Our Doctors
Dr. Gregory Trachiotis
For the past 16 years, Washington DC VA Medical Center’s Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Dr. Gregory Trachiotis, has been saving and improving the lives of DC-area Veterans.
Dr. Trachiotis, often called “Dr. T” by his patients, is a very busy man. He leads one the VA’s top cardiac surgery programs in the nation, performs up to three operative procedures a day, follows up with his patients, works with his research residents and consults with other physicians and prepares for the next day of surgeries. Besides his work with VA, he also serves as the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at The George Washington University Medical Center. Through this affiliation, he leads the Thoracic Oncology program at Sibley Memorial Hospital in The Johns Hopkins Health Care System and established a partnership to perform Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) for our Veterans at GWUH. The TAVR procedures are perfomed by Dr. Trachiotis and Dr. Christian Nagy from the VAMC, an out growth of the Valve clinic Dr. Trachiotis and Dr. Michael Greenberg started in 2006; the DCVAMC Heart Valve Team and Heart Valve Surgery Reference Center were among the first established in the entire VA system.
At the VA medical center, he serves as a champion for employing the latest surgical technology and techniques, like the medical center’s one-of-a-kind cardiac surgery room and the use of the intra-operative, tool the Medistim VeriQC. He continually strives to improve outcomes and to keep the Washington DC VA Medical Center at the forefront of quality therapy and care while advancing techniques and technology through evidence-based practices. Since 2011, he actively runs a Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Research program that is competitively filled with high-level-surgical residents from Georgetown and George Washington.
According to Dr. Trachiotis, “In cardiothoracic surgery, we utilize the most advanced imaging, diagnostic, and technical advances the field can offer. Our clinical results and procedures are also substantiated with research performed in our cardiothoracic surgery research program.”
With over 175 peer-reviewed publications and 100 national and international presentations on cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Trachiotis’ clinical expertise is respected worldwide. The renowned surgeon is no stranger to accolades; his walls are filled with awards. Numerous times he has been named a “Top Doctor” by Washingtonian Magazine, an especially meaningful honor because the survey which asks local physicians who they would want to treat their own family members.
He says he chose the field of cardiothoracic surgery because of the diversity of the field, and the technical challenges. “I also had superb mentors early in my exposure to medicine, Drs. Benjamin Aaron, William Hix, and Thompson Bowles.”
When asked why he chose to be VA surgeon, he says VA allows him the opportunity to provide a high level of care.
“Here at the medical center, we can put the Veteran patients medical condition and treatment plan at the “patient’s best interest”, utilizing a comprehensive diagnostic and clinical multi-specialty team, whose goal is to provide the high standard treatment plan,” he said. “In partnership with so many other expert and skilled physicians and providers, VA allows for a rewarding and enriching culture for both the Veteran and physicians.”
It seems most of Dr. T’s patients would agree. The medical center director’s office regularly receives letters from Dr. T’s patients praising the doctor’s expertise and skills and thanking him for giving them back their lives.
