Speaker Profile
Daniel L. Beckles

Daniel L. Beckles MD, PhD, FACS

Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Brooklyn, New York, United States of America

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Dr. Beckles is board certified in general and thoracic surgery and was the founding Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), a member of the Texas Medical Center in Houston. During the last five years, he holds the record for performing numerous first, including the first robotically assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery, minimally invasive aortic valve and mitral valve surgeries and had an active hybrid coronary revascularization program.

His practice used minimally invasive and beating heart “off-pump” CABG for coronary revascularization and bilateral internal mammary arteries. His practice emphasized collaboration and a multi-disciplinary approach to provide personalized patient care and offer minimally invasive surgery whenever possible without compromising outcomes. He also performed the first video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy, VATS bilobectomy, VATS pneumonectony, VATS thymectomy, robotic assisted lobectomy, cervical video mediastinoscopy, and the first minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) while at UTMB.

He is a specialist in the care of end-stage heart disease and lung diseases. He was the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) certified surgical director of heart transplant and the previous co-director of lung transplantation. He performed pediatric and adult ECMO and implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for end-stage heart disease. During this time, his institution obtained advanced certification in ventricular assist device for destination therapy from the Joint Commission in January 2012 and he served as a Principal Investigator for the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS).

As the surgical co-directorship of Lung transplantation his institution was certified by CMS for the first time in 2012 and awarded the national silver award by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to moving to Texas, Dr. Beckles’s first academic appointments were as an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Surgical Director of the Lung Transplant Program at Mount Sinai Medical Centerin New York City.

Dr. Beckles earned his BS degree in Biochemistry and his MS degree in Chemistry from Stony Brook University and his Medical Degree at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. He stayed on to complete his general surgery internship, residency and chief residency along with his PhD in cardiovascular Molecular and Cellular Biology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center/Kings County Hospital Center. He completed his cardiovascular and thoracic surgery residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas/Parkland Memorial Hospital and a thoracic surgery fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-Harvard Medical School.