Joseph Woo, M.D. serves as the Norman E. Shumway Professor and Chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University and holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Bioengineering. He received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania where he also conducted his postgraduate surgical training in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery as well as a postdoctoral research fellowship developing novel molecular strategies for attenuating myocardial ischemic injury.
Dr. Woo has an active clinical practice of 300 pump cases/year focusing on complex cardiac valve repair, aortic surgery, cardiopulmonary transplantation, and minimally-invasive surgery, and has advanced these fields by developing several innovative operations. Dr. Woo currently runs an NIH R01-funded basic science research lab studying stem cells, angiogenesis, tissue engineering, and valvular biomechanics and has held continuous NIH funding since 2004. He has also served as PI for several clinical device trials as well as translational scientific clinical trials entailing administration of stem cells during coronary artery bypass grafting and LVAD implantation. He has co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications. Nationally, Dr. Woo serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.