GIJanet recommended Dr. Hanley at Stanford in response to one of your other threads.
I suggested you call Dr. Laks at UCLA (and Dr. Miller at Stanford) for their recommendations.
You may find this profile of Dr. Laks to be of interest (found by Google Search for Dr. Laks). Note the following from this profile:
Dr. Laks went on to become the Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Yale University before being recruited by UCLA School of Medicine.
If you don't want to go to UCLA, perhaps he could recommend someone closer. You may need to choose between the convenience of staying local and going to a Nationally Recognized Pediatric Surgeon. Which is most important?
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Hillel Laks, M.D.
Dr. Laks grew up in South Africa and graduated with honors from Witwatersaand Medical School in Johannesburg. He went on to do his general surgery residency and chief residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Harvard’s two teaching hospitals, Brigham and Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Boston. “The five years in Boston were years of incredibly hard work filled with great expectations and possibilities. Early in my surgical residency, I decided to do cardiothoracic surgery because it was a specialty which brought together physiology, cardiology and the surgeon’s technical skills to achieve outstanding results.” Dr. Laks went on to become the Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Yale University before being recruited by UCLA School of Medicine.
In 1984, Dr. Laks established the UCLA Adult and Pediatric Heart, Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program. As the Director, he has watched the heart transplant program become the largest in the nation. Dr. Laks also began the UCLA pediatric mechanical assist device program which has become one of the largest of its kind. He performs heart transplants on newborns to the elderly and has donated his skill and support to children worldwide traveling to Russia, Peru, Thailand, Saudia Arabia and many other countries to perform complex heart surgery. Children from around the globe travel to UCLA to benefit from Dr. Laks' exceptional surgical talent.
Dr. Laks is internationally recognized for his creative surgical approaches to complex heart disease and his willingness to undertake the most challenging cases. He has pioneered many surgical procedures worldwide; recently developing a technique to use Gore-Tex patches to reinforce the wall of severely enlarged hearts. His groundbreaking preservation techniques for donor hearts have extended the length of time that hearts can be preserved, allowing us to use long distance and marginal hearts. Dr. Laks is the Principal Investigator in UCLA’s Total Artificial Heart Program and will soon implant an artifical heart in a patient, otherwise without hope. Recently, Mayor Riordan honored Dr. Laks with the “Treasure of Los Angeles Award” for his dedication and commitment to patients. He is also the recipient of the American Heart Association Award for Outstanding Achievements in Cardiovascular Surgery.
Dr. Laks prodigious research publications include over 300 articles in medical journals, numerous abstracts and many chapters in textbooks. His research projects include gene therapy for cardiac allograft rejection, assist devices, the total artificial heart and organ preservation. “I am very excited about the potential for permanent implantable devices and the artificial heart which will change the entire treatment for severe heart failure. As these new devices become available, they will save thousands of lives. UCLA will be at the forefront, as one of the centers that will take part in the Total Artificial Heart Program in 2001.”
Enjoying a broad range of outside interests, Dr. Laks loves to go horseback riding, scuba diving, and is also an avid jogger. He is a skilled artist and writes fiction as well. A passionate humanitarian, he lends his time and support to many causes. His daughter, Ellie, has inherited his passion and is an ardent animal advocate, working to further the humane treatment of animals in our society. His son, Dan, is a talented musician who is the originator and leader of the musical group, Birdsaw, and son, Ilan, is an accomplished contemporary artist and video producer.
A relentless worker, Dr. Laks is typically in the hospital from 7:00AM to well after 10:00PM. He is a member of Young Israel of Beverly Hills Synagogue and attributes his high level of endurance to his “observance of the Sabbath, which gives me the opportunity to renew contact with the Creator. I am able to read and study works outside of medicine to find the spiritual strength for the coming week.”
