Sevak Darbinian, MD
Sevak Darbinian, MD, FACS, FACC is dedicated to upholding the highest quality standards in minimally invasive valve repair and replacement surgery, blood-
conserving open heart surgery,complex aortic reconstructions, including aortic arch bypass procedures, surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation, including the convergent procedure, multi-arterial CABG (coronary artery bypass grafting), and endocarditis.
A board certified cardiothoracic surgeon, he has been practicing in the OCTCS since 2006, and is now the president and CEO of the OCTCS. He is also the chief of cardiac surgery at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, CA since 2008. Dr. Darbinian graduated from the First Leningrad Medical School in St. Petersburg, Russia and was an attending surgeon in the Saint Petersburg Institute of Cardiology. He worked as a research fellow in heart and lung transplantation at the University of Southern California, where he also received general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery training under the leadership of Vaughn Starnes, MD.
Brian Palafox, MD
Graduated from University California Irvine Medical School, did his training and cardiothoracic training also at UCI and joined OCTCS in 1999. Brian Palafox is the chief of cardiac surgery at St Joseph Hospital in Orange and works at Children's Hospital Orange County and University of California Irvine in his free time. He specializes in adult cardiac, adult thoracic, pediatric cardiac and thoracic and general surgery including thyroid cancer and complex abdominal operations.
Taylor Tang, MD
Graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine, did his general surgery training at Kaiser and Arrowhead Regional in Fontana, CA followed by cardiothoracic surgery training at University of California Los Angeles. He joined OCTCS in 2016 and works mostly at St Joseph Hospital in Orange and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
His interests include transcatheter aortic valve replacement, minimally invasive valve replacement techniques, complex aorta repair and stenting including arch bypass procedures, surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation and minimally invasive lung resection techniques.
Aaron Fowler, MD
Graduated from the University Of Utah School Of Medicine after which he completed his general surgery residency at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente in Fontana California. He later went on to complete a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark New Jersey. Dr. Fowler specializes in diseases of the heart and great vessels including coronary artery bypass surgery, mitral valve surgery, aortic valve surgery, aortic aneurysms and dissections.
His special interests include blood conserving heart surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), valve repair surgery, and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation.
William Thibault, MD
Graduated from University of Vermont Medical School, UCI for his training in cardiothoracic surgery. He has been on staff at both St Jude and Mission hospitals specializing in coronary artery bypass grafting with a focus on use of arterial conduits.
Areo Saffarzadeh, MD
Eugene Won, MD
Dr. Eugene Won is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and obtained his medical degree at Penn State University. He went on to complete his general surgery residency at the University of California, Irvine, and a fellowship in Critical Care at the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his training in cardiothoracic surgery at Rutgers/Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey.
Dr. Won performs all forms of adult cardiac surgery with a special interest in coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve surgery, aortic valve surgery, surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).Dr. Won's goal is to provide exceptional, state-of-the-art, individualized care guided by a collaborative approach. Dr. Won is fluent in English and Korean.
Dr. Areo Saffarzadeh is the medical director of thoracic surgery at Providence Mission Hospital. He completed residency and fellowship training in thoracic surgery at Yale after attending medical school at UC Irvine.
Dr. Saffarzadeh specializes in minimally invasive surgery in the chest using robotic surgery. He has authored numerous publications and given presentations around the country on robotic chest surgery and methods to improve accurate diagnosis and outcomes in canoutcomes in cancer treatment using new technology.