Stony Brook Medicine Names Allison McLarty Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Allison McLarty, MD, has been appointed Stony Brook Medicine's next chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. After serving for more than a year as interim chief, she will officially take over the role effective Monday, November 17, 2025.

McLarty has been a member of the Cardiothoracic Surgery faculty at Stony Brook Medicine since 1997 and is the General Ting Feng Cheng Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery. She is a clinical professor of surgery and serves as the chief of surgery at the Northport VA Medical Center.

"It's an incredible honor to lead the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stony Brook Medicine," said McLarty. "For nearly three decades, I've had the privilege of working alongside an exceptional team dedicated to advancing cardiac and thoracic care for our community. I look forward to building upon our strong foundation of innovation, education and collaboration as we continue to shape the future of patient care at Stony Brook."

McLarty was previously the longtime chief of thoracic surgery at the Northport VA Medical Center. At Stony Brook Medicine, she served as the associate program director for the General Surgery Residency program for 10 years. Other leadership roles include surgical director of the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and head of the Lung Cancer Center, a multidisciplinary center evaluating and treating patients with lung and thoracic malignancies. She currently serves as the director of Mechanical Circulatory Support, including the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) program (since 2010, when the first patient was implanted) and the Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program, which provides short-term circulatory support for critically ill patients.

"Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. McLarty has played an instrumental role in advancing our surgical programs, mentoring the next generation of surgeons and expanding access to complex cardiothoracic care," said Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery at Stony Brook Medicine. "I am confident that under her leadership, the division will continue to thrive and achieve new levels of innovation, collaboration, and patient-centered excellence."

Among McLarty's professional awards, she was named Brookhaven Health Person of the Year, Brookhaven Woman of the Year in Medicine, a Castle Connolly Top Doctor and a Castle Connolly Exceptional Woman in Medicine. She is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation and the American Association of Thoracic Surgery.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, McLarty graduated from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry in 1984. She went on to medical school and general surgery training at Columbia University and completed her cardiothoracic surgery fellowship training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She specializes in adult cardiac and thoracic surgery and her clinical research interests are focused on ECMO, LVAD and aortic disease.