Your team is made up of board certified surgeons, nurse practitioners, office staff, and our team in the hospital providing care for our recovering patients. We strive to be in contact with our patients and their family before, during and after surgery anytime day and night to answer any questions or concerns they may have.
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 Hopsital 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.
Sevak Darbinian, MD
Graduated from Yerevan State Medical Institute, was trained and worked at the Leningrad Institute
of Cardiology, St. Petersburg, Russia as a cardiac surgeon before coming to the US where he trained at University of Southern California in both general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. Dr. Darbinian joined OCTCS in 2006 and has been the chief of cardiac surgery at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo since 2008. His areas of interest include minimally invasive valve repair and replacement surgery, complex aorta reconstruction including arch bypass procedures surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation including the convergent procedure and valvular endocarditis.
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.
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.
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.