Newswise — Dr. Richard J. Shemin has been appointed professor and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at UCLA Medical Center, vice chairman of the UCLA Department of Surgery and co-director of the new Cardiovascular Center at UCLA. Shemin, one of the country's leading cardiothoracic surgeons, specializes in advanced techniques for heart surgery. One of his primary goals will be to establish UCLA as a premier site for aortic valve surgery, minimally invasive valve surgery, robotic cardiac surgery and surgery for arrhythmias.

"Dr. Shemin is an exceptional surgeon, researcher and leader," said Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil, who hold UCLA's William P. Longmire Jr. Chair in Surgery and is professor and executive chair of the UCLA Department of Surgery. "Both patients and the UCLA Health System will benefit from his immense experience, and we are thrilled he is joining us."

The distinguished surgeon comes to UCLA from the Boston University School of Medicine, where he served as professor and chief of cardiothoracic surgery and vice chairman of surgery. He also served as co-director of the Cardiovascular Center at Boston Medical Center.

Shemin received his medical degree from Boston University Medical School and completed his general surgery residency at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was a clinical associate in cardiac surgery at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and completed training in cardiothoracic surgery at New York University Medical Center.

Shemin holds memberships in every leading professional society in his field and serves in a leadership role in many national societies and editorial boards, including the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, the Coordinating Committee for Continuing Education in Thoracic Surgery and the Government Relations Committee of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is the immediate past president of the Northeast Cardiac Surgery Society and is current president of the Greater Boston division of the American Heart Association. Shemin is also an accomplished scientist, having published 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and he serves as co-investigator on several major research grants.

For more information on Shemin and UCLA's division of cardiothoracic surgery, please visit http://www.surgery.medsch.ucla.edu/cardiac/doctors_shemin.shtml.