Tulane Advanced Heart Care Program Making an Impact, One Life at a Time

Benny Nunez is living his second life. In 2025, the Mississippi man, then 61, was working in his yard when he suddenly felt sick. He was rushed to a hospital in Slidell, Louisiana, where a CT scan revealed Nunez had suffered a massive heart attack.

Nunez’s heart stopped several times, and doctors said his prognosis was grim. He slipped into a coma, and it was feared that he might be brain-dead. Knowing Nunez needed high-level specialty care, doctors in Slidell contacted the Tulane Advanced Heart Care Program at East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH), part of LCMC Health. The program had launched just a few months earlier at the Metairie-based hospital and was the first of its kind in the region capable of providing such innovative care, which in Nunez’s case also required a heart transplant.

“As soon as I woke up, I could breathe again,” Nunez said of the surgery that brought him a new heart. “That was unbelievable.”

“It’s wonderful to know that they have people of that caliber down here in south Louisiana,” said his son, who, along with other family members, had been planning Nunez’s funeral prior to the surgery.

Nunez’s story made local headlines, but he is only one of many patients of the Tulane Advanced Heart Care Program at EJGH who have benefited from something that once seemed out of reach in south Louisiana: a second chance at life, close to home.

“We saw a tremendous need,” said Dr. Jamil Borgi, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Tulane University School of Medicine. “Louisiana has some of the highest rates of heart disease in the nation, yet many patients previously had to travel to other states to receive advanced care.”

Borgi helped establish the advanced heart care program alongside Dr. Sasha Vukelic, vice chief of cardiology, director of advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology and director of mechanical circulatory support at Tulane. The physician team also includes cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Aabha Divya and structural interventional cardiologist Dr. Cristina Sanina of Tulane, alongside Drs. Harry Roach, Todd Engelhardt, Ala Mosen and Ali Ayoub of EJGH.

The program offers multiple forms of advanced cardiac support tailored to each patient’s condition. Borgi and Vukelic also considered a transplant for another patient, Steve Schysm, but the 62-year-old from the Lake Charles area needed a solution that could stabilize his condition quickly and give his own heart a chance to recover.

Schysm received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a small mechanical pump that helps the weakened left ventricle pump blood throughout the body.

“For Steve and patients like him, an LVAD can restore circulation and take over much of the heart’s workload when it can no longer do so on its own,” said Vukelic, who oversaw Schysm’s care. “These devices can provide meaningful support, often lasting close to 10 years, and give patients the time and stability they need to regain strength and focus on recovery.”

Another service offered by the advanced heart care program is extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which temporarily replaces the functions of the heart and lungs while a critically ill patient recovers.

In May, the Tulane Advanced Heart Care Program at EJGH celebrated the one-year anniversary of its first heart transplant and several other major milestones, reflecting both the demand for advanced cardiac services in the Gulf South and the rapid growth of the program’s multidisciplinary care team.

In its first year, the program completed 11 heart transplants, supported 26 patients with LVADs, performed 52 ECMO runs to provide critical heart and lung support, and utilized 50 Impella 5.5 devices to help patients’ hearts rest and recover during severe cardiac illness. So far in 2026, physicians in the program have performed six additional heart transplants, 19 LVAD implantations, 26 Impella cases and 29 ECMO cases.

“Together, these care services represent a comprehensive approach to saving lives by stabilizing patients, supporting recovery and, in some cases, bridging individuals to transplant or longer-term treatment options no matter where they live,” Borgi said. “This is destination healthcare in action.”