Affiliation: George R. Minor Professor of Thoracic Surgery Chief Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
University of Virginia
Co-Director of Cardiovascular Service Line University of Virginia Health

Ourania Preventza MD, is the George Minor Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the Department of Surgery, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Virginia and Co-Director of the Cardiovascular service line at UVA Health. She is also adjunct Professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston where she spent 15 years of her career, and an associate professional staff at The Texas Heart Institute, in Houston. Dr Preventza was the first female cardiothoracic surgeon to be Professor of Surgery with tenure at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr. Preventza is triple-boarded; American Board of Surgery, American Board of Surgery (Surgical Critical Care), and American Board of Thoracic Surgery. She is the immediate Past President of the International Society of Endovascular Specialists 2021-2023(ISEVS). Prior leader of Adult Cardiac Surgery within the Women in Thoracic Surgery, immediate Past Program Committee Chair of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, Past program committee co-chair for adult cardiac of the American Association for thoracic Surgery and a holder of a management and business administration degree on Health Care leadership from Brandeis University in Boston. She is the recent recipient on the Physician of the Year award 2023 by the Hellenic Medical Society of New York (est. 1936) and the past winner of the Socrates Award given every year at the Society of Thoracic Surgery Annual meeting for an outstanding mentor for thoracic surgery residents in the USA (January 2023, annual STS meeting). She is a world expert in aortic disease, and she is the Co –chair of the 2022 ACC/AHA guidelines on aortic disease and writing member for the 2024 European Association of the cardiothoracic Surgery published guidelines on aortic disease . She has lectured nationally and internationally on cardiovascular disease and on leadership and women in science and medicine. She is co –authored more than 200 articles in peer review journals. Her interest includes education, health outcomes research, aortic surgery, heart valve surgery, new technologies and cardiovascular disease and women.