The Julian Johnson Professorship of Cardiothoracic Surgery II

This Professorship was established in 2022, when the value of the endowment of the Julian Johnson Professorship of Cardiothoracic Surgery had increased sufficiently to support a second professorship. Originally established in 1992 through contributions from the Buckingham Mountain Foundation, the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation, and from certain friends in the Department of Surgery, the Professorship honors Dr. Johnson for his outstanding contributions as a clinician and teacher at the Perelman School of Medicine. 

Julian Johnson, MD (1906–1987), an alumnus of the Perelman School of Medicine Class of 1931 who devoted his career to research, instruction, and practice at the University of Pennsylvania, trained many of the nation’s distinguished surgeons. He was one of the early physicians in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of Vascular Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association. 

William Maul Measey, a distinguished corporate attorney in Philadelphia, created the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation in 1958 to honor the memory of his parents. Since the Foundation supports several colleges, universities, schools of medicine, and hospitals in the Philadelphia area, the Measey name has become synonymous with the furtherance of medical education in the region. 

Current Chairholder  

Wilson Y. Szeto, MD

Wilson Y. Szeto, MD, is the Julian Johnson Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery II at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and serves as the Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Szeto’s clinical practice spans the entire field of adult cardiac surgery, with his expertise encompassing the full spectrum of interventional strategies ranging from complex open-heart surgery to the latest techniques in transcatheter and endovascular therapies. His clinical interest involves the treatment of thoracic aortic pathology and complex structural heart and valvular disease. 

At Penn, Dr. Szeto remains extensively engaged in clinical trial research and education of thoracic surgical residents. He has been active in multiple clinical trials involving both endovascular stent graft therapies for thoracic aortic pathology as well as transcatheter therapies for valvular disease. From an education perspective, Dr. Szeto has been involved with the development of an advanced integrated training program that emphasizes the integration of catheter-based interventional skills and conventional cardiovascular surgery, preparing surgeons for the future.

Dr. Szeto completed his medical training at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.