Edward Y. Sako, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and chief of surgery and cardiothoracic surgery for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, recently was invited to serve on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cardiac Surgery Consultants Board.
Dr. Sako has extensive experience as a site investigator for national cooperative trials through the VA, including a trial comparing outcomes of patients placed on a pump during coronary artery bypass surgery with outcomes of those not placed on a pump.
Dr. Sako also chaired the surgery working group for the BARI 2D trial, a 51-center international study to determine the best treatment for diabetics with coronary artery disease.
Locally, he has studied outcomes of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and secondary mitral regurgitation who undergo mitral valve repair. Cardiomyopathy is an abnormal thickening of the heart chamber walls. Another study examined outcomes of surgical therapy for atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm irregularity that can precipitate strokes.
Dr. Sako received his M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1982 and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota Graduate School in 1990. During his 10 years of postgraduate training, Dr. Sako was a surgical resident in the University of Minnesota Hospitals and completed a fellowship in thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Sako is a member of the Association of Veterans Administration Surgeons, the American College of Chest Surgeons and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, among others. He is a member of the J. Bradley Aust Surgical Society at the Health Science Center. He has been listed in “The Best Doctors in America” multiple times, most recently in 2005-2006.
Contact:
Will SansomPhone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail:
Sansom@uthscsa.edu
