Fabio Ramponi, MD, MPhil

Fabio Ramponi, MD, is a cardiac surgeon who specializes in heart, lung, and vascular surgery. He has expertise in such surgical treatments as bypass surgeries for people who have had heart attacks, valve repairs or replacements for those with valve disease, and complex procedures to treat those who have disease in the large arteries and veins directly connected with the heart, including dilatation or aneurysms of the aorta.

“As a heart and lung surgeon, I perform operations for two main reasons: to extend my patients’ life expectancies and improve their quality of life—making them live better,” Dr. Ramponi says. “In our specialty, the relationship with our patients is based on trust: They trust me and my team with their lives. Seeing that trust maintained is a major reward.”

In addition to providing a range of surgical treatments, Dr. Ramponi has particular interests in advanced coronary artery bypass techniques, including surgeries performed on a beating heart (a way to operate on the heart without stopping it) that use multiple arterial grafts (and not veins from the legs), and that minimize the manipulation of the aorta. “These approaches can be technically challenging, but they have multiple benefits, including long-lasting grafts and significantly reduced risk of perioperative complications, in particular the risk of stroke,” he says. In addition, as a dually trained cardiac and vascular surgeon, Dr. Ramponi is able to apply relevant skills used in open surgery to minimally invasive cardiac and vascular procedures.

“My inspiration to become a cardiovascular surgeon came from my interests in dealing with complex issues, tasks, and decisions, and from the genuine personal satisfaction you get from seeing another person’s life prolonged or improved as a result,” Dr. Ramponi says. He also was influenced by experiences caring for patients as a member of a cardiac team. “During my training years, I was fortunate to meet great mentors who were leading fantastic teams of motivated and inspiring surgeons, both in Italy where I trained in vascular surgery, and in Australia and the United States, where I trained in cardiothoracic surgery,” he says.

An associate professor of cardiac surgery at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Ramponi is involved in clinical research focused on outcomes in adult cardiac surgery. His specific field of interest is disease of the coronary arteries and techniques to advance bypass surgery to make it a safer, effective operation both in the short and long term.