Message from the Program Director

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the University of California San Francisco Thoracic Surgery Residency Program. Our faculty are committed to training you to become competent, experienced cardiothoracic surgeons and future leaders in the rapidly evolving field of cardiothoracic surgery.  

The University of California San Francisco Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency was established in 1968 and has maintained full accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to date.  The program has a record of producing distinguished leaders in cardiothoracic surgery, which is a goal of our education mission. With emerging cardiovascular techniques and changes in the discipline of thoracic surgery, we extended the length of our residency program in 2006 from two to three years to encompass the wider range of complex techniques and technologies in these clinical areas. Furthermore, the third year of thoracic residency provides an opportunity for residents to expand the breadth and depth of their areas of sub-specialty interest.  

UCSF Medical Center earned a “high performance” rating – the highest rating possible – for lung cancer surgery and treatment of heart failure, and also ranked as one of the best hospitals for Cardiology & Heart Surgery in the latest U.S. News & World Report 2023-2024 Best Hospitals survey.

We are a Center of Excellence for minimally invasive surgery, with the Center for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery led by Tobias Deuse, MD, the Thoracic Oncology Program led by David Jablons, MD and Matthew A. Gubens, MD, and the Robotic Surgery Program led by Johannes Kratz, MD.  

In addition, we have an established heart and lung transplant program. The UCSF Heart Transplant Program has performed more than 250 transplants since its first transplant in March 1989. The UCSF Lung Transplant Program has performed more than 700 transplants since the program started in 1991, and ranks as the top lung transplant program in the nation for recipient survival. Our one-year survival rate is 96.9% compared to the 88.58% expected survival rate nationwide – according to data compiled by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (STS).  

Our residency program continues to reflect and lead national trends in early technology adoption and in the evolving development of novel therapeutic strategies. We are proud of our comprehensive training experience and welcome you to learn more about our program.