Lee Health has named Dr. José P. Garcia as the new chief of cardiothoracic surgery for its Shipley Cardiothoracic Center, bringing a surgeon who has performed more than 400 heart transplants to the helm of what the health system calls Southwest Florida's largest cardiothoracic surgery program. The appointment comes alongside the addition of five more surgeons to the Lee Health Heart Institute, a wave of hiring the nonprofit health system says will expand access to advanced cardiac and thoracic care close to home.
A Transplant Specialist Takes the Helm
Garcia arrives at Lee Health after serving as Chief of Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, according to the health system's announcement. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Heart Transplantation Committee of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and his clinical research has centered on expanding access to heart and lung transplantation and advancing surgical treatment for complex cardiopulmonary disease, per the same release. A physician profile posted by the health system states that Garcia is leading development of what it describes as Southwest Florida's first comprehensive Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program.
As reported by Lee Health, Garcia has performed more than 400 heart transplants, 600 lung transplants, and 800 durable ventricular assist device implantations over his career. He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his surgical training at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the health system says. As reported by Florida Weekly, the Shipley Cardiothoracic Center under his leadership specializes in advanced cardiac surgery, robotic-assisted and minimally invasive thoracic surgery, structural heart procedures, and complex cardiothoracic care.
Five New Surgeons Join the Heart Institute
As noted by Lee Health, five additional surgeons have joined the Heart Institute in recent months: Dr. Joseph Alesnik, Dr. David Fields, Dr. Darren Rohan, Dr. Shawn Shah, and Dr. Jonathan Waxman. Alesnik brings more than 20 years of experience in advanced cardiac and thoracic surgery, trained at Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Heart Institute, and practiced in Bradenton for 12 years before joining Lee Health, where the health system says he specializes in coronary artery bypass, valvular heart surgery, transcatheter valve therapies, robotic-assisted thoracic surgery, and minimally invasive procedures.
Rohan joined as Medical Director of Thoracic Surgery after previously serving as Westchester regional director of thoracic surgery for Northwell Health, with a focus on robotic and minimally invasive surgery for lung and esophageal diseases, the health system notes. Shah came to Lee Health from Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, where he served as chief resident of cardiothoracic surgery, and has more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and national conference presentations to his name. Waxman, a double board-certified thoracic surgeon, previously served as chief of thoracic surgery at Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center at Copley Medical Center in Aurora, Illinois, and completed training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
ECMO Volume Has Tripled, Health System Says
Dr. Daniel O'Hair said the new chief and surgeons mark an important milestone for Lee Health and patients across Southwest Florida, adding that the growing team improves local access to specialized care and strengthens the health system's position as a national destination for advanced cardiovascular care. Lee Health also credits Dr. Mick Eskender, who has directed the system's mechanical circulatory support program since 2024, with helping to triple its ECMO volume over the past year.
Lee Health describes the combined cardiothoracic surgery team as Southwest Florida's largest, and the health system says the expansion is meant to broaden access to highly specialized cardiac and thoracic robotic surgery without patients needing to travel out of the region. A 2025 report from Gulf Coast News described the Heart Institute as the second-largest cardiothoracic program in Florida, performing more than 1,500 surgical cases annually, and detailed features such as robotic lobectomies using the da Vinci Xi Surgical System and robotic coronary artery bypass procedures that use small incisions between the ribs and do not require a heart-lung machine.
Lee Health is a nonprofit integrated health system that opened its first hospital in 1916 and now operates four acute care hospitals, Golisano Children's Hospital, three skilled nursing locations, outpatient facilities, urgent care centers, and primary and specialty practices across the region.
