Deepak Gangahar, M.D., arguably the most recognized cardiac surgeon
in Nebraska has been named professor and chief of the thoracic and cardiovascular
surgery section in the University of Nebraska Medical Centers department
of surgery. Dr. Gangahar will practice at UNMCs hospital partner, The
Nebraska Medical Center.
The appointment, which is effective Feb. 1, will open the door for the
medical center to create a regional center of excellence for patients experiencing
heart failure and will include heart transplantation, said Byers Shaw,
M.D., professor and chairman of the UNMC department of surgery and a transplant
surgeon for The Nebraska Medical Center.
I personally am very excited that Deepak has joined us, Dr. Shaw said.
With critical support from the UNMC College of Medicine and The Nebraska
Medical Center, his reputation, skills and passion for excellence will
take our programs in education, research and clinical service to new heights
of accomplishment.
Dr. Gangahars tremendous clinical experience and his demonstrated
expertise in advanced cardiac surgery will revitalize the medical centers
clinical, educational and research programs related to heart disease. He
will complement the medical centers recognized preeminence in cardiovascular
research, led by Dr. Irving Zucker and housed in the newly opened Durham
Research Center.
Dr. Shaw said Dr. Gangahar will provide surgical leadership for the
Med Centers advanced cardiac disease programs, offering a variety of critical
services including heart transplantation and cardiac device implantation.
For the past 18 months, Dr. Gangahar led the surgical program at the
Omaha office of the Nebraska Heart Institute (NHI), a group of heart specialists
formed in 1987. The NHI office in Omaha is located in the Clarkson Doctors
Tower South at The Nebraska Medical Center, and Dr. Gangahar has been performing
most of his surgeries at The Nebraska Medical Center.
After coming here, I realized the tremendous potential there is to
develop a center of excellence in cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Gangahar
said. I was aware of the world-class status of the medical centers bone
marrow and organ transplant programs. But, being on campus, and seeing
how well these patients do, it hit me that we can do the same thing with
cardiac surgery. If we can get liver transplant patients from all over
the country, theres no reason we cant get patients with heart failure
to come here. The challenge is tremendous, but I love a challenge and I
know we will succeed.
My vision is to create a center of excellence, and thanks to the foresight
of Dr. Harold Maurer (UNMC chancellor) and the leadership of Glenn Fosdick
(president and CEO of The Nebraska Medical Center), I believe it is doable.
Were all heading in the same direction. My conviction has gotten even
stronger.
Dr. Gangahar said the center of excellence will be a resource for the
region. There are five cardiac surgery programs in Omaha, and they all
do an excellent job, he said. I will now be working for UNMC and The
Nebraska Medical Center, but I want to keep my hands of friendship extended
as far as possible. When NHI and other centers around the region have patients
with advanced heart failure, we want them to consider the medical center
a resource that can provide patients with the most state-of-the-art surgical
care available.
Dr. Shaw said the medical center has submitted an application to the
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to start a heart transplant program.
Within a matter of months, it is anticipated that UNOS will approve the
application, and the medical center will be able to move forward with its
heart transplant program.
This move is critically important in terms of patient care, education
and the future of cardiothoracic surgery in Nebraska and surrounding states,
said Joe Graham, chief operating officer of The Nebraska Medical Center.
With the addition of Dr. Gangahar, the hospital is seeking to reactivate
its heart transplant program.
UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center already operate one of the leading
solid organ transplant programs in the country. The program currently includes
liver, kidney, pancreas and intestinal transplants. The medical center
performed two heart transplants in1987 and 29 more between 1994 and 1999.
The program has not been in operation since 1999.
Deaths from coronary artery disease are declining, but the incidence
of heart failure is on the incline, Dr. Gangahar said. The incidence
of bypass surgery will continue to decrease as we find better ways to treat
and avoid the build up of cholesterol in arteries. However, we will be
doing more heart failure surgeries in the future such as ventricular or
heart remodeling and complex cardiac valvular reconstruction.
John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine, said
he was delighted that an individual of Dr. Gangahars stature would be
joining the staff at UNMC. Dr. Gangahar, he said, will be the linchpin
of the heart failure area of the section of cardiology, which has really
stabilized and grown the past couple of years under the direction of section
chief John Windle, M.D.
The piece that has been missing recently is dedicated expertise in
cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Gollan said. Dr. Gangahar will allow us to
make a major effort to increase our focus on our heart failure program.
Dr. Gangahar is another person of star quality that will allow us to attract
additional faculty of high quality as we build the program.
Already, Dr. Gollan said, more than a half-dozen physicians have been
recruited over the past few years in the areas of heart disease that focus
on areas other than heart failure. These areas include imaging techniques
to detect disease; non-surgical, vascular treatments of disease; and dealing
with abnormal heart rhythms, such as with pacemakers.
National trends show that there will be increasing numbers of patients
with heart failure, Dr. Gollan said. The first approach to treating these
patients is with medications, and there is an increasing number of those
available. The next phase of treatment is through support devices, essentially
an artificial heart approach. Beyond that is heart transplantation. Were
confident that Dr. Gangahar will enhance our expertise in all of these
areas of our program.
A native of India, Dr. Gangahar, 55, completed his internal medicine
residency at the Government Medical College at Patiala in Punjab, India,
a general surgery residency at the French Polyclinic Medical School and
Health Center in New York City, and a thoracic and cardiovascular residency
at the University of Utah Affiliated Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Dr. Gangahar came to Lincoln in 1978 to begin his practice. A pioneer
in cardiac surgery, Dr. Gangahar was the second surgeon in Nebraska to
perform a heart transplant (1986) and the first to perform a lung transplant
(1992). Under Dr. Gangahars direction, his team of physicians performed
nearly 120 heart transplants and nearly 15 lung transplants.
In 1996, he was the first surgeon in the state to perform multivessel
coronary bypass surgery without the use of a heart-lung bypass machine.
Today, about 80 percent of his bypass surgeries are done off pump, meaning
the patients heart is not stopped and continues to beat throughout the
surgical procedure. In addition, Dr. Gangahar was a leader in using laser
technology to treat heart patients and in repairing heart valves that would
typically be replaced with mechanical valves. In 1987, Dr. Gangahar and
his colleagues helped formed NHI. The group opened the Nebraska Heart Hospital
in Lincoln earlier this year.
Dr. Gangahar has been active on the local, state and national level
in numerous organizations, including the American Heart Association and
the American Red Cross. He served as president of Lancaster County Medical
Society in 1997 and as governor of the Nebraska Chapter of the American
College of Cardiology from 1996 to 1998.