Allison McLarty, MD, Selected as 2026–27 ELAM Fellow

Allison McLarty, MD, General Ting Feng Cheng Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery and chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University Department of Surgery, has been selected as a 2026-27 Fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program.

Hosted by Drexel University College of Medicine, ELAM is a prestigious national fellowship and the only longitudinal program in North America dedicated to preparing senior faculty for leadership roles across schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy.

"It is a privilege to have been nominated for the ELAM Fellowship, and I am delighted to have been accepted for the 2026-2027 year," said McLarty. "I look forward to leveraging the unique collaboration and skill sets gained to the benefit of Stony Brook and our Heart and Vascular institute."

ELAM welcomes McLarty among the 99 ELAM Fellows and 45 Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH) Fellows selected to its Class of 2026-27. Over more than 30 years, the program has graduated nearly 1,800 fellows, many of whom now serve in leadership roles at more than 300 academic health centers worldwide. ELAM continues the leadership legacy established by the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the nation's first degree-granting women's medical school and a predecessor institution of Drexel.

McLarty is the fifth ELAM Fellow selected from Stony Brook, joining Latha Chandran, MD, MPH (2006), Meenakashi Singh, MD (2012), Tara Huston, MD, FACS (2024) and Susan Lane, MD, MACP (2025).

The highly competitive, year-long fellowship offers intensive leadership development through executive coaching, mentoring, networking opportunities and project-based learning designed to expand the national pool of qualified leaders in academic healthcare. Candidates must hold the rank of associate professor in an academic institution for at least two years and have administrative experience in personnel and budget management. They must also be nominated and supported by their institution's dean or senior leadership. McLarty was nominated by Peter Igarashi, MD, Knapp Endowed Dean of RSOM.

"Dr. McLarty is an exemplary surgeon, educator and scholar who has co-led Stony Brook Medicine's Heart and Vascular Institute. The selection of Dr. McLarty as the third consecutive ELAM Fellow from the Renaissance School of Medicine reflects her individual accomplishments and the high quality of our faculty," Igarashi said. "Dr. McLarty has already held important positions at the Northport VA Medical Center and Stony Brook Medicine, and the leadership training that she receives through the ELAM program will equip her to make even more impactful contributions. I am grateful for Dr. McLarty's commitment to Stony Brook, and I am absolutely delighted that she has received this national recognition."

McLarty will begin her fellowship in June 2026. The program includes community-building exercises, online coursework and the completion of an Institutional Action Project (IAP), through which each fellow addresses a strategic need or priority identified by their home institution. The fellowship will conclude with the Leaders Forum where fellows present their IAPs, on April 14, 2027, followed by graduation on April 15.

In addition to her leadership within the Department of Surgery, McLarty serves as director of mechanical circulatory support, surgical director of the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) program, and leader of the Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program. She is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.