{"id":31370,"date":"2024-04-03T14:28:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T18:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/?page_id=31370"},"modified":"2025-12-15T12:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:54:25","slug":"faculty","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/thoracic-surgery-fellowship\/faculty\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dustin<\/div><\/div>

Dustin M. Walters, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nSection Chief of Thoracic Surgery
\nVice Chair of Surgery - Leadership, Culture, and Faculty Development
\nUConn John Dempsey Hospital<\/p>\n

Program Director, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nDr. Walters is a board-certified thoracic surgeon who completed his general surgery training at the University of Virginia and his cardiothoracic training at the University of Washington. He specializes in robotic thoracic surgery, including the full spectrum of general thoracic diseases. Dr. Walters also serves as the chair of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Workforce on Wellness.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Robert<\/div><\/div>

Robert C. Hagberg, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nChief, Cardiac Surgery
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Site Director, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship
\nAssistant Professor of Surgery, UConn Health<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Stanford University, Post-Doctoral Research Scholar in Cardiothoracic Surgery
\nResidency: Stanford University, Cardiothoracic Surgery (Chief Resident); Massachusetts General Hospital, General Surgery<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Sabet<\/div><\/div>

Sabet W. Hashim, M.D., FACS<\/strong><\/a>
\nChairman of Cardiac Surgery
\nSurgeon in Chief, Cardiovascular Institute
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nEdwards Sapien Valve, Bad Neuheim, Germany,
\nTransapical Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
\nEdwards Sapien Course, Atlanta, Georgia, Transapical Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
\nEdwards Sapien Course, Vancouver, Canada, Transapical Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
\nOLV Clinic (Aalst, Belgium) & Lankenau Hospital (Wynnewood, PA), Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair through Right Thoracotomy
\nSt. Joseph\u2019s Hospital (Atlanta, GA) and Good Samaritan Hospital (Cincinnati, OH), Robotic Cardiac Surgery
\nStanford University (Palo Alto, CA), University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA) and Columbia University\/New York Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY), Heart Transplantation
\nBroussais University Hospital (Paris, France), Mitral Valve Repair<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Ayyaz<\/div><\/div>

Ayyaz Ali, M.D., Ph.D.<\/strong>
\nCardiac Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: M.D., University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pittsburgh, PA), Cardiopulmonary Transplantation
\nDuke University Medical Center (Durham, NC), Cardiopulmonary Transplantation
\nResidency: Papworth Hospital (Cambridge, England)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Daniel<\/div><\/div>

Daniel Fusco, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiac Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Yale University, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Heart Transplantation (New Haven, CT)
\nYale University, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Aortic Surgery (New Haven, CT)
\nResidency: Thoracic Surgery Residency, Medical College of Virginia (Richmond, VA)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Jonathan<\/div><\/div>

Jonathan Hammond, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiac Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nResidency: Resident in Cardiothoracic Surgery,
\nMedical College of Wisconsin, (Milwaukee, WI)
\nResident in General Surgery Hartford Hospital\/ University of Connecticut Integrated General Surgery Residency Program, (Hartford, CT)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"David<\/div><\/div>

David W. Yaffee, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiac Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: New York University School of Medicine (New York, NY)
\nResidency: New York University School of Medicine (New York, NY)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Sheelagh<\/div><\/div>

Sheelagh Pousatis, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiothoracic Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nResidency: University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore, MD), Thoracic Surgery<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Mohiuddin<\/div><\/div>

Mohiuddin Cheema, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiothoracic Surgeon
\nCardiovascular and Endovascular Surgery
\nHartford HealthCare, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Albany Medical Center (Albany, NY); Vascular Surgery
\nCedars Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA); Cardiothoracic Surgery
\nResidency: University of Connecticut School of Medicine, General Surgery<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Mario<\/div><\/div>

Mario W. Katigbak, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nChief, Thoracic Surgery
\nHartford HealthCare, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Top Doctors in Thoracic Surgery in 2011<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Yale University School of Medicine
\nResidency: Maimonides Medical Center<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Justin<\/div><\/div>

Justin Van Backer, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nThoracic Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital
\nResidency: Albany Medical Center<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Daniel<\/div><\/div>

Daniel Walker, M.D.<\/strong>
\nThoracic Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Johns Hopkins Hospital
\nResidency: UConn School of Medicine<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Brian<\/div><\/div>

Brian B. Whang, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nThoracic Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: ICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
\nBrigham and Women's Hospital
\nMount Sinai Hospital
\nICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
\nResidency: Yale New Haven Hospital
\nWestchester Medical Center<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Jennifer<\/div><\/div>

Jennifer Worth, M.D., M.B.A., FACS<\/strong><\/a>
\nThoracic Surgeon
\nHartford HealthCare, Hartford Hospital<\/p>\n

Faculty, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: Ohio State University
\nResidency: University of Nebraska<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Dennis<\/div><\/div>

Dennis Mello, M.D.<\/strong><\/a>
\nCardiac Surgeon<\/p>\n

Division Head, Cardiovascular Surgery
\nCo-Director, Cardiovascular Institute
\nConnecticut Children\u2019s<\/p>\n

Site Director, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship
\nAssociate Professor of Surgery, UConn School of Medicine<\/p>\n

Education and Training:
\nFellowship: University of California at San Francisco
\nResidency: UConn School of Medicine<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dustin M. Walters, M.D. Section Chief of Thoracic Surgery Vice Chair of Surgery – Leadership, Culture, and Faculty Development UConn John Dempsey Hospital Program Director, UConn Thoracic Surgery Fellowship Education and Training: Dr. Walters is a board-certified thoracic surgeon who completed his general surgery training at the University of Virginia and his cardiothoracic training at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"parent":31348,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 20:48:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31370"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37569,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370\/revisions\/37569"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/graduate-medical-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}