Sara Pereira, MD, presenting at the International Coronary Conference

The International Coronary Conference (ICC) is sponsored by the ISMICS – the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery. This year, Sara Pereira, MD, was not only a moderator for a section; she was also asked to speak on Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Outcomes in Women and Non-Caucasian Patients. This topic has long been of interest to Dr. Pereira. With females making up only about 5% of cardiothoracic surgeons in the US, she has always supported women and under-represented minority patients, both in medicine and in surgery. Women and minority (Hispanic/black) patients are known to have worse outcomes with CABG. Some of these outcomes include increased graft failure, increased mortality, and less utilization of multi-arterial grafting. With this, Dr. Pereira is active in several national associations – Women in Thoracic Surgery, Society of Thoracic Surgery, and AATS – and serves on several committees. She is Chair of the STS Workforce on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Chair of the STS and WTS Scholarship programs. It is because of her work and these reasons the University of Utah was asked to be a site for two International trials – both looking at outcomes for CABG and multi-arterial grafting in women (ROMA) and CABG versus PCI in women and minorities (RECHARGE).

Her next steps in research and future work include continuing to enroll women patients in ROMA and starting to participate in the RECHARGE trial. There is a large underserved and underrepresented Hispanic population in Salt Lake City (21%) who would greatly benefit from enrollment, and she hopes to be able to provide this opportunity for them. Down the road, she is interested in participating in robotic cardiac surgery with her colleagues, Drs. Sharma and Goodwin who are working to expand our coronary robotic program with them.