General Info

Having performed more than 5,000 open heart surgeries during his 20-plus year career, Vincent J. DeFilippi, MD, FACS, treats patients as if they were members of his family. And family figures prominently in his both his decision to become a physician and his chosen specialty. He is a fourth generation physician and a strong family history of heart disease influenced his choice to specialize in heart surgery. A magna cum laude graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, he earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York in 1988. He completed a general surgery residency and research fellowship at the University of Chicago/Pritzker School of Medicine, Illinois and his cardiac and thoracic surgery training at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A nationally recognized expert in the field of cardiac surgery, Dr. DeFilippi is board certified in cardiothoracic and general surgery by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Since 2008 he has served as the director of cardiac surgery for Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System and is a clinical professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University. He knows that an active lifestyle is especially important when there is a family history of heart disease.