan-Pablo Umana, MD
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland OH, USA
Elbert Williams, MD
Icahan Medical School at Mount Sinai
New York NY, USA
Joseph Woo, MD
Stanford University
Stanford CA, USA
Bo Yang, MD, PhD
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI, USA
