Matthew Eagleton, MD, to Lead the Integrated Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mass General Brigham

Mass General Brigham continues an exciting and transformative journey to create the best academic health system in the world. After careful consideration and collaboration, it has been decided to integrate two of the finest divisions of Cardiac Surgery and Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital into unified Mass General Brigham divisions. This decision was made with the utmost consideration for both institutions’ patients, trainees and research missions. By joining forces, the goal is to elevate the quality of care provided, enhance all training programs and further the groundbreaking research being done.

Matthew Eagleton, MD
Chief, Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, MGB
Co-Director, Fireman Vascular Center
Robert R. Linton Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Eagleton is the Robert R. Linton Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Since his arrival at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2018 as chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and co-director of the Fireman Vascular Center, he has built a collaborative and innovative multidisciplinary team that provides care to patients with vascular disease regionally, nationally and internationally. In addition, as co-director of the Mass General Thoracic Aortic Center, he has developed clinical, educational and research programs in collaboration with a multidisciplinary group of specialists focused on patients with aortic disease. Reflecting the high regard in which he is held by his peers, Dr. Eagleton has been selected as president elect of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS). He will transition to the role of president in the spring of 2024.

Dr. Eagleton received his medical degree in 1994 and completed his general surgery residency in 2000, both at the University of Rochester. In 2002, he completed specialty training in vascular surgery at the University of Michigan and obtained advanced training in endovascular procedures at the Cleveland Clinic. Prior to his current role at Mass General, Dr. Eagleton was professor of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and served as vice chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery and as director of Vascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Aortic Center. In addition, he held the role of education program director, overseeing the training for the Cleveland Clinic Integrated Residency (0+5) and Independent Fellowship (5+2) training programs in vascular surgery, as well as their endovascular mini fellowship and aortic fellowship.

Dr. Eagleton conducts innovative clinical research applying fenestrated and branched aortic endograft technology to treat complex aortic disease through a physician-sponsored investigational device exemption trial, and his clinical practice follows suit. In addition, he has been involved in numerous endograft clinical trials serving as an investigator, national principal investigator and advisor. He collaborates with a team of physicians, both locally and internationally, to better understand how to provide safer, more durable treatment options to patients with life-threatening aortic disease. He has served as director of several innovative biomedical research companies aimed at developing improved treatment options for patients with vascular disease.

Collaboration and teamwork have been a central theme in Dr. Eagleton’s efforts. He views this opportunity to bring the teams at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital together as a privilege to expand the opportunities for collaboration across the system with the aim of improving the care we can provide our patients with vascular disease. 

Thor Sundt, MD, to Lead the Integrated Division of Cardiac Surgery at Mass General Brigham

Mass General Brigham continues an exciting and transformative journey to create the best academic health system in the world. After careful consideration and collaboration, it has been decided to integrate two of the finest divisions of Cardiac Surgery and Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital into unified Mass General Brigham divisions. This decision was made with the utmost consideration for both institutions’ patients, trainees and research missions. By joining forces, the goal is to elevate the quality of care provided, enhance all training programs and further the groundbreaking research being done.

Thor Sundt, MD
Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery, MGB
Director, Corrigan Minehan Heart Center
Co-Director, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Program
Edward D. Churchill Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Sundt is the Edward D. Churchill Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He trained in general surgery at MGH and in cardiothoracic surgery at Washington University in St. Louis before taking additional training and his first consultant position at the National Health Service of the United Kingdom. He returned to Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in 1994, where he led the Cardiac Transplant Program and established a Thoracic Aortic Surgery Program before relocating to the Mayo Clinic in 2001. At Mayo, he served as vice chair of the Department of Surgery, in addition to leading the Marfan Syndrome and Thoracic Aorta Program. Although he grew up in Rochester, he was thrilled to “come home” to Boston and MGH as chief of Cardiac Surgery in 2011. Since then, Dr. Sundt has devoted his efforts to building a multidisciplinary team of practitioners focused on delivering the best possible care to each and every patient, while contributing to the education of the next generation of caregivers and discovering the care of the future. He regards the culture of teamwork across disciplines and the evolution of the Heart Center, in collaboration with the Division of Cardiology, as well as colleagues in Anesthesia and Critical Care, as a manifestation of that philosophy and the most critical element of the program at MGH; he believes the same focus on teamwork will be critical to our collective success in the future as MGB Cardiac Surgery. 

Dr. Sundt’s clinical focus has been on surgery for the correction of acquired cardiovascular conditions in adults, including thoracic aortic disease, valvular heart disease and arterial revascularization for coronary artery disease. He has published over 400 articles. His research interests have ranged from organ transplantation to the genetics and genomics of bicuspid aortic valve disease. He has received funding for this work from the National Institutes of Health, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Mayo Foundation. Most recently, he collaborated with investigators in the disciplines of human factors and systems engineering to improve the safety and efficiency of health care delivery. On a national level, he was the first chair of the Workforce on Patient Safety for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and is a past president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS).

Dr. Sundt regards it as his privilege and responsibility to preserve and build upon the proud legacies of Cardiac Surgery in both programs, while leveraging the power of the system to better serve our patients.

Jiping Wang, MD, PhD, Named MGB Endowed Chair

Jiping Wang, MD, PhD
Research Director, Division of Surgical Oncology
Co-Director, Robotic Cancer Surgery Program, Division of Surgical Oncology
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Wang is an academic surgical oncologist dedicated to advancing cancer treatment through research, education and clinical excellence. With a comprehensive background in both medicine and biostatistics, he brings a unique perspective to the field of surgical oncology.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wang has been at the forefront of innovative surgical techniques. He has presented at academic meetings or published in peer-reviewed journals on novel surgical procedures, including TIRA (transabdominal inferior retroperitoneal approach), RAPiD (robotic assisted pancreas-sparing duodenobiliary procedure) and function-preserving robotic gastrectomy. As the co-director of the Robotic Cancer Program in the Division of Surgical Oncology, he is currently expanding the division’s clinical offerings by spearheading the Robotic Gastric Cancer and Sarcoma Surgery Program, in addition to performing a range of robotic HPB operations.

Dr. Wang is renowned for his ability to effectively integrate 3D animation, 3D modeling, video editing and annotation into the practice of surgical oncology. This pioneering practice enables surgeons to plan, navigate and execute procedures with unprecedented precision and confidence. Many of these videos and guides have been presented at international meetings.

He is also actively involved in research aimed at improving cancer treatments and outcomes. With his unique statistician background, Dr. Wang designed and co-led many clinical trials in gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, which contributed to improve the understanding and treatment of those diseases. His representative research results have been published in high-impact journals, including Annals of Surgery, Nature Communications, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and JAMA Oncology.

His academic achievements have been highlighted by a variety of awards from different professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Americas Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Association (AHPBA), the New England Surgical Society (NESS) and the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons (SAAS).