UTHealth Houston Surgeons Serve as STSA Program Committee Co-Chairs
Two UTHealth Houston heart surgeons affiliated with Memorial Hermann Health System are serving in leadership positions for the Southern Thoracic Surgery Association (STSA), which has supported southern and southern-trained cardiothoracic surgeons as they pursue top-quality patient care, education and scientific achievement since 1954. Damien J. LaPar, MD, MSc, professor and chief of pediatric and congenital heart surgery and executive co-director of the Children’s Heart Institute at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, and Dawn Hui, MD, professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery and cardiac surgeon affiliated with Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, serve as Program Committee co-chairs. Both will complete their terms after the STSA’s 73rd annual meeting, which will be held Nov. 5-7 at the Disney Yacht Club Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
LaPar joined STSA as a resident and has been an active participant and regular presenter of research at the association’s conferences since 2009. He became a full member in 2017 after completing his postgraduate training. He has served in several leadership roles within the association, including chair of the STSA Postgraduate Committee in 2023. He has served as an abstract reviewer for the STSA since 2009, annual moderator and discussant, and mentor for the STSA medical student and resident scholarship program. In 2023, he was appointed to the Program Committee. This year he serves as one of three co-chairs, working with STSA president Scott A. LeMaire, MD, who is professor of cardiothoracic surgery, associate chief scientific officer and associate dean for research at Geisinger College of Health Sciences in Danville, Pennsylvania.
“In developing the full congenital heart surgery program for the November meeting, we’re looking to highlight the best basic science and clinical research conducted across the spectrum of cardiothoracic surgery within the southern region of the United States,” says LaPar, who is principal investigator and co-director of the UTHealth Houston Center for Innovation in Congenital Heart Disease. “We champion the work of STSA members, and we are thrilled to have some of our own center’s research on endocardial fibroelastosis, as well as clinical research projects conducted by investigators at the Children’s Heart Institute at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, selected for plenary presentations.”
Hui also became a full member in 2017 and has served on the Program Committee since 2023. Her service to STSA is broad ranging, including participation as a discussant for scientific papers, annual meeting session moderator, abstract reviewer, resident trivia competition judge and question writer, and mentor for medical student and resident scholarship winners. She also works with LeMaire and other Program Committee members to develop the best program possible to strengthen the southern region’s cardiothoracic surgical community.
“Our discipline is evolving even more rapidly today with advances in technology and the use of AI,” Hui says. “STSA provides value by fostering spirited discussion among experienced surgeons. We discuss complex cases and evolving discoveries, providing real value to other members, particularly to younger physicians as they navigate this complex field. No other platform can replicate the live experience of sharing. We also pride ourselves at the Southern, as we call it, on being a true family. Many members have committed themselves to coming to the meeting for decades, both for the scientific value as well as the collegial community.”
STSA represents more than 1,100 surgeons throughout the country. The November 2026 conference will focus on critical skills for today’s world and solidifying a vision for the future.