World-renowned Surgeon Dr. Tirone David Receives The Texas Heart Institute’s Most Prestigious Scientific Award

The debt of gratitude The Texas Heart Institute owes the late Ray C. Fish can never be repaid, for it was through the Ray C. Fish Foundation that The Institute received an initial $5 million gift—an investment that is equivalent to a donation of $45 million today. The faith implicit in the award enabled The Texas Heart Institute trustees to obtain another $5 million to construct facilities sufficient to house the growing number of heart patients who were coming to The Institute in the 1960s.

Although Ray C. Fish lived in Houston and suffered from a heart ailment, he never had the opportunity to see the good his money produced for heart patients around the world. However, the family of Mr. Fish, who serve as trustees of the Ray C. Fish Foundation, have continued their involvement with The Texas Heart Institute through their annual generous support.

In 1972, to honor Mr. Fish’s valuable gift, The Texas Heart Institute established the Ray C. Fish Award for Scientific Achievement. The award recognizes those whose innovations have made significant contributions to cardiovascular medicine and surgery.

The 2023 Ray C. Fish Award recipient is Tirone E. David, MD, a leading cardiovascular surgeon at the forefront of modern surgical practice.

Dr. David is professor of surgery at the University of Toronto and holds the Melanie Munk Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. During the past 4 decades, Dr. David has developed several operative procedures for treating patients with heart valve disease, complications of myocardial infarction, and thoracic aortic aneurysms.

He is most well-known for introducing the eponymous David procedure—an aortic valve–sparing operation for patients with aortic incompetence and aneurysm of the ascending aorta. Today, the David procedure is widely used and has excellent results. In addition, Dr. David has made substantial contributions related to the ventricular septal defect repair after myocardial infarction, mitral valve repair, and the Ross procedure, and he has played a key role in developing the stentless aortic prosthesis (Toronto Stentless Porcine Valve; St. Jude Medical).

Born in Ribeirão Claro, Brazil, Dr. David received his medical degree from The Federal University of Paraná in 1968. It was during medical school that he discovered his passion for surgery. Dr. David was a surgical intern at the State University of New York at the Downstate Medical Center, completed his general surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic, and completed his thoracic surgery residency at the University of Toronto.

The prestigious awards and distinctions bestowed on Dr. David reflect the profound impact of his contributions on the field of cardiovascular surgery as well as on his patients. Dr. David received the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1996, which is the highest honor given to citizens in Canada.

Throughout his productive career, Dr. David has devoted a great deal of time to education and service in the field of cardiovascular surgery and is well respected by his students and patients alike. Dr. David has trained more than 100 cardiac surgeons, many of whom have become prominent leaders in the field. He has published more than 400 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and nearly 40 chapters in medical textbooks, as well as 5 surgical textbooks for which he was editor or co-editor. Dr. David has served as an editorial board member for several highly esteemed medical journals. In addition to his memberships and honorary memberships to numerous surgical and medical societies, Dr. David served as the 85th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.