Vaughn Starnes, MD, is chair of the Department of Surgery, Surgeon-in-Chief at USC Norris Cancer and Keck Hospital of USC, and the H. Russell Smith Foundation Chair for Cardiovascular Thoracic Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is also founding executive director of USC's Cardiac and Vascular Institute and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. A recognized expert in heart and lung transplants, repair of congenital heart defects, and heart surgery in children and newborns, Starnes pioneered the living-related double-lobar lung transplant in 1993. He is investigating the use of gene therapy to prevent scarring following heart surgery and he is currently involved in a clinical trial for cardiothoracic surgery using robotic surgery technology. Dr. Starnes has an ongoing interest in congenital heart disease, heart, lung, heart-lung and living-related lung transplantation, coronary bypass grafting, and repair and replacement of the valves of the heart. He is also involved in research, helping develop gene therapy techniques to address the problem of restenosis following balloon angioplasty.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, Dr. Starnes performed his general surgery training at Vanderbilt University, where he also completed two years of research in cardiothoracic physiology and pharmacology. He completed two years at Stanford University as a cardiovascular surgery resident and one year as chief resident in cardiac transplantation under the mentorship of cardiothoracic transplant pioneer Dr. Norman Shumway. These positions were followed by a fellowship in pediatric cardiovascular surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. When he returned to Stanford, he was appointed director of the university's heart-lung transplantation program. He joined USC in July 1992 and was appointed chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1997.
Dr. Starnes served as the 100th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 2019-2020.
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