Sanford Zeigler, M.D. Awarded the Thoracic Surgery Foundation Nicholas Kouchoukos Award

Sanford Zeigler, M.D., assistant professor of Surgery and Medical Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery in the MUSC Health Aortic Center, received the 2022 Nicholas Kouchoukos Fellowship from the Thoracic Surgery Foundation.   Dr. Zeigler will use the $7000 traveling fellowship award to learn novel techniques, adopt innovative technology, and foster collaboration between surgical investigators to enhance patient care at MUSC Health. 

During Zeigler’s fellowship, he will work with world-class faculty under the mentorship of Joseph S. Coselli, M.D., Executive Vice-Chair in the Department of Surgery at Baylor University. His host locations include Baylor College of Medicine, The Texas Heart Institute and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, providing access to highly advanced OR facilities and equipment.

“My goal is to bring the highest possible quality to our thoracic aortic surgery center right here in South Carolina,” said Zeigler. “At Baylor, Dr. Caselli has built the busiest comprehensive aortic surgery practice in the world and is renowned in his abilities to build and develop a highly functioning team. He has been able to develop other world-class surgeons to be his partners and works across specialties to ensure excellent care for aortic patients.”

The fellowship opportunity at Baylor will allow Zeigler to better understand every aspect of patient management from the preoperative phase through long-term follow-up and examine the administrative and clinical structure of Baylor’s comprehensive aortic surgery program. He will also have the opportunity to work with Scott Lemaire, M.D., Vice-Chair of Research in Baylor’s Department of Surgery, to develop a robust research program to support the clinical enterprise.

“At MUSC, we have very talented cardiac surgeons, vascular surgeons, cardiologists, thoracic surgeons, and researchers,” said Zeigler. “This fellowship will provide an opportunity to help our team further develop and refine our high-quality aortic program to ensure we continue to deliver the best level of quality of care for complex problems and expand our research enterprise.”